KYTC closes exit to sweep ramp near homeless camp in downtown Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A homeless community in downtown Louisville faced uncertainty on Tuesday evening when Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) cleaned up a nearby ramp.

There's a homeless community with a dozen or so people near the ramp at Exit 5B on Interstate 64 that comes out on Third Street and River Road near the KFC Yum! Center. The ramp close to the Second Street Bridge and Ohio River was closed by KYTC around 7 p.m. to clear debris and sweep the ramp and reopened around 10:30 p.m.

3RD STREET RAMP CLEANUP — Interstate 64 ramp near the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky.

The state agency declined an interview request from WDRB News.

Jeff Gill, founder of Hip Hop Cares, an organization that advocates and supports Louisville's homeless community, said people living near the ramp weren't given notice of the plans to clean the ramp. The uncertainty left some people wondering if their camp was going to be cleared by workers.

"All they want to do is survive, it doesn't matter if it's state or city property," Gill said. "It's people that are needing help. They don't need the same set of help, everybody there might not want to go to a shelter or hotel."

Summer Dickerson calls the underpass her home.

"I've been homeless five as well," Dickerson said. "I'm a trafficking survivor, and I realized that on the streets, there's a lot of different things that go on. And so I want to be part of the solution."

She was worried about the future of the encampment on Tuesday afternoon.

"We don't just show up because there's things that never happened, camps have been cleared, things have been thrown away," Dickerson said. "People haven't been treated that good. And so that's why we now show up and make sure that our house in this community is also being treated with dignity and respect."

The location can present a challenge for who is responsible for it, whether it be city or state, according to Gill.

"In this particular spot and any of the overpasses, historically over the years, there has always been this back-and-forth conversation, argument or debate of who actually owns the space underneath the overpass," Gill said.

Last week, the city of Louisville cleared a large homeless camp off Interstate 264 and Bardstown Road. Gill said people at that encampment were offered hotel rooms, but that isn't always the norm.

"When they clear camps, the city has touted on multiple occasions that when they clear camps they put people in hotel rooms, but they only do that in some cases," Gill said.

The homeless community needs advocates on-site when a camp is going to be cleared, according to Gill.

"These are people with their belongings who are trying to survive," Gill said. "There may be some trash, but none of that is debris."

Based on data from 2021, the Coalition said more than 10,000 people experienced homelessness in Louisville.

Earlier this year, the city announced plans to spend more than $30 million to address homelessness and create a community care campus in Smoketown. Mayor Craig Greenberg has also said he is working to add 15,000 affordable housing units to the city in the next four years.

On Tuesday evening, the homeless community kept their belongings and place they call home, despite the road cleaning.

"Our houseless people were treated with respect and dignity, because we were standing there and the city workers did the things they needed to do," Dickerson said.

Gill, who provides supplies and resources to Louisville's homeless community, wants city and state leaders to support people who need it most.

"Every constituent is still a constituent. They are still a person," Gill said. "I hope they end that game with compassion."