MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Conversations about Myrtle Beach’s homeless crisis are continuing after more than a dozen people were arrested outside Fresh Brewed Coffee House, prompting renewed calls from community members for longer-term solutions instead of punishment.
Stephanie Southworth and Sara Brallier, professors at Coastal Carolina University who have spent years studying the unhoused community, said the recent arrests were “heartbreaking and shocking,” and that people affected often do not have safe places to go.
“To have people be arrested when they have nowhere else to go for, I don’t know, not doing anything wrong, I don’t – it – it was very shocking to see that many arrests, in a place that is considered to be a safe space,” said Southworth, an associate professor of sociology at Coastal Carolina University.
Fresh Brewed Coffee House has assisted homeless people for years by providing a place to take shelter, rest, eat, engage with others and connect with necessary services. In the recent arrests outside the business, 13 people were charged with loitering, and a volunteer was charged with being a pedestrian in the highway. One of the people arrested was also charged with open container regarding alcohol.
The professors’ comprehensive study covering 2024 examined the costs and impacts of policing homelessness in Myrtle Beach and found charges such as loitering, resting in public places and pedestrian in the highway are common among people experiencing homelessness.
“It can prolong homelessness, especially if someone loses their ID in the process, loses a job, is unable to pay for even a short-term rental because they’ve lost the time working,” Brallier said.
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Their study also referenced the National Homelessness Law Center, which reported bans on camping increased by 92% between 2006 and 2019. During that same period, anti-loitering ordinances increased by 103% across the United States, and ordinances prohibiting individuals from sleeping in public increased by 50%.
Locally, the professors’ study found that from 2020 to 2024, at least $6.1 million was used to arrest, jail and prosecute members of the unhoused community in Myrtle Beach.
Brallier said arrests can create additional barriers for people trying to stabilize their lives.
“Folks are working and they’ve been arrested and they can’t get to work. They could lose their job sometimes in the arrest process, people lose their belongings, especially their identification. And it’s really hard to get new ID if you don’t have any ID, so things like that. Can create more problems,” she said.
The study also said those problems can lead to less access to health care and transportation. In the long term, the professors said investments in rent subsidies and affordable housing would help the homeless community more than criminalizing people and would save taxpayer dollars.
Southworth and Brallier said they are meeting with Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark Kruea on Thursday to discuss active issues regarding homelessness in the city.