Belongings of people experiencing homelessness surround the outside of a camping tent under the Valentine Street bridge near downtown Tyler in 2021. As freezing temperatures approach, nonprofits and volunteers in Tyler are stepping up to help those in need.

As House Bill 1925 sits on Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk, city officials of the Tyler Police Department are working closely with a member of the community to address homelessness in the city.

HB 1925 would prohibit people experiencing homelessness from camping, or residing temporarily in a place with shelter (a tent, tarpaulin, sleeping bag, bedrolls or any devices designed to protect them from weather conditions). The person found in violation of the law would be charged with a class C misdemeanor.

On June 9, Tyler Police Department officers arrived at the bridge on Valentine Street to clear the area of people experiencing homelessness months before Sept. 1, when the bill would go into effect if approved with Abbott’s signature.

Although there are only 20 individuals living under the bridge, there are approximately 200 to 300 people experiencing homelessness of some sort in Tyler, whether that’s couch surfing with friends and family or sleeping on the streets, Tyler Police Department Chief Jimmy Toler

Months before the time the law would go into effect in the state of Texas, local authorities are asking,“ What can we do?”

“That would turn around and make it unlawful for individuals to camp on public grounds without the permission of the organizations, and if that gets passed, Sept. 1, that would become illegal to be camping where they’re at,” Toler said. “Instead of waiting until that point, let’s start that process of transitioning individuals to some other type of housing or assistance they can access.”

This is when conversations began. Officers agreed to begin looking for the next step to get people into shelters and assistance.

Conversations started with Callynth Finney, of Tyler, who has become the city’s lead organizer in helping the homeless. Her group of volunteers has become known as the “Tyler Street Team.”

“She’s put some rules in and she’s made and tried to better manage (trash and hoarding issues) as it starts to de-escalate and also to find another way of dealing with the situation, but those are all personal guidelines or personal rules put in place,” Toler said. “We don’t have the ability to reinforce those, we didn’t establish those.”

Finney said the rules were established when two couples, who live under the bridge, began to hoard belongings and make big messes.

Finney said because of this, officials from the Tyler Police Department made the decision to get everyone out of the area.

That day, Finney said she sat on the ground with people experiencing homelessness and had a meeting where everyone spoke and discussed what they were going to do.

“Some cried and one of them said, ‘Everyone just feels like we’re parasites,’” she said. “It was a sad time and I didn’t know what to do, so I ended up calling the mayor and sharing my heart about pulling the rug out from under (the homeless) like this and not having an answer.”

Partnership

After talking to Mayor Don Warren and Toler, Finney agreed to a plan with rules and regulations, and she was successful in buying more time for people experiencing homelessness to continue living there.

One of the couples refused to clean up and was asked to leave and the other couple worked for three days to clean their area.

“As long as people follow these rules, then they get to stay until Sept. 1, but come Sept. 1, I have no idea what we’re going to do unless people decide to help,” Finney said.

Aside from Finney’s rules, the Tyler Police Department has established rules and ordinances, such as not being able to put a tent up anywhere in the city close to a business. Being near a place of business would require approval from the fire department to make sure the health and safety standards are there.

“You don’t want to be so difficult that you’re not caring and you’re not compassionate to what they’re going through,” Toler said. “I think we’re all there, but we also can’t ignore it and just act like they’re not there.”

Finney’s plan is the one city officials are backing and relying on to help clear up the homelessness crisis in Tyler — an issue seen in many cities across the country. Her plan involves the entire Tyler community.

“In the past, the only way I’ve been able to do anything is through other people in the community,” she said. “During the storm in February, we were able to help people because the entire community came together, so that’s what I’m hoping to see again here.”

Finney’s plan asks churches to assist the homelessness help. For every 200 church members, one person could be helped. If a church has 400 members, two people experiencing homelessness can be helped. If someone has 1,000 members, five of those under the bridge could be helped.

“My request is that every church would at least just take one,” Finney said. “Adopt one person experiencing homelessness that wants help. Not all of them want help, we have some under the bridge right now that don’t want help. Come Sept. 1, I know that those are probably going to go find somewhere else to be homeless, but that’s not everybody. There are some (homeless people) that want help, that maybe they have developmental delays or mental illness or other physical disability.”

“It’s physically impossible to pull oneself up by their bootstraps,” she continued. “You can’t do that. It’s impossible, that’s the whole point of that phrase. A lot of them have disabilities even though you can’t see a physical disability. They have mental, emotional and physical disabilities.”

Finney encourages a family or a small church group to “adopt” a person experiencing homelessness.

“It would look like having dinner with them regularly, celebrating their birthday, picking them up for church, finding out if they need to see the doctor, helping them get their birth certificate or IDs, maybe helping them to get their GED, or whatever it is,” she said.

Finney said each person is going to have a unique story, so the way to be their friend and to love them will be different.

“People don’t need another case worker. They don’t need another program, they need individuals, they need real relationships with healthy people that know how to have healthy boundaries and are willing to invest in them,” Finney said.

Finding Resources

Toler agrees there are a variety of issues affecting the homeless, such as mental health concerns and drug and alcohol abuse. He suggested city officials could work with homeless assistance organizations like the Salvation Army and Hiway 80 Rescue Mission’s Gateway to Hope day center.

Toler said there is a lack of mental health resources in the area. He also said that often, police have had to put people in the hospital for mental health treatment, and they have to be transferred seven to eight hours away to receive that treatment, because no beds are available here.

Toler said the city’s plan is to work with Finney every day to make sure that it’s safe and clean under the bridge and that Finney’s team is taking steps forward to get individuals into transitional housing, as well as providing education about available resources from local nonprofits.

Finney said that if churches can’t help, she doesn’t know what other plan she would put into place.

Toler said the biggest part of the next step into transitional housing is to work with the groups.

“Do we have the authority to go in and clean it up? Yeah,” he said.

He added police have that authority because of safety standards, but he said that decision would displace a lot of people very quickly. That’s not what the police department wants, Toler said.

Toler said officer Johnny Green is out there almost every day trying to help people get off the street, including looking for housing, transitional treatment and employment.

“That’s the one there, is to do what we can in a compassionate manner to find a solution and not just destined everybody to be under the bridge forever,” Toler said.

He said they also have to maintain the quality of life of the local businesses surrounding the area, as well as those who live there.

“We don’t want to go into this with a law enforcement aspect, where (House Bill) 1925 goes into effect, where people could be issued citations, all that stuff. If we ever get to that point, it’s to educate, educate, educate, assist people and warn people and try to get to that next step without ever having to take any law enforcement action. That is the hope we have,” said Toler.

Toler said with the huge church community in Tyler, support from them is going to be a game changer.

To combat the homelessness issue in Tyler, the city is also working on a project to provide affordable housing, which is an ongoing development project.

Affordable housing would be the last step from transitional housing after staying at a shelter and getting help there. The affordable housing would be available once the individual saves enough money and maintains a job.