Oct 15, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) - The amount of homeless people near the I-35 bridge over SE 44th Street has become too much for one metro man. He said there’s trash all over the ground and some of them even wander in the street. He hopes to see something done to fix it soon. "It's a lot going on,” Melvin Robinson said. Robinson passes that area every time he goes to chemotherapy. "It's almost overwhelming,” he added. LOCAL NEWS: Officer allegedly shoots, kills family dog in Hennessey His main concerns are the homeless living underneath and around the bridge as well as the trash they leave behind. Someone was even taken away by police officers while KFOR was there, though it isn’t clear why. Another problem he sees is pedestrians in the street. He said he knows of incidents where people have been hit by cars. “You are dealing with a basket full of trash, just in the middle of the street,” he said. “You know, it's just taking his time, no rush. I mean, green lights on both sides, horns honking." "Of course, people living under a bridge is a safety concern,” said Jamie Caves with the Key to Home partnership. Caves is the strategy implementation manager for the Key to Home partnership. They partnership has 50 service partners across the city working together to address homelessness. She said this area is on their radar. "We're working through the city one encampment at a time to help address and close those encampments,” Caves said. The biggest key is finding willing landlords and affordable housing to move groups of homeless at once. Key to Home also uses outreach teams to offer 12 months of support services to effort closing encampments. LOCAL NEWS: Bride says she was “ghosted” by photographer days before wedding "So that we can protect the health and safety of the community and reopen that space,” she said. While it might not unfold as quickly as Melvin would like, he’s hoping this area at SE 44th Street and I-35 will soon become an intersection no one notices. "It's just going to keep trickling on if we don't get something going on now,” Robinson said. Caves said if the community sees anyone that needs support, it can be reported to the OKC Action Center. Oklahoma City police said they have homeless outreach teams as well. For more information and a full list of services offered by the key to home partnership, visit the links embedded in this story.
Respond, make new discussions, see other discussions and customize your news...

To add this website to your home screen:

1. Tap tutorialsPoint

2. Select 'Add to Home screen' or 'Install app'.

3. Follow the on-scrren instructions.

Feedback
FAQ
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service