Fort Worth Wants Homeless Camps Off The Streets. This Police Unit Helps Connect People With Resources.

Arlington TX

20 May, 2022

1:11 PM

Description

By Sandra Sadek, Fort Worth Report May 19, 2022 Flashlights in hand, Fort Worth police officers Mike Kuzenka and Andrew Johns checked every room and corner of the abandoned R. Vickery School, a historic Black school on the Southside. They identified themselves as police and waited for a response. On the second floor, Kuzenka and Johns met a 46-year-old who goes by the name Vee Black, living between blue and white walls covered in graffiti and haphazardly patched floor holes. Still waiting for housing, Black has been in and out of the hospital a few times. The officers connect Black with a housing assessor. "You just got a couple of days. You need to get your stuff out, OK? They're going to be coming through, cleaning this house again, boarding it up again," Kuzenka told Black. The officers are part of the police department's Homeless Outreach Program and Enforcement, or HOPE. These rounds are how the HOPE unit locates homeless people and informs them they cannot stay in that area, per city and state law, while bringing them the resources they need to eventually find housing or get help. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.