Members of North Topeka, Oakland voice frustration to city leaders on ongoing homelessness

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Wednesday night, Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala put together a special meeting that allowed members of District two to share their frustration, ask questions and let city leaders hear their voices over the ongoing homelessness issue in the community.

From encampments, theft, fires and mentally ill individuals, the problem has grown to a point where people who live in the district are starting to feel unsafe and even fear that the property values of their homes are going down. There have even been multiple reports of public indecency by individuals suffering from mental illness. While organizers of Monday's meeting expressed frustration at how the problem has been handled so far by the city, one person in attendance tells 27 News it may be too big for the city to handle.

"Out of sight out of mind isn't fixing the problem," Oakland resident, Nick Brady said. "You don't fix a leaky roof by putting a bucket under it, right? You go up on the roof and replace a shingle. So we got to go up on the roof and replace a shingle. We've got to address this from a top level on the state."

"This meeting would not have had to been called if the continued pushes, pleading, meetings, etcetera that I've been having with any number of administrations because we're in our third city manager now, would of been addressed," Councilwoman Christina Valdivia-Alcala said.

Brady adds that there are areas of Topeka, like West Topeka, that he says don't see much homeless crime because action is taken when it happens. He would like to see that same action happen in Oakland.