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A pair of residents reporting adverse encounters with Elgin’s unhoused population are pleading with City Council to find solutions or they fear things will only get worse.
Melissa Misselhorn and Judy Belcher during a public-comments hearing March 5 asked city leaders to find a way to combat the “infiltration of homeless camp sites,” which both said have caused them significant stress over six months after transients got into their homes.
While this was only a public hearing and not an action item for the council, City Manager Thomas Mattis recognized the issue and clarified the Police Department’s response.
“We should always call the police and they should always respond. We want to know about these things, and I think we have a good record of responding. There’s a whole bigger discussion to be had about what we can do about it,” Mattis said.
Misselhorn said she doesn’t want Elgin to become overwhelmed by a transient population, citing nearby Austin as an example.
“I work in Austin, and for years I saw and continue to see what homelessness does to a community, but I never thought that would come to Elgin. I was wrong, it’s here today,” said Misselhorn, who came to her first council meeting to share her story.
According to Misselhorn, an Elgin native, she watched as up to nine transients in November overran her neighbor’s private property.
She has witnessed drug use, assaults, theft, vandalism and fires set day and night, both in wooden buildings and outside, within city limits, she told the council.
The unhoused group faced eviction in December, returned, and had to leave again in January only to reappear a few weeks later, she said.
At her home, Misselhorn has invested in window coverings and locks to feel safer, but that didn’t stop a homeless person from getting inside her house and her bedroom, she said, her voice shaking with emotion.
Misselhorn replaced her broken and stolen goods, discarded opened food items and purchased more security measures. In addition, Misselhorn fixed holes cut in the property’s fencing that surrounds her livestock.
Not only could the openings pose a potential for more loss, but loose livestock wandering on roads also present a danger, she added.
“They’re cut, they are not broken. So, what’s our final tab? Well, it’s ongoing. There is still a homeless community behind my house in the woods, on city property,” said the resident. “When does this final, physical, emotional rollercoaster cost end for us, when do I get to feel safe again? I don’t know. I’m not the only one in town impacted by homeless people at this moment. These people are not from Elgin, Texas.”
Misselhorn said there are similar homeless encampments just feet away from schools, parks, day cares, stores and churches.
“If all of this happened to me within the last few months, then it could happen to anyone. Please, please do something about this,” Misselhorn added.
Belcher echoed those sentiments when she took the lectern, discussing an encounter that happened prior to Misselhorn’s.
Speaking to the council, Belcher said she came upon a man inside her home when she left her bedroom to answer a knock at the door.
The individual claimed people were chasing him and he wanted to be “rescued,” Belcher said.
“It was traumatizing to me. I ask that the city of Elgin, or some committees, get some kind of plan so that other people like us aren’t traumatized. I don’t want the homeless issue to grow, and Elgin become a place like Austin,” said the longtime resident.
