Homeless in the Alley

[Sean Davidson]

Hey BP,

We are building some houses near downtown Nashville and they are nearing completion. The houses are on a dead end street with an alley behind them, and there was a pretty sizable homeless camp set up back there, mostly because there were some empty lots owned by the city and not much traffic. Us building the houses and calling the cops a few times when they were in our houses has brought the number down significantly, but there are a few hold outs. We talk to them, but right now they have no real reason to leave and have pretty much told us that. We have attempted to maintain good relationships with them so that they didn't harass our builders and vandalize our project, but now it is time for them to move on.

I was wondering whether anyone had any recommendations on peaceful means with which to enforce our property rights, since we are about to sell the houses in a few weeks and would prefer to resolve the issue as soon as possible. We have tried calling the cops, but they just leave and come back a few hours later. My thought is to build a fence immediately against the alley so that they can't set up camp on our property. Any other suggestions? I've been trying to be nice for 6 months now, but politely asking hasn't gotten me very far.

[Thomas S.]

Set up a sprinkler or turn the hose on them every time they appear.

I have also heard that spreading large quantities of pepper or itching powder on the ground where they camp also may work.