When someone mentions the homeless problem most people think of the big cities. Los Angles, New York, even Nashville has had to deal with a surge in the homeless population over the past few years. One doesn’t think of small town America, but in recent months local property owners and residents say they’ve seen an influx of homeless related issues, and with it a rise in vandalism and crime.

While many have sympathy for those who legitimately are in need, residents say the darker underbelly of the homeless problem is rooted in drugs and criminal activities that leave some home and property owners victims themselves.

Lynn Adcock owns property at 701 Short Mountain Street, and says that an encampment there has left the lot in ruins. Adcock said that the lot, which includes a vacant house, has been left with piles of trash and vandalism to the home.

“They’re making a mess,” Adcock said. “At one point there was known to be 12 people living there. They’re leaving trash and pulling in more trash. They have tents set up back there, and at one time they had five tents set up. Someone has kicked in the door to the house, and tried to steal the air conditioners. We found two in the yard, and one was pushed inside and was sitting on the living room floor.”

According to Adcock, the encampment is affecting not only her property, but the surrounding properties as well. “From what I understand from one of the adjoining property owners is that everyone there has a criminal record, and they’ve had the police come out to help them because some of these people are coming out of the woods in various states of dress, or undress. They try to steal things from parked cars and air conditioning units.”

“We have ‘No Trespassing’ signs up,” Adcock continued. “The people on the property have been served a trespassing warrant, but it revolves. Some are still there, but when one or two leave, it seems one or two come in. I don’t know where they are coming from, but they are not all local people.”

Brian Craven with Short Mountain Village Apartments said he has had to deal with many of the same problems. “I took over as property manager in in June, 2020, and when I got here, the kids in the neighborhood know everything and they told me that there were four people living back over on that property. The people living over there were two men, a woman, and a little boy. I never saw them and they never caused me any trouble, so I didn’t do anything. It wasn’t our property anyway. It belonged to the State of Tennessee.”

“Then, about six months ago, the homeless camp grew,” Craven continued. “I think maybe those original four had left, but there were maybe 10-12 boys and men living over there. To me, they looked like they were on drugs, as they were twitching and couldn’t stay still. Those guys started breaking into cars, and one of them even tried to break into a woman’s central heat and air unit, while it was running and while she was at home. It cost us about $800 to fix it.”

“Another time someone broke into one of the vacant apartments while we were cleaning it, and did a lot of vandalism, and we came home one Sunday morning, and two boys came out of the woods from the camp, and they were walking down the street. One of them confronted us, like he was going to rush us, and we later learned that he had robbed a market by knife point.”

Craven said that as things continued to deteriorate, he sought help from law enforcement. “Just last week one of the men came out of there, took all of his clothes off, and started rolling around in the grass and pouring water on himself. We have kids here. When things like that started happening, that’s when I started calling the police. They came out here and busted it up, and actually arrested one or two. They told them they had to leave, and they did, but the thing is that they will leave and then come back, leave and come back. And they bring all of their trash with them.”

Both Adcock and Craven said they appreciate Smithville Police and the Mayor for trying to help. “The police have arrested some back there,” Adcock said. “I truly believe the police are doing all they can do. There’s just such an influx, and that’s not the only thing the police force has to take care of. I get that. Every time I’ve called them and asked them to meet me out there, or if I’ve called them and said ‘I think I’ve got a problem out there,’ they are right there.”

Craven also commended the police. “The Smithville Police and the mayor have been awesome in trying to help fix it, but I don’t know how you do that. Even if we break this one up, they are going to go somewhere. I don’t know what the answer is.”

Adcock and Craven also agree that a majority of the people at the camp seem to be there by choice rather than need. “I have seen cases of bottled water that people have left for them, and cases of canned food, sit there untouched,” Adcock explained. “There is still a case of food sitting out there that no one has touched. A lot of these people don’t want help. They want to do just as they are doing. I’m not sure when this problem began, but to me it seems to have coincided with the opening of some halfway houses in the area. I’ve never known of DeKalb County having a homeless problem prior to that.”

“If it was just homeless people down on their luck, I don’t think people would have a big problem,” Craven said. “These are people on drugs and with criminal histories just causing trouble and vandalism.”

Smithville Police Chief Mark Collins told the Smithville Review that there are no easy answers, and he agrees that many of the homeless simply do not want help. “We offer them help,” Collins replied. “We offer to drive them to Cookeville to the homeless mission there, to try to get them some help. There are also several local churches that offer help. Sometimes they want to go, but a majority of the time they don’t want help.”

Chief Collins continued, “We had a call just the other day about a woman out towards Ferodo, sleeping in a culvert and living there. We went and found her, told her that it was unsafe and she had to move, and offered to take her to the shelter in Cookeville, but she refused the help. Everyone we encounter, we offer them help, and 98 percent of them refuse.”

According to Chief Collins, there is only so much the police can do in these situations, weighing the protection of property owners, while protecting the rights of the homeless. “We know there’s a homeless problem in the city, and the county,” Collins said. “This whole area has a homeless problem. What we’re doing, if we get calls and we know where they’re at, we run everyone for warrants, and we make arrests out of it.”

He continued, “Like on Mrs. Adcock’s property, the first time we went over there we took all of their names. We told them, ‘You’ve got until tomorrow at noon to get out.’ When we went back, they were gone, but all they did was go somewhere else. We’ll check that site again, and if their name has been trespassed from that property, we’ll write them a citation and they’ll have to go to court.”

Mrs. Adcock agrees that there are no simple solutions. “I want the mess cleaned up and I want them gone. I don’t know if there should be some sort of a city ordinance to address the problem. I don’t know that the police could do any more than what they are doing now. They have arrested people for trespassing. They arrested three at one time. What more can they do? I’m not pointing the finger at any department.”

As for her property, Adcock said that she is planning on cleaning up the site, but needs the city’s help as well. “I’m going to bring a bulldozer in, at my expense, which would be between $6,000 and $10,000. That is the cost to clean it up. I think it would benefit the community if the city would grant a zoning change, where I could fence the property off and put up security lights. I could use it to store fencing and fence post there. I need a C3 Commercial zoning.”

As for the Smithville Police Department, Chief Collins said they will continue to keep an eye out at the encampments, as well as offer help to those that want it. “I tell everyone that it is not against the law to be homeless,” Chief Collins said. “We try to treat these people with respect and dignity. They are homeless and down on their luck, and we offer them help. Until they seek help or break a law, there’s nothing we really can do. It’s a balancing act. I’m here to protect the citizens and watch over their personal property, but I also can’t infringe on someone’s rights.”