SAN ANTONIO — One apartment manager in downtown San Antonio says he’s disturbed by the increasing number of homeless people living around the property.
“It looks like a dump out here,” Leroy Ramirez said.
The apartment building off San Pedro and I-35 has become a popular destination for homeless people to gather.
Ramirez expressed he’s disgusted by the mess.
“A lot of homeless people hanging out here. They go behind our dumpster there, leaving their feces,” he said.
There have been numerous occasions when homeless people have attempted to break into tenants’ cars and knock on doors asking for money. Ramirez noted it’s sometimes gets so dangerous that it comes to the point where he doesn’t leave his room without a flashlight stun gun.
“We can’t walk around here without one of these people walking up to us, and we feel unsafe,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez has complained to police, city council and the Texas Department of Transportation. But he says he hasn’t noticed any substantial change in the presence of homeless people.
“Just recently I’ve been contacting the city councilman, TxDOT, the code compliance," he said. "If you don’t do nothing about it, they never show up."
The City of San Antonio has stated in the past that it's following Centers for Disease Control guidelines in regards to the homeless community during the pandemic by not removing encampments except if they exist on private property. The city has made efforts to expand shelter access to high-risk individuals. Shelters tight on resources, such as Haven For Hope, have begun taking in new members from the homeless community while maintaining safety protocols.
In the meantime, Ramirez is doing what he can. He longs for the day when something is finally done.
“I try to keep the area clean around us because we live here," he said. "They (homeless people) do need help, but they don’t want it. They just keep coming back.”
