LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Neighbors say it's a familiar site on streets leading to Old Louisville: people inside tents on sidewalks, under overpasses and along roads.

Tuesday night, Metro Councilman Phillip Baker, who represents the area, hosted a meeting for neighbors and city leaders to talk about how to solve the problem of homelessness.

"I see a trauma. I see a need. I also see some of the concerns," Baker said.

One mother expressed concerns about a homeless camp across the street from her home.

"There was a literal explosion again right outside of my baby's window," Kristen Baylor said.

She worries about her safety, while other neighbors expressed concern about the presence of the upcoming multimillion-dollar Community Care Campus in nearby Smoketown.

"Those services could be offered anywhere," one neighbor said. "Why are so many crammed in to downtown and Old Louisville?"

City leaders said the Community Care Campus is "one resource" at addressing the problem. However, Natalie Harris with the Coalition for the Homeless said there's still not nearly enough shelters for all the homeless in Louisville.

In fact, Harris said the city has reached the point that shelters outweigh the need for housing.

Donny Greene is the co-founder of Feed Louisville, and tries to help homeless transition into housing.

"When you're unhoused, your worse moments, your worst everything, happens in front of everyone," Greene said. "We need resources, and we need real resources, we don't want to criminalize survival."

Those resources Greene refers to includes housing and mental health. He was among those to question the amount of money spent on recent clearings of homeless camps.

Deputy Mayor Nicole George insists only a small number of camps on public property have been relocated.

"And we do that based on risk," George said.

Others questioned where the unhoused go once those camps are removed, to which George responded at one point, "somewhere with less risk."

"Compassion is not leaving someone to live in an off-ramp where a car can potentially hit a tent," George said.

Dustin Collins is recently unhoused and brought up the concerns of those with nowhere to go.

"I just think there should be more places for the homeless to go at night time instead of being moved from spot to spot," Collins said.

Harris said this is a problem that was not created overnight, and will not be solved overnight.

"Our cities and our states are left not just trying to build housing, but trying to deal with the repercussions of all the things that were talked about," Harris said. "Our medical system, and our housing system, and our mental health system not being able to fill what is needed."

The meeting did connect some homeless to available resources. In addition, Councilman Baker is committing $10,000 toward Louisville Metro Police to pay for overtime to help keep the neighborhoods in his district safer. 

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