Homeless take up residence in airports across the US

On Wednesday, CBS News reported that workers and travelers at O’Hare are worried for their safety after "thousands" of homeless people have sought refuge from the cold inside the transportation hub.

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However, the report was very similar to those from many airports around the country.

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Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic, travelers and workers at Seattle Tacoma International Airport have spotted the homeless in the baggage claim area. They are often spotted riding the light rail to the airport and sources tell The Post Millennial that the railcars recently had to be decontaminated due to bed bugs.

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Last December, the Transportation Security Administration reported that a homeless person got past a security checkpoint and into an employee area which caused delays during the holiday travel season.

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In Denver, city officials in 2022 said their A-Line train is one of the reasons for homeless at their airport, 25 miles outside the city, after the “Train-to-the-plane” service began in 2017.

There were at least 72 arrests of the homeless in the airport in 2021 with some being arrested over two dozen times even after being warned to stay away from the airport when they refused to go to shelters.

Homeless were revealed to be living in the Philadelphia International Airport in 2020 and activists demanded they be provided with hotel rooms for shelter.

In 2019 it was reported that authorities at Orlando International Airport were struggling to deal with homeless living in the airport and panhandling. In 2018, police issued 297 trespass warnings and far eclipsed that number in 2019. were issued.

https://twitter.com/Harold_JamesNY/status/1625842209470791681

In 2015, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced, “To meet our public safety mandate, we will close the LaGuardia terminal to all but ticketed passengers during late night hours,” and promised to arrest violators due to the number of homeless sleeping at the airport.

Similar announcements were made at Washington DC’s Reagan national airport and Honolulu International Airport for the same reason.

In most cases, mass transit and the ability to blend in with passengers were cited as the major contributing factors to the ongoing problem. While outreach services including shelter are offered in all of the aforementioned cities to the homeless, many refuse to accept them.