WATCH: Utah man operates homeless encampment in his own front yard

A man in Utah invited those experiencing homelessness to set up tents in his own front yard, allowing them to use a bathroom in his house and volunteer at a community garden he operates at a public park nearby.

Darin Mann lives in the quiet little neighborhood of Fairpark, just a quick five minute drive from downtown Salt Lake City. The area is home to a regional campus of Utah State University and is also known for hosting an annual stair fair.

"The goal is to de-stigmatize how people view homelessness," Mann explains. "Every person deserves to be treated with dignity and helped when they need it,” Mann told ABC7 News.

Since mid-January Mann has been housing the homeless, even calling his new yard full of tents of transients "Village-Camp."

"We wanted to show that to solve this problem we have to address it as a community and not be afraid of it."

Throughout the country, individuals experiencing homelessness are often portrayed poorly, as homeless camps are notoriously regularly involved with drugs, trafficking, and high crime. Mann is trying to change that and focus on a more positive image for the homeless community, highlighting the help he has received from them at his garden in a nearby public park.

"They are helping me clean the garden and get it ready for the season. They keep the camp clean and are helping to be a positive example of working with unsheltered people."

Not everyone in the neighborhood is happy with Mann's "Village-Camp." The city has received many complaints from residents expressing concerns about the new homeless camp in their community, with some even living directly on the other side of the fence from the new encampment.

Mann was served with a code violation (camping for more than two days on residential property is illegal in Salt Lake City) and the city gave him a two-week notice to close down his camp.

Mann believes the Salt Lake City government isn't doing enough to help the homeless members of their community and instead should start implementing areas in the city modeled after his "Village-Camp," where homeless have gardens to grow their food.

Salt Lake City is not the only US city struggling with a homeless crisis, Democrat run cities across the US are experiencing record levels of homelessness with seemingly no common sense solutions in sight.

Darrin Mann's generosity is a temporary fix for an exponential crisis that needs long-term solutions. The "Village-Camp" seems to be a continuation of homeless encampments, which have been a failed experiment in cities across the US.

In the city of Seattle homeless encampments, even ones operated by the city, have brought more harm to the community than good. Residents in Seattle continue to complain to city officials about the destruction and danger these encampments bring to their communities. Homeless encampments have brought high-crime to various urban neighborhoods, which then end up spreading to residential communities.

"In the last 5 days we… have been woken up between the hours of 2:00 – 5:00 am on 4 different occasions due to fighting, loud music, gunshots or explosives, not sure which, and screaming," said one Seattle resident.

A community meeting was held in March of 2018 to discuss the renewal of the Licton Springs Encampment operating permit. Neighbors showed up to voice their concerns and tell stories of being victimized since the encampment opened. The meeting was all for show because that same day the city had already renewed the permit before the meeting was even held, The Post Millennial reported.

According to the Seattle Times, calls for police service on the block where Licton Springs sits spiked 62 percent in a year.