Housing advocates erect tent city at Baltimore City Hall
BALTIMORE -- Housing advocates have set up a tent city at Baltimore City Hall..
It's an installation by the Black Community Development Coalition to call attention to a growing homelessness challenge in Baltimore - tent encampments springing up across the city. The newly-formed group is calling on the city to assist and house people who are homeless.
"Our homeless individuals, they are constituents in districts," community advocate Christina Flowers said. "They are citizens in these communities as well."
The coalition said it has noticed about 11 encampments across the city.
"It's rough out there," advocate Woodrow McFadden said. "It's hard. Sometimes people lose their homes and everything, their job, and it's kind of hard, you know, getting housing."
McFadden works with the coalition now, but used to be homeless himself.
WJZ was there last week when members held a news conference at an encampment on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Pratt Street.
"I hope that they can get them all housed, get them off the street, sleeping in alleys, you know, abandoned houses," McFadden said. "It's sad."
Later that day, Mayor Brandon Scott said the city is taking steps to end homelessness in Baltimore.
Scott's office also announced last week a second round of federal American Rescue Plan Act funding totaling roughly $6.6 million is being deployed to groups to offset homelessness.
In all, the city has allocated $90 million to address homelessness, a spokesperson for the mayor said.
The city is working on five projects to reduce the problem, which includes providing emergency housing for those who need it, and developing longer-term housing.
So far this year, the city has provided housing for nearly 700 families.
WJZ asked advocates how long they plan to have these tents outside City Hall. They say they will not come down until changes are made.
