City Council to create committee to deal with problems of homelessness

City of Lawton officials are ready to begin addressing problems related to homelessness.

City Council members will decide today on creating the Homeless Action Committee, a seven-member council committee whose actions will be directly linked to homelessness, both those who are identified as homeless as well as problems range from complaints of harassment by local businesses to fires in vacant structures. It is a tactic council members said in December and February that they wanted to pursue.

“It (homelessness) is absolutely a growing problem,” said Mayor Stan Booker, who also said he wants a committee comprised of council members and those in the community who work with the homeless.

Today’s proposal specifies the Homeless Action Committee will include four council members and three members of the community, one each from the social services field, mental health field and faith-based community. The mayor, who will appoint all members, also will name three alternates who can act as full committee members in the case of absences, so meeting won’t be cancelled due to a lack of quorum. The city manager and police chief will serve as non-voting members.

The defining ordinance, which goes into effect in 30 days after council passage, states the committee will be tasked with reducing “the community impact of homelessness” by empowering local groups who offer services and solutions to those impacted by homelessness.

Police and fire have statistics that already illustrate some of the problems they say are caused by those who are homeless, such as calls for trespassing in vacant structures. In addition, the city fire marshal said a high percentage of fires in vacant structures seem to be linked to homeless people using fires in them for warmth, light or cooking. The City of Lawton already has moved forward with one action, announcing last week it now has Trespass Authorization Forms that will allow property owners to give police written permission to act as the owner by entering and dealing with someone inside their structure, to include arresting them for criminal trespass. The council also has directed city staff to increase the number of structures submitted for “D&D,” the designation for deteriorating structures that must either be repaired by owners or razed.

Police said there are other issues to consider, to include things such as theft of copper, littering and lewd acts, as well as violent acts among the homeless against each other. Ward 5 Councilman Allan Hampton, noting Ward 5 has many older structures and many people in a condensed area, said residents and property owners are concerned by problems that range from constant litter (to include human waste) to threats against employees.

“I want to stop businesses from moving out,” Hampton said, of his fears businesses will close because of unresolved problems.