BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — The city manager of Morganton is accusing other cities and counties of bringing people without homes from their communities to Burke County.
Channel 9′s Dave Faherty went to the area to look into these concerns.
Faherty said he found a survey of the people without homes in the area, and learned that more than two-thirds of those people are from outside of Burke County.
Morganton Mayor Ronnie Thompson said organizations in the area offer all kinds of services for people experiencing homelessness, from meals to two bags of free food every week along with dental care.
He said he believes other cities are taking advantage of the city’s generosity.
“We have seen other counties and municipalities bring homeless people and drop them off in the parking lot. We’ve had that issue. We’re dealing with that issue. It’s just not right,” Thompson said.
During a city council meeting, city manager Sally Sandy accused several law enforcement agencies of bringing people without homes into the city.
Friday evening the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office released a statement regarding the accusations saying:
“This is not a practice authorized by our office nor any action that our deputies are permitted to engage in. We have received no communication or complaint from anyone with the City of Morganton. After learning about this today from local media we’ve inquired with city officials who informed us that these allegations surfaced through indirect information that the city has not been able to fully confirm or corroborate”.
(WATCH BELOW: Morganton residents fight back against local homeless camps)
©2022 Cox Media Group
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/cmg/LH3JSJEF3VBLRJLJQESEAG34AM.png)
