Homeless people removed from South MS land as neighbors report gunshots, machete wielder
Bob Silvestro was peering through his living room blinds at yet another homeless person, this one trying to balance bags of belongings on a bicycle that he pushed along Greater Avenue in Biloxi
People without homes are a daily sight in the Greater Southern Subdivision between the beach highway and Pass Road. The modest neighborhood sits just east of what was once the famed Broadwater Beach Resort, which included a beachfront hotel and marina, and the manicured Broadwater Sun Golf Course.
Gulfport businessmen Roy Anderson III and W.C. “Cotton” Fore bought the sprawling property shortly before Hurricane Katrina’s devastation in August 2005 and had planned a casino development there.
But it instead became a magnet for homeless people. The interior of the 266-acre property includes ponds, woods and overgrown fields where homeless people camp. The Broadwater owners were sympathetic to their plight, as were residents living near the property.
Thomas Reed, a veteran who is experiencing homelessness, outside of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Biloxi on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Reed, who has camped on the Broadwater property, said he’s been taken advantage of while homeless and had his money stolen on occasion.
But in the last year or two, residents say, they have noticed a more menacing tone from some of those living in woods on and around the Broadwater property. Residents report property thefts, gunfire and even one machete-welding man on a skateboard.
The city has been trying to clear property the school system owns nearby, and enlisted the Broadwater owners to clean out some of their acreage. The Catholic Diocese and homeless organizations, working with the city, have had some recent success several miles to the east at moving some people from the street into homes.
Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich is hoping some of the homeless people on the Broadwater property also can find permanent housing.
The city plans in the near future to open a police substation on school property near the Broadwater. Plans include an assessment center where nonprofit organizations could work toward getting some of the homeless population housed.
“They’re going to go somewhere, unless you assess the situation and give them solutions,” Gilich said. “We’ve had fires, we’ve had gunshots, we’ve had dope and sexual battery. This is real bad stuff.
“Go interview folks in that subdivision. They’ll tell you it’s continuous . . . We’re not unique. That’s just the way the world is.”
Residents of the Greater Southern Subdivision, circled, say homeless people living on property shown in the highlighted areas, have been creating problems, leading the city to clean Area F, which the school district owns. The owners of the former Broadwater Beach Resort have also cleared about 16 acres of their property, shown as Area B. An estate owns Area A. Most of the land between Iris Street and Beauvoir Road, and the beach highway and Pass Road to the north and south, are part of the 266-acre Broadwater property, which includes a former golf course.
Homeless shelters rejected
The Salvation Army ran the only homeless shelter in Harrison County, but Hurricane Katrina also ended that operation in Gulfport. Residents have since objected to shelters proposed in both Gulfport and Biloxi.
“Nobody wants a shelter in their backyard,” said Dena Wittmann, executive director of the nonprofit Open Doors Homeless Coalition. Open Doors and others have been meeting with city of Biloxi officials for almost a year to work on solutions.
They most recently focused on helping open the Catholic Diocese’s day center on the former Mercy Cross High School campus in East Biloxi. The Mercy Cross property, where homeless people also were living in the woods, has been cleaned up.
Amanda Thorne, who is experiencing homelessness, and her dog Batman outside of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Biloxi on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. Thorne, who is from Biloxi, said she has been a victim of assault while being forced to live on the streets. She is one of many homeless people who have camped on the Broadwater property.
The people who were staying there have been allowed to remain, if they follow established rules, until they can be sheltered or relocated. By last week, the population had shrunk from 45 to 22. In addition, 61 people had been connected with housing, said Jennifer Williams, diocesan director of Catholic Charities of South Mississippi.
Homeless people were forced to move off the eastern end of the Broadwater property around Iris Street, and school property to the north, before the city and Broadwater began mowing and cleaning it out.
“We’ve seen new local homeless in the day center lately, but most of them just come eat and leave,” Williams said. “We haven’t allowed anybody new to move in since we first opened. We are a day center. We are not a homeless camp.”
A hole in a fence leads to a trail with trash and debris on property that was once part of the defunct Broadwater Beach Resort off of Iris Street in Biloxi on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.
A city of Biloxi vehicle mows the right of way along Iris Street, where the city school district and Broadwater Development LLP own property being cleared for better visibility. Homeless camps on some of the land also have been removed.
Homeless people who lived on the Broadwater property say their options are limited. Amanda Thorne, who is from Biloxi, said she lost her house three years ago and was living on the Broadwater property. She’s moved to another spot, but has been told she’ll have to leave there, too.
Thorne, who has multiple health problems, said that she’s been working with nonprofit organizations to find housing. She’s living with a friend and her dog, Batman, in a tent that other homeless people had abandoned.
“There’s abandoned buildings we could use for the homeless,” Thorne said. “They’re pushing us away and we have nowhere to go.”
Biloxi neighborhood working on safety
Roy Anderson said about 16 acres of the Broadwater property is being cleared. Visibility will help the city and neighbors monitor what’s happening on the property, he said. While they wanted to extend compassion to the homeless population, Anderson said, the Broadwater owners are willing to do what the city and neighbors need for safety reasons.
Another Catholic organization that provides homeless services, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, is located across Pass Road from the Broadwater property. Society president Patti Holloway said she is seeing the same faces that she saw before the Broadwater property was cleared, leading her to believe former occupants are still in the area.
Overgrown property near what was once the Broadwater Beach Resort in Biloxi at the end of Southern Avenue on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.
Silvestro and his neighbors have grown vigilant. He is retired and plans to invest the time needed to make sure his neighborhood is safe.
He’s been to the City Council to complain more times that he can count. His repeated refrain about the property: “Clean it up, build on it, or sell it, but it ain’t sitting like it’s sitting anymore.”
He started a Neighborhood Watch and said police Chief John Miller has been “very supportive.” Silvestro wishes more services were offered for homeless people, including mental-health treatment.
“I really think we need to stop kicking the can down the road,” he said.
What was once the entrance to the golf course off Beauvoir Road at the now-defunct Broadwater Beach Resort in Biloxi on Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024.
Broadwater Development LLP property being cleared just north of the CSX railroad trackks and east of Iris Street in Biloxi on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.
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