‘We won’t ignore the issue of homelessness’

Atlantic City has launched a large campaign to tackle its homeless issue once and for all, which includes writing up a law to ban people from sleeping in public spaces, officials said.

After the Supreme Court ruled that municipalities can ban homeless encampments, Mayor Marty Small said he would present legislation in the coming weeks to do just that as part of a sweeping effort to clean up the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk.

“We won’t ignore the issue of homelessness in our city, an issue that has been long overlooked,” the Democrat told The Post.

“We cannot be a world-class destination if we can’t find a way to help the people living in our own city.”

At the start of July, the city rolled out its plans established by the Boardwalk Improvement Group (BIG) to send out employees to help the hundreds of street dwellers living across Atlantic City, often connecting them with shelters and advocacy groups.

The employees also help some find their way back home, as officials say other municipalities have been transporting their own homeless to Atlantic City in hopes of passing on their problems.

“It’s disappointing to see, but we deal with it,” Small said of the issue.

Despite the work being rolled out under the BIG plan, Jarrod Barnes, Atlantic City’s director of health and human services, said many of those living in encampments refuse their help.

That’s why Barnes believes a law to ban the camps is necessary, as it would finally put pressure residents to accept the assistance they need.

“A lot of the people we try to move away think it’s fine to keep living on the street because they’ve just been doing it for so long, and that can’t be the case,” Barnes said.

“No one deserves to live on the streets,” he added. “A lot of these people are just folks who are down on their luck or people dealing with substance abuse issues.”

Small said the law, which is being drafted with the help of city attorneys, would stick close to the parameters established by the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that allows municipalities to clear out encampments and set penalties for those sleeping on public streets.

Kenneth Mitchem, who was brought on last year as the director of social services, said it was imperative that the city permanently crack down on homeless encampments as they present a fire hazard beneath the city’s famous Boardwalk.

Back in April, a 67-year-old man living in the encampments beneath the Boardwalk died after a fire broke out, with the blaze spreading to businesses above.

City officials warned that such a calamity could very well happen again, especially given the ingenuity of some of the people living under the Boardwalk.

“We had one guy who was able to set up circuits to power a multi-bedroom apartment built under the boardwalk,” Barnes said.

“Another guy was able to tap into the beer lines at one of the casinos and got himself free drinks,” Small added. “It was honestly a bit impressive, and we even tried offering him a job at Public Works.”

Along with the fire hazard, Mitchem said that the encampments can also lead to other health risks.

“We have one encampment that was by the beach where their trash and debris would go to the beach and the water,” Mitchem said. “Now that’s a problem.”

The Supreme Court ruling is not without its detractors, with Jesse Rabinowitz, the communications and campaign director at the National Homelessness Law Center, expressing worries that cities will use the ruling to arrest homeless people as the primary solution to the issue.

While Small did not elaborate further on what exactly Atlantic City’s new law would entail, he said the details will be available once it’s presented sometime in August or September.

“We expect to get some pushback, it always comes, but as mayor, I will see this vision through,” he said.