BALTIMORE — Just behind the McElderry Park Community Center, you will find an open field of grass where neighbors say dozens of people come to take drugs, a lot of them homeless.
"They congregate back here like it's just an influx of 20 or 30 people back here at one time. You're having overdoses back here, you're having drug use back here. People are defecting back here," says Melissa Canady.
Neighbors say it's not just in the field, but also behind their homes.
"It's just awful and sickening and we're just not getting any help," says Mrs. Alexander.
Mrs. Alexander has been living in the community for over 30 years.
She says she never imagined this problem would be right outside her door.
She says it's not just people taking drugs, but people selling them right in the alley where she lives.
"It's out of control and 24/7 it's traffic back and forth back and forth. Our area is New Jack City now," she says.
Melissa Canady, outreach coordinator for McElderry Park, says they have been trying to help end this problem, and despite people getting services like food pantries and free essential items weekly, she says she doesn't see the homeless clearing the area anytime soon.
"Why would you go any place else, why, why would you go anywhere you have all the comforts of home here, even though you're homeless, you have all the comforts of home so why would you go anywhere? Why would they leave," says Canady.
WMAR spoke with Councilman Antonio Glover, who says it pains him to know this is happening in the community.
"This right here hurts and touches me personally, myself having a cousin and an uncle pass within the last two years in this community because of a drug overdose, we lost those two individuals. The resources are here, the money is in this community, but I still don't understand why we're stuck in the situation that we're in," says Glover.
He says his office has been working to get people the services they need, like shelters or getting them into rehab, but he says it is still a challenge, especially for those who don't want the help.
"We're here, we're not going anywhere, we want to help these individuals out, but again, it's going to take all of us with a holistic approach," he says.
Glover says it will take strong partnerships between his office, the mayor's office, homeless services, mental health services, and even the community to deal with this issue and to help not only the homeless but to ensure neighbors feel safe in the McElderry Park community
