Homeless estimate a changing number

Oconee municipal leaders and guests learned during a meeting last night of a recent spike in the numbers of homeless throughout the county.  Executive Director Tim Gordon of Our Daily Rest quoted a United States HUD estimate of 84 homeless individuals in January this year; however, sheriff’s lieutenant Tommy Crompton estimates “more than 300” currently, though he concedes it’s a number subject to continuous change.  Nevertheless, the large number of concerned public officials and others at a meeting of the Oconee Municipal Association agreed that homelessness is a problem that deserves a combined, concentrated effort to try to alleviate.  Sheriff Mike Crenshaw, leading last night’s discussions, prefaced his comments by saying there are some people who prefer the homeless lifestyle and travel the country.  But Crenshaw conceded that there are substantial numbers who need and want help, whether it is for economic reasons or a drug or alcohol addiction.  The sheriff introduced Lt. Crompton, who heads a unit tasked to investigate local vagrancies and homelessness.  Crompton displayed colored snapshots of various encampments, many of which have been discovered in the Seneca area, including one that cost a property owner $22 thousand to clean up.  Sheriff Crenshaw says, by law, it’s incumbent on his officers to arrest homeless individuals who trespass on property against a private property owner’s interests.