Monroe County says it is “no longer an option” for homeless people to spend the night in the Civic Center Parking Garage downtown.
Monroe County Executive Adam Bello said on Monday that people staying there would be offered alternate housing and other services to get them out of the garage.
Monday evening, the Rochester Police Crisis Intervention Team and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office Crisis Intervention Team partnered with more than seven other agencies to address the homeless population in the garage. Five people were provided with emergency housing and other services, and one man was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant from a previous crime and taken to jail. Prior to tonight, police say 44 people were removed from the garage and put into alternative shelters.
Police say this detail will continue into the night and through the days ahead.
This action follows two recent incidents in the garage, one an assault on a man returning to his car with his family, and the other an attempt by one man to set another man on fire.
County Executive Bello said every person who’s been inhabiting the garage now has a bed available to sleep in. He said living in unsafe, unsanitary and increasingly violent circumstance is inhumane.