Committee Regarding Homeless Population Created

Committee meeting regarding the homeless population met recently.

The homeless population has been a topic of interest at the Harrison City Council meetings recently and Mayor Jerry Jackson decided to form a committee regarding the issue.

“They need to develop a thorough understanding of the challenges and problems of
homelessness, not in an abstract sense but as it applies to actual people who live and
work in Harrison with an emphasis on those few individuals that create a negative
element in our homeless community,” Mayor Jackson said of the committee. “There have been several meetings that included city personnel, House of Hope, and the business community that were having issues with certain homeless people. Over the past few months the calls to my office increased to the point that I believed a special committee could focus on this for a certain period of time and make recommendations to the city council. These eight people have a good understanding and are also those with a hope to make Harrison better.”

The committee members include Mike Bishop, Matt Bell, Joy Prater, Chonda Tapley, Jeff Pratt, Kenny Villines, Tabitha Eddington and John Cagle.

“The first meeting was exactly what I expected with several from our community sharing their concerns. It went with little drama and lasted over two hours. After the audience and press left, I observed some very good discussions.  I'm hopeful that some good will come from this but the main problem of helping those with mental health problems and drug addiction will be more difficult than Harrison has the answer to,” Mayor Jackson added.

Community members including William Tollett were in attendance, as well.

“As a community participant in the Homeless Committee meeting on Monday afternoon, I’m encouraged by the members of the committee’s willingness to study and bring some recommendations regardless of the homeless in our community. I left feeling encouraged on how the committee will move forward,” William Tollett, Executive Director of House of Hope, said.

The committee has been asked to draw up recommendations and present them to the City Council at their regularly scheduled June meeting.