BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Brunswick City Leaders are looking for new ways to address homelessness in the city. On Monday, the city commissioners held a meeting with local advocates, outreach groups and law enforcement to discuss what they need to do next.

One idea was to potentially close parks overnight but some advocates, like Wright Culpepper, the Executive Director at FaithWorks, say that might not be the best solution. 

“It’s one thing to say you can’t be here, but when you run them off from here there’s no place to run them to,” said Culpepper. 

FaithWorks operates several homeless outreach services in Brunswick including Open Doors, Sparrows Nest, and the Well. 

“One of the big issues I think that people that are homeless have is they don’t get a night’s sleep, and they have to fend off not just the police or code enforcement people, but the weather and heat and cold and rain and all that comes along with with being outside,” said Culpepper.

However, Culpepper does say he understands why people would be concerned with people sleeping in their area parks. 

“Naturally we don’t want any public place, sidewalks, parks, or any, any place to be closed, but we recognize that there are concerns,” said Culpepper. “We’ve got to come up with a place that they can run them to or, or encourage them to go when they’re telling them you can’t be here.”

Downtown Brunswick business owner Shayne Woodard agrees. 

“There’s definitely what we call a homeless issue, a homeless problem, um, but  there’s two aspects of it,” said Woodard. “There’s, yes, we feel bad for the homeless people, but then I’m a business and I need to run a business and make money and it’s not a good appearance for the city.”

Woodard has been working downtown for nearly a decade and he says while it’s still a problem, things are getting better. 

“I’ve noticed a noticeable difference in, you know, trying to be more proactive of keeping the parks, you know, empty, keep them moving along but then you still at night you still have, they’re camped out,” said Woodard. 

The nearby Mary Ross Waterfront Park, where many people go to rest, already has a curfew in place, closing at 10 p.m. and reopening at 6 but Woodard says that doesn’t stop anything.

“It’s obvious they’re there and they’re living there, um, for the night,” said Woodard. “All their stuff’s everywhere.” 

But like Culpepper, he wants to see more people getting help, than just getting moved out of the area parks. 

“It doesn’t solve the issue and the issue is these people need some type of help,” said Woodard.