Homeless

Homeless advocates and a city councilwoman sharply criticized Monday a Rawlings-Blake administration plan to remove an encampment of about a dozen homeless people this week from under the Interstate 83 overpass in central Baltimore. But administration officials defended the move as a safety measure, designed to protect homeless men and women from a camp they say is overrun by drugs, alcohol and violence. "I'm concerned about the safety of the individuals in the encampment," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said Monday.

Venus Wiles would rather sleep in a tent stuffed with blankets and all her worldly possessions on the side of the Jones Falls Expressway with her boyfriend, Michael Spence, than stay the night in an emergency shelter. The encampment - a collection of tents on a sliver of land between the northbound roadway of the JFX and the Fallsway, where as many as 18 homeless men and women live with their cats and dogs - feels more like home. Wiles and Spence say they don't know where they'll go Friday when the city plans to clear the site, which has been used by the homeless for the past five years.

On Feb. 1, the Mayor's Office of Human Services hosted a community briefing for the "75 Journeys Home" campaign - part of Baltimore City's 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness. The initiative was aimed at identifying the 75 most vulnerable people experiencing homelessness in Baltimore, and placing them in immediate housing. It sounds like a noble cause. But 20 members of the advocacy group Housing Our Neighbors stood in the back of the auditorium during the briefing for the initial results of the campaign, holding signs that read "75 is not enough" and "Everyone is vulnerable.

From the outside, Camp St. Vincent looks like many other summer camps. There are crafts and reading along with plenty of time to play outside, and campers beat the heat with a dip in the pool. But the reality of these kids' everyday lives is anything but carefree. Camp St. Vincent, a free summer day camp at Patterson Park, has been serving homeless children ages 5 through 12 from Baltimore City and Baltimore County for more than 100 years. The eight-week camp, which is a program of St. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore in partnership with Baltimore City's Department of Recreation and Parks, is specifically designed for children living in shelters and transitional housing.

Editor: On behalf of the Harford Roundtable partners and the Continuum of Care, we would like to thank all of our churches, organizations and citizens for their generous donations in support of the annual Point-in-Time Homeless Count, an evening outreach conducted this year on Jan. 24. During this year's outreach, donated hats, gloves, coats, blankets, personal care items, food and bus vouchers were distributed to the homeless encountered, and...

Whitney Swander woke before dawn three days this week to talk with people who have been sleeping on the city's streets. That's how she met Ron — a man who has moved across the country since becoming homeless and, lately, has spent his days drinking coffee in a McDonald's in southern Baltimore. "He wants a way into a more stable life," she said, pausing. "I keep thinking about Ron. " The Mayor's Office of Human Services-Homeless Services Program and the Baltimore Home for Good Campaign announced Friday morning an initiative to find housing for the 75 most vulnerable homeless people in the city.

Anne Arundel County police have identified the woman whose body was found in rising waters near a homeless camp in Laurel Thursday as 26-year-old Anifa Kiwanuka. Kiwanuka's body was discovered around 11:25 a.m. in rising waters Thursday near a homeless camp in a low lying, wooded area located by Route 198 and Racetrack Road. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore will determine the cause of death. According to police, a witness told Kiwanuka between 9:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. to leave the area because the high waters were dangerous.

A woman's body was found Thursday in rising waters near a homeless camp in Laurel, as flooding closed roads throughout the region and a dangerously high reservoir prompted the evacuation of Laurel's historic district. The discovery of the body came as police in Laurel were going door to door to warn residents and business owners about likely flooding from a release of water at the T. Howard Duckett Dam by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission. The commission also released water from Brighton Dam in Brookeville.

Maryland is currently experiencing the coldest temperatures in nearly two years, with multiple days that have been well-below freezing ("Cold snap raises health concerns," Jan. 24.) As your article points out, our most vulnerable residents - the elderly and the homeless - are exposed to deadly conditions. We've already had 11 deaths so far linked to hypothermia, and that was before the most recent cold. What people may not realize is that many shelters offer resources for the homeless beyond a warm place to stay.

This is in response to a letter Jessica Grant wrote about the homeless facility Howard County is trying to build in North Laurel in the opinion section of the Laurel Leader (Dec. 21). First of all we cannot compare the homeless men, women and children of this area to the homeless in Los Angeles and Florida.   Evidently she has never been around our homeless community. I tried it for three years, mostly in North Laurel. I have met some great people, also a few bad ones, but most of all we are like a big family that takes care of each other.   Don't get me wrong, it's a day-to-day struggle out there.