Last weekend, a friend of mine found a homeless person sleeping in her building’s lobby. It freaked her out and she asked for advice. I didn’t know what to tell her.
What’s so bad about a homeless man seeking refuge in a heated building if he’s not bothering anybody? On the other hand, what if he followed my friend to her apartment where she lives alone? How do we know he’s harmless?
So I told my friend I’d post her dilemma on my blog and forward her any and all feedback I received. So tell me what you think.
Here’s an excerpt from her email:
“What the heck should I do if this happens again? I do not want the possibility of a homeless man making it up to outside my apartment door, and I don’t feel safe trying to wake him up and kick him out of the building myself.”
She continued:
“Is this something the police would even respond to? Or would they laugh at me?”
Now my friend is not insensitive. In fact, she’s a fairly liberal, young professional who lives alone in midtown Manhattan. My gut reaction is to let this guy be unless he seems dangerous or bothers her or any other residents. And that’s ultimately what I believe she should do.
But as a journalist who used to cover all kinds of crazy murders around the city, I also know that maybe calling the police isn’t such a bad idea (even though I’m not sure what they would do.) I want her to be safe and I know this is something that now rattles her whenever she comes home alone at night.
What do you think?
Homeless in New York City 
Why not have someone (possibly male) go with her and talk to the person? Maybe get to know the person a bit and explain the concern – I’m sure the person might be understanding.
It seems more people are less willing to actually talk to the person, and more prone to call the police. Where I live (Richmond, VA) the police will make the homeless leave and go somewhere else (although where is the question, since there really isn’t any place they can go to that they won’t get kicked out of at some point… there’s not that much room in the shelters for everyone).
Just my two cents…
Hi Chris,
I’m Jen, Clare’s friend mentioned in the original post. I think your solution of getting someone to go talk to the guy with me is a good one, but (a) I live alone and (b) this is happening on weekends when I’m coming home late at 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. At that point of night, I wouldn’t feel comfortable calling a friend to come over, and I don’t know any of the neighbors (many of which are elderly) well enough to wake them up at this hour.
I’d be happy to answer any more questions you’ve got!
-Jen
I’m not sure then… what you’re doing late, is it with anyone that you might be able to see if they could take a few extra minutes and go with you home? If not, I guess just try the police…
Unfortunately, it’s not, we all go our separate ways home. Given the subway situation in NYC (it can take a half hour to an hour to catch a train home past midnight), I don’t think it’s fair for me to ask someone to come with me just to talk to this homeless guy, then send him or her home.
The incident described in the original post did happen again the following Friday (I got home at 11:15 pm this time, not as late), so I called the super, left a message, then called the police. The police said they’d be sending someone over. At midnight, my super called back and said he’d just kicked the guy out of the building. I then called the police back to tell them the situation was OK, but was informed that they don’t “cancel” dispatches and the officers would be coming anyway.
I stayed up until 2:30 am, with no call from the police, and when I woke up the next morning, I had no missed calls on my cell phone. They never came.