“Dear PoPville,
Dating back to November 1, 2018, a homeless woman named Gloria moved into the alley between a former Howard dorm and our condo building. The dorm is under construction and initially, one of my neighbors overheard a construction worker informing Gloria to look out for people trying to steal from the construction site for some amount of money. Since that time, she occupied the alley and regularly yells between the hours of 11pm-7am and outside of those hours as well. She is loud enough that the ground floor up to the third floor can hear her loud and clear.
Fast forward to the month of December and here is a summary of what she has done repeatedly:
· Moved to the entrance of our building under our call box and right next to our front doors (this happens every so often)
· Gotten verbally aggressive with me – told me to shut up and lunged at me when I said I was not talking to her
· Caught on camera stealing packages at least 3 times
· Urinating and defecating on our front entrance patio
· Every other day or night ranting and raving for hours during 11pm-7am (the first three floors can hear her very clearly)
· Moved from the alley to the sidewalk and has set up a whole area for herself (construction blocked off the alley)
Below is a list of what repeated actions we have taken between November and December of 2018.
· Contacted the homeless shelter hotline
· Contacted the city’s emergency mental health services
· Contacted an NGO to see what help could be provided
· Contacted Ward 1 councilwoman’s office
· Contacted the Commander of the 3rd District police precinct
· Called 911 for the noise distrubnces and package thefts
The end result after two months of dealing with the homeless woman has been that she is still there and nothing has worked. Collectively as a building, we understand she has mental health issues and is homeless. So as our discussions and actions have been taken and considered, we try to air on the side of caution and compassion. However, we also are living with a constant nuisance with her yelling at all hours of the night and stealing our packages. We cannot coexist peacefully. She has a network in the neighborhood of other homeless people or just friends that come by and check on her. Occasionally she seems to leave to go somewhere and sometimes has a portable house phone in her possession. She may be unstable, but she is completely aware of and proficient at navigating the “system” to be able to survive on the street this long. As a building, we are at our wits end. Currently, we are activating a barring notice but frankly, being able to arrest her seems like a waste of resources since she will just come right back. If there is any advice or help out there, we would welcome it.”