Mayor John Whitmire was attempting to persuade homeless people to relocate off the streets to shelters as frigid weather and snowfall swept across Houston this week. One woman, he claimed, expressed fear about her safety at the packed warming centers.
Whitmire stated, “We assured her, but she wouldn’t go,” at a press conference on Wednesday. “We’ll deal with that population effectively in days to come by making sure that they re safe, secure, and let people know you can t sleep on the streets of Houston as current ordinance allows.”
Whitmire unveiled a plan to “end homelessness” in Houston in November. He demanded an increase in revenue for outreach and programs, as well as an extension of the city’s “civility ordinance.” The legislation, which is now in force in 12 Houston neighborhoods, forbids anyone from sitting, lying down, or putting personal belongings on sidewalks between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Whitmire stated that he hopes to extend the hours to include the evening and implement a citywide version of the regulation.
In anticipation of a freeze that lasted mostly from Monday night through Thursday morning, the city opened ten warming centers, where over 1,300 individuals sought refuge, according to Whitmire. Two persons were discovered dead outside on Wednesday, according to the city’s Office of Emergency Management. Authorities said one individual with dementia traveled from a house to an abandoned church, and the other was discovered in a parking lot.
Whitmire frequently voiced his annoyance at the homeless persons who turned down shelter during this week’s storm response news conferences.
“We ve got to deal, ladies and gentlemen, anyone that can hear my voice, with the mental health conditions of some of our residents,” he stated. “When you re in single-digit temperatures, and you re begging a person to go to a warming center and he or she refuses, we ve got to handle that population compassionately, appeal to the state of Texas, the federal government and our partners at the county to treat mental health in our community.”
Whitmire previously cited a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that permits communities to penalize individuals for sleeping in public areas as a means of requiring them to vacate the street.
The Houston City Council would need to approve that adjustment to the city ordinance. Julian Ramirez, the chairman of the Quality of Life Committee, told Houston Public Media that he is amenable to an extension of the civility ordinance and that the administration will speak on homelessness to the committee in early February.
Whitmire and former Mayor Sylvester Turner got into a heated argument because the city was slow to open warming facilities in the midst of cold conditions earlier in January. Whitmire mentioned a 2020 rule that stated warming centers could only open once temperatures fell to 24 degrees for two hours or more. The city “worked around” the rule to open the facilities ultimately, Whitmire said.Turner claimed Whitmirewas “blaming the previous administration for his failure to open shelters when it was cold,” adding “our actions were not governed by a policy but driven by common sense and good management.”
