More people are sleeping in a popular Beaufort park. A solution is trickier than it seems

Stephanie Greene has been running a familiar route through downtown Beaufort for years.

In recent months, during early-morning training runs preparing for the Marine Corps Marathon, the Beaufort native has noticed more people sleeping on benches and in the pavillion in Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park.

She recently posted photos of the scene to Facebook and asked for donations of raincoats, ponchos, hats and gloves. By early this week, she had received a handful of donations, and a donation box in a local bagel shop was filling up quickly.

“Love thy neighbor as thyself,” Greene said Tuesday. “I don’t want to ask questions; I don’t want to know why or how it happened. All they need to know is somebody out there cares about them.”

Greene’s Facebook post sparked a dialogue about homelessness, what resources are available in Beaufort, and what else might be needed as city officials move toward a formal discussion. Recently, residents and business owners have bent elected officials’ ears about the issue.

Former City Councilman Mike Sutton, whose wife Nan is now on the council, told members Tuesday that he and his wife were in the park after dinner downtown recently and, after he took photos of people sleeping on benches, he was almost assaulted.

He said the issue was complex and would get worse, and that local government leaders throughout Beaufort County should talk about how they can help various organizations work together.

“We have to build a bridge to connect the dots,” Sutton said.

Already, numerous churches and nonprofit organizations provide some shelter and services. Weekly dinners are held in Washington Street Park, and a Beaufort ministry recently opened a small shelter, with plans for another 24-bed project to give more homeless people the option of sleeping inside.

While there aren’t more homeless people in Beaufort, according to recent counts, they have been more visible during the past year. More seem to be sleeping in the park. And police, wary of what they can enforce, haven’t cracked down on those who are simply sleeping, not clearly breaking any laws.

Waterfront Park was built on pilings over the Beaufort River off Bay Street during the 1970s. The site has expansive green space, an amphitheater and a pavillion where the majority of the city’s major events are held.

Unlike some other city parks, this one does not close during certain hours at night.

The city has been careful about restrictions after a review of city rules last year and in the wake of recent federal court rulings strengthening the rights of people to sleep in public places, city officials said.

“There’s no ordinance on sleeping in the park; there’s no ordinance on being in the park all night,” City Manager Bill Prokop said. “If we had that we’re closing the park from 2 o’clock in the morning until 7 o’clock in the morning, that means for everybody, and if somebody is there, they’re trespassing. We’re following the ordinances that we have, and that’s what we can do.”

Guided by the courts

More people on park benches at night doesn’t necessarily mean more homeless people in the area, said Fred Leyda, director of the Beaufort County Human Services Alliance. The most recent Department of Housing and Urban Development count of the homeless population in Beaufort County showed a small decrease from the previous year, he said.

Counting homeless people can be tricky and vary, based on the criteria used and methodology, Leyda said.

County officials counted 106 people, of 52 households, who were transient or homeless during 2018. The number represents those who reached out to a local agency for assistance during the year. The most recent “point-in-time count,” where officials go out in the community over a period of 10 days to count the number of homeless, recorded 45 homeless individuals.

The numbers jump when considering people close to becoming homeless or who are living with friends and family.

Leyda said it’s unlikely that everyone sleeping in Waterfront Park is homeless. Some of the benches, he said, might be occupied by people sleeping off a night of excessive drinking downtown.

“I haven’t seen anything to indicate any kind of increase,” Leyda said. “It might be just a matter of visibility.”

Beaufort police regularly conduct wellness checks of people in the park but don’t run people off or make arrests simply for sleeping, city officials say.

City attorney Bill Harvey pointed to a federal court ruling upholding the constitutional rights of Occupy Columbia protesters who camped on the Statehouse grounds in 2011. He also noted a ruling this year by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that cities can’t punish people for camping or sleeping in public places unless the governments provide adequate indoor shelter.

“Because of that, we’ve been very careful in what to do about sleeping in Waterfront Park,” Harvey said.

One possibility the city could consider is closing the park at night, an option Harvey called “a little extreme.”

He said the city doesn’t want to be seen as approving sleeping in the park, and noted that offenses such as public urination, open containers, littering and using city electricity still can be enforced.

‘A tremendous need’

On a wall at Circle of Hope Ministries on Boundary Street are plans to do more for the area’s homeless.

Circle of Hope director Rev. John Dortch will soon begin screening potential occupants for the shelter he opened in the shadow of city government buildings and police headquarters across the street. The newly renovated building includes five beds for men and five beds for women, and will initially cater to veterans.

A community room will offer classes and Bible studies and will have desk for a case worker and social worker.

It’s the only shelter of its kind in Beaufort, though numerous churches and nonprofit organizations throughout the county work with the homeless population and provide temporary shelter during cold weather or help put them up in hotels.

Drawings taped to the wall show plans for the next phase, a project that would bring 24 beds to a 3 1/2-acre property at County Shed Road and Jennings Road in Burton. Hope Village Inn would include three, three-bedroom units for homeless families, three five-bedroom buildings for individuals, a multipurpose community building and park area.

Dortch is preparing to receive an estimate from his contractor for the project and begin a capital fundraising campaign. The planning and design work alone cost $70,000.

“We’re a small organization,” Dortch said. “We work on a shoestring budget.”

The new facility would allow the Boundary Street shelter to open to anyone in need, not just veterans.

Dortch regularly drives around the city and makes contact with the people who live on its streets and in the park. The people he talks to might be recently divorced, bankrupt due to medical debt or suffering from mental illness, Dortch said.

He receives referrals from the hospital, local churches, nonprofit organizations and residents who know of his work.

For now he partners with One80 Place, a Charleston shelter, to offer rides to those who need the organization’s services. Eventually he expects Beaufort County to be able to offer more.

“There’s a tremendous need,” Dortch said. “And people come from all walks of life.”