Mayor Kim Ecklund is defending the city’s actions in the weeks since declaring a state of emergency over the city’s homeless population.

Ecklund spoke about the issue during Monday’s City Council meeting after the city and its partners cleared out and cleaned up homeless encampments near Brooklyn Square. She said, contrary to what has been said on social media, no homeless have been charged with being homeless. The city does have the ability to do so, according to signs that have been erected prior to targeted sweeps in areas where the homeless have been camping.

“In any of the cleanups we have done, no one has been arrested,” Ecklund said. “If they are getting arrested because they’re homeless, it’s because they have other issues associated, whether it’s a warrant, whatever it may be. They’re not being arrested because they’re homeless. They’re being arrested because of other illegal activity. I want that clear as far as that is concerned.”

Monday’s targeted sweep in Brooklyn Square was the second the city has conducted in the past two weeks following a prior sweep of Ransom Alley. In both cases the city gave homeless 96 hours to gather their belongings. Notices have had listings of agencies that can provide help, including the county Social Services Department, county Mental Hygiene Department, Salvation Army, UCAN City Mission and Chautauqua Opportunities. Contact information is also listed for the Chautauqua Center, Evergreen Health Association, Mental Health Association, Love INC., SafePoint Lighthouse, Recovery Options Made Easy, Chautauqua Works, Infinity Resources and St. Susan Center.

Ecklund said the UCAN City Mission has space available while a veterans shelter in Niagara Falls has also offered space to house some of the homeless from Jamestown.

“We weren’t sure how many homeless were there,” Ecklund said of the Ransom Alley targeted sweep. “It was a city owned alley, it was cleaned out in its entirety. We assisted four people to get off homelessness – not we, as in the city, we the collaborated group of agencies that are in the business of providing those services, not the city. However I want for clarity, I want to say it clearly over and over and over again, we have been doing outreach since I took office in January on homelessness. Declaring the state of emergency has actually increased the amount of outreach. These people have been visited with and talked to.”

She specifically mentioned Mobile Crisis, Adult Protective Services, the county Mental Hygiene and Probation departments, the Jamestown Police and Fire departments, the city Department of Development, the Department of Public Works, County Executive PJ Wendel, the county Office of Emergency Services and the state Office of Temporary Assistance for their help in the past several weeks.

“I’m sure I probably missed somebody here and there, but those have been the main offices and the main departments and services, not to mention all the not-for-profit agencies that are out there doing the leg work,” Ecklund said. “That is their business.”

Ecklund said in a news release late last week that there has been some promise of help from the state, including confirmation from Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Office of Mental Health that funding for the Crisis Stabilization Center for Recovery Options Made Easy (ROME) is advancing and continued state collaboration with hospital-based providers to expand acute psychiatric capacity in the region. A Mobile Medication Unit supported by Promesa is expected to become operational later this year, enhancing access to addiction treatment medications.

There hasn’t been an influx of money yet. Instead the city is spending Community Development Block Grant money to pay workers to clean up homeless encampments.

“The last thing I want to clear up, because there’s a lot of incorrect statements being made that the city has received an overabundance of funding since we declared the state of emergency,” Ecklund said. “We have received nothing. In fact the city receives zero dollars to address homelessness. What we have spent in these cleanups, including (Monday) was money that we moved from CDBG, so other programs that were in CDBG are now being impacted by that, but it has to be paid for and we have to clean it up. There are serious health risks. I’m going to be blunt and say that in one encampment they were using stacked tires as a toilet, so that’s just one little thing.”