SOUTHPORT — One Brunswick County town is grappling with unsheltered individuals in its city limits, though estimations of those living on the streets only range from five to seven people.
READ MORE: Five-part series addresses cost of homelessness, funds allocated by governments, nonprofits
Last week, the Southport Board of Aldermen carved out time during its agenda review to discuss homelessness. City manager Bonnie Therrien claimed the city was receiving more complaints from residents regarding the increased presence of unsheltered people in downtown Southport.
Maj. Burke with the Southport Police Department told Port City Daily Friday he could not provide the exact number of calls related to homelessness over the last six months. Hedid say the number of calls suspected of being associated with an unsheltered individual has risen slightly in recent months.
The officer confirmed the consistent number of those struggling with homelessness in Southport.
“There are roughly 5 folks that we deal with on a regular basis,” Burke wrote in an email to Port City Daily. “There are always one or two additional that seem to present as transient into and out of the area. They are not always the same folks.”
During its agenda review meeting on Aug. 4, Therrien urged the public to call the police if they are affronted by a homeless individual or witness criminal activity.
“If the police do see it, they stop it,” Therrien said. “The police are well aware of who these people are. They try to help them and get them help — some people don’t want help. But the police have definitely done an awesome job about reaching out to those people.”
The aldermen invited Sally Learned, executive director of the nonprofit Brunswick Partnership for Housing, to speak on the topic.
She warned against solely using law enforcement to address those struggling with housing and pointed out Southport already has effective ordinances to mitigate troubling behavior.
“Being homeless is not a crime,” Learned said.
Burke seemed to agree with this approach during the aldermen meeting, noting most encounters with unsheltered people do not rise to the level of arrest.
“Putting that person into the criminal justice system, the legal system, just compounds the problem significantly because it adds a dollar drain on resources they [law enforcement] don’t have either,” Burke told the aldermen.
Over the last six months, only one or two people have been taken into custody, Burke confirmed with PCD.
“We know that if we start over-criminalizing being homeless, then we drive people more and more into the woods,” Learned said.
This cause-and-effect is currently playing out across the river. Earlier this year, New Hanover County commissioners approved an updated ordinance banning sleeping, camping and leaving behind belongings on county-owned property, particularly aimed at the downtown county-owned library and parking deck on Second Street. Both were popular places where homeless populations congregated.
The Getting Home initiative — a homelessness outreach jointly funded by the City of Wilmington and New Hanover County for $2.4 million — reported in July it is having a harder time locating those needing help in the wake of the ordinance update. The Wilmington Police Department is also dedicating more officers to respond to trespassing complaints, as those pushed off of public property are trying to find solace in the wooded areas of private property.
Learned encouraged Southport to engage in more public private partnerships with local organizations. She said she was already in conversation with Burke about providing training to officers and incorporating an outreach specialist in Southport.
Ideally, Learned said, citizens would report a problem to law enforcement and officers would connect nonprofits like Brunswick Partnership for Housing to those needing shelter. From there, they could connect individuals to emergency shelters or transitional housing along with other services to address substance abuse, mental health and disabilities.
Though finding space for people in need is becoming increasingly harder, she noted.
The number of homeless individuals in the tri-county region has spiked since last year, according to Cape Fear Continuum of Care’s 2023 unofficial point-in-time count. There were 558 individuals identifying as homeless in January, compared to 347 from the prior year.
Though Learned said it was almost impossible to get a feel for the actual number. Some people, technically homeless, are couch surfing, sleeping in their cars, or move around so much they are hard to track, she said.
Learned said space in Brunswick Partnership for Housing’s transitional space is expected to fill up by the end of the week and tenants are permitted to stay up to 12 months. The only options Brunswick County has for emergency shelters is putting people up in hotels, an unsustainable practice according to Learned.
While county-wide collaboration and cooperation with organizations to expand resources is needed, she urged addressing the root cause: affordable housing.
“It is the issue of our time, like access to medical insurance was a decade ago,” Learned said.
She pointed out rent prices in Brunswick County range from $1,800 and $2,200, making the area inhospitable to entry-level workers. In a coastal community like Southport, that can be detrimental to the tourism and service industries that rely on minimum wage employees.
Aldermen Karen Mosteller concurred, stating Southport has created jobs for people who can’t afford the real estate.
Speaking before Learned at the meeting was Carlo Montagano, executive director of Brunswick County Habitat for Humanity. The organization provides paths to homeownership for families unable to receive loans, though Montagano shared it is shifting toward townhome developments in response to consumer wishes and development constraints.
While the nonprofit does not delve into the rental market, Montagano still harped on the importance of reducing barriers to affordable housing.
Suggestions he had included participating in a taskforce to increase communication and collaboration between municipalities and focusing on changing NIMBY — or “not in my back yard” — attitudes.
He also noted municipalities can reimburse building permitting fees, like Brunswick County does, and waive, reduce or defer other fees associated with residential development.
It costs around $12,000 to connect to water and sewer in the county; Montagano estimated it would be in the ballpark of $18,000 for Southport builds. Municipalities could also donate land, as New Hanover County has done in the past.
Montagano also spoke in favor of zoning flexibility and resisting NIMBY attitudes.
“The D word — density. I think a lot of folks don’t like to hear that word,” Montagano said. “Density means more residences in a smaller area. But density creates a more affordable community. It’s also a more efficient use of the land. And there are times when affordable housing organizations will have to approach a municipality and ask for greater density and there’s always a valid reason for that — be open.”
However, the board of aldermen has criticized several bills proposed in this session in the North Carolina General Assembly that would ease affordable housing-infused developments.
One bill eliminated many local planning requirements for these projects, reverting to federal standards for stormwater and floodplain regulation, and allowing workforce housing projects to be permitted in any zoning district. Another bill was aimed at expediting the building permit process.
Southport Mayor Joseph Hatem, in a statement made addressing the bills in April, maintained the city “supports addressing critical housing shortages for firefighters, law enforcement officers, teachers, nurses, first responders and other vital workers and first-time home buyers.” The problem with the bills, he said, is “losing municipal power over the planning process of home building and development, short-term rentals, and other planning issues.”
Learned identified a win would be getting Brunswick, Leland, Shallotte, Southport, and Oak Island together to talk about affordable housing.
At the agenda review, Hatem proposed a town hall to discuss homelessness concerns with the public; this was not voted on and no date was set.
PCD reached out to each alderman with questions on how they think the city should address homelessness and the need for affordable housing. Alderman John Allen was the only one to respond with answers by press, though he noted it is too early to speak to specific action.
“I am very much in favor of working jointly with our county, state and federal partners,” Allen said. “I am afraid our ability to act effectively on our own will be very limited.”
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com
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