Rick was charging his phone at an outdoor power outlet near the Renasant Convention Center downtown recently when two public security officers approached him. They told him he had to move — and that if he didn’t, they would call the police.
“I ain’t even did nothing. I was just charging my phone,” he told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism, adding that the officers didn’t instruct him on where to go or offer him any resources. But Rick has a clean criminal record and is eager to keep it that way. So he gathered his things and moved along.
Rick, who did not provide his last name, is just one of the many unhoused people who stay in and around downtown Memphis. In recent weeks, he says he has noticed an uptick in police and security officers approaching and relocating unhoused people in the area.
“It’s like since the National Guard came, they kind of turned up their presence,” he said. “I feel like they’ve got a lot of money invested down here, so they want to protect the business(es).”
The “Memphis Safe Task Force,” a coalition that combines local police with National Guard troops and agents from a broad selection of federal agencies, began operations in the city on Sept. 29. Since its arrival, Memphis appears to be ramping up its scrutiny of the downtown unhoused population — but hasn’t allocated any funding or approved any local proposals to get people sheltered, according to city officials.
“It’s not public safety, it’s more like the Pick-On-The-Homeless Committee.”
Rusty, an unhoused man living in Memphis
Without any incoming money from the city, preparation efforts have fallen on the same cash-strapped nonprofit groups that already struggle to fully meet the needs of the local unhoused community. Some have scraped together funds for short motel stays, while others are advising unhoused Memphians to avoid downtown entirely.
“We need funding and communication,” said Stephanie Reyes, the chief operating officer of the Community Alliance for the Homeless, which helps coordinate between the city’s many nonprofits serving unhoused people. “Our system is already overwhelmed with the number of people experiencing homelessness … Right now, we don’t have anywhere for them to go.”
City cracking down on unhoused people downtown
Rusty, an unhoused man who has stayed downtown for around six months, has observed security officers harassing unhoused people in recent weeks. He asked to use a pseudonym to protect his identity.
“At nighttime, people (are) trying to find a spot to go to sleep where they won’t be seen by the public eye … and here come the yellow-shirts,” he said, referring to the Downtown Memphis Commission’s yellow-shirt-wearing Safety Team. “It’s not public safety, it’s more like the Pick-On-The-Homeless Committee.”
Rick compared the process of being constantly relocated to a game of musical chairs.
“What if anybody can’t afford the shelter? Most of the shelters around here charge,” he said. Both Memphis Union Mission on Poplar Avenue and Calvary Rescue Mission on South Third Street charge a nightly rate for their beds. While Rick currently has the funds to afford a bed, he knows many others who don’t.
“I know other people are in worse situations,” he said. “They can’t get to places like I can.”
For those unable to find or afford shelter, the city also appears to be making it more difficult to stay outside by cutting off necessities like water and electricity.
“They took the benches out of (Fourth) Bluff Park. They’re taking more benches out (of other parks), cutting outlets off and covering up sockets … They’ve turned off where we go to get water,” Rusty said. “We can’t enter private property. We can’t sleep in public places. So I might as well stay up all the time.”
He added that, in his experience, downtown security is quick to get the police involved when unhoused people become irate at being constantly told to move. And when they arrive, law enforcement officers seem more concerned with punishing unhoused people than they do with providing assistance or resources.
“The police don’t come and see if we’re alright, make sure we’re straight and stuff, but they have come quickly (to) snatch us up and throw us in the back of the car,” Rusty said.
No city funding for solutions
City officials have confirmed that no plans are yet in place to help shelter unhoused Memphians two weeks into task force operations.
“We are prepared to request additional federal and state resources to support housing providers as needed, and we are reviewing our own budget priorities to identify areas where funds can be strategically redirected,” a city spokesperson said in a written statement.
However, she confirmed that no city funding has yet been redirected for this purpose, and that the city hasn’t approved or funded any of the proposals it has received from direct service groups as of Monday.
“We have come up with some suggestions of locations and places for people to go. … So we have some suggestions in (to the mayor’s office), it’s just a matter of the process of getting things moving, and so we are working on that.”
Kimberly Mitchell, Homeless and Special Needs division administrator for Memphis’ Division of Housing and Community Development
Kimberly Mitchell, the administrator of the Homeless and Special Needs division of the city’s Division of Housing and Community Development, added that federal money can’t be relied on, either.
“We’re asking for more resources from our federal partners in order for us to serve our unhoused individuals and families,” she told around 150 homelessness service providers at a Sept. 29 emergency meeting. “We have put in that request. So we’ll have to see what happens from there. We haven’t heard anything back just yet, but as soon as we do, we will let you all know.”
The gathered nonprofit employees were eager to hear what the city itself would do to support the unhoused community.
“Do we have some kind of immediate emergency response solution?” OUTMemphis employee Kelsey Olive asked Mitchell. “Do we have gyms that we’re setting up cots in with volunteer support? Do we have a place for people to go?”
“We have come up with some suggestions of locations and places for people to go,” Mitchell replied. “I know at one point we used some of the community centers to house people. So we have some suggestions in (to the mayor’s office), it’s just a matter of the process of getting things moving, and so we are working on that.”
In an emailed response to questions, the city stated that “it is unlikely that the City itself will operate a new emergency shelter,” adding that its focus is on supporting existing groups that serve unhoused people. Mitchell echoed this strategy — but didn’t make any promises that city money is on the way to bolster these groups’ efforts.
“The only thing that we can do at this point is to work with our partners that we have here … and to maximize our resources as much as we can,” she said. “Resources are few and far in between.”
Nonprofits scramble to fill the gap
Mitchell stated that “dealing with homelessness” is one of Memphis Safe Task Force’s three core goals — but it’s unclear exactly what that means on the ground. Fearing that unhoused people will face increased harassment, confiscation of property and even arrest, some nonprofits are advising their clients to avoid law enforcement altogether.
“The overall need that we cannot meet without significant financial support is the lack of emergency shelter.”
Stephanie Reyes, the chief operating officer of the Community Alliance for the Homeless
An information sheet distributed at the Sept. 29 meeting by the Community Alliance for the Homeless suggested advising unhoused people to “consider sleeping in a shelter or another indoor location” and to “avoid high-enforcement areas,” which it listed as including downtown, highway infrastructure and public parks after sunset.
“I’ve been around, and ‘high-enforcement areas’ is all around, now,” Rick said.
The handout also recommended keeping a “go-bag” ready in case troops confiscate camping equipment, and keeping hold of essentials like a charged phone, photo ID and emergency contact numbers.
“Some of this makes sense, but that (public) park part, it doesn’t,” said Rick after reviewing the CAFTH handout. “What if that’s the only place you’ve got to stay?”
Both Rick and Rusty said that CAFTH’s handout contains some useful advice, but that they haven’t heard of any alternatives for those who lack a place to sleep indoors. It’s a problem that local nonprofits are scrambling to solve: CAFTH itself has ideas for how to help unhoused people during the task force’s deployment, but doesn’t have the resources to carry them out alone.
“We have requested funds from the city. We have sent a proposal. We’ve talked to the county. We have engaged our philanthropy partners as well to bring in money to the community. But as of right now, we don’t have any of that,” Reyes said on Sept. 29.
CAFTH’s proposal includes greater coordination between homelessness service providers, emergency funding for hotel stays and shelter beds, and increased street outreach to help unhoused people get IDs and avoid being detained. But the biggest barrier providers face is a lack of shelter space where unhoused people can relocate.
“The overall need that we cannot meet without significant financial support is the lack of emergency shelter,” Reyes said. She added that the county has said it has no funding to provide, while the city hasn’t yet responded to CAFTH’s proposal.
In the meantime, small nonprofits that don’t rely on government funds are taking matters into their own hands. During the task force’s first week in the city, the Memphis mutual aid group 901 Harm Reduction paid for motel rooms to get 17 unhoused people off the streets using private donations from the community.
“Organizations like ours treat people like human beings,” said Paige Lemen, the nonprofit’s director. “We’re run by people with lived experience (being unhoused), and so we know exactly how to help people and how to use what little funding we have effectively.”
The group’s members and community partners delivered food and toiletries to these residents during their motel stays for over a week. But without sustained funding, small grassroots groups can’t keep unhoused Memphians off the streets long term. And those without shelter are still waiting for the city to take action.
“I feel like if they want so much for this to change, then help it,” Rick said of the city’s intentions. “If you want people not to sleep outside, do something to provide shelter, even if they don’t have the funds. Do something to help.”
Natalie Wallington is the housing reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at natalie.wallington@mlk50.com.
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