It’s easy to look the other way. It happens a lot in the bigger cities.

We don’t allow our eyes to fall on the person standing at a highway exit ramp who is holding a sign asking for money. We look down as we pass someone sitting in a store doorway with overstuffed plastic bags that probably contain all their worldly possessions. We even say we don’t have any spare change when those asking can hear the “ching, ching” of our coins as we take our quick steps on the sidewalk.

After months of the Canton Repository and its sister paper, The Alliance Review, reporting on a growing homeless problem in the Carnation City, we’re thrilled about action the city’s mayor announced this week.

Mayor Andy Grove told Alliance City Council that he wants to join forces with a supporting agency to set up a 40- to 50-bed homeless shelter in the city’s downtown.

The decision follows several incidents in which unsheltered people have been forced to pack up and leave encampments they’ve set up on vacant land. Just last month, Alliance police arrested four people who were living in tents on Union Avenue by the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.

‘Alliance does care’: Mayor pitches a new homeless shelter

After their cases were heard in Alliance Municipal Court, they were fined and sent back out onto the street.

Benjamin Duer, a staff writer who covers eastern Stark County for the two newspapers, interviewed a Salem native who was among those charged.

“I don’t think it was right,” she said. “Because, when you’re homeless, what are you supposed to do? Where do you go? All the shelters are full. It takes two years to get into a place.”

We’ve told our readers how dangerous it is to live on the streets. On April 3, 48-year-old Catherine L. Ruggly was struck while walking around 8:50 p.m. on Alliance-Sebring Road, near Oyster Road in Mahoning County, just outside of Alliance. The vehicle left the scene of the crash. No arrests have been made.

Clothed in Righteousness: ‘They’re always here for you’

Ruggly was a regular visitor to Clothed in Righteousness, a ministry that assists homeless people and those in need with food and supplies. The agency operates in Alliance’s downtown, near where the shelter will be located.

In reporting in December 2023, Duer shared that the Alliance YWCA reported that its distribution of hygiene supplies tripled throughout the year. And Eva Slagle, co-director of Clothed in Righteousness, said she and her volunteers helped three times as many people in 2023 as in 2022.

As of Dec. 15, 2023, the ministry had assisted 8,630 people, with 60% homeless or considered “unsheltered.” During 2022, they served 2,450 people.

While there are many steps that need to be taken before the shelter opens to assist those in need, and many questions need to be answered, the announcement was an important step.

We heard Grove’s words Monday night at the City Council meeting: “Alliance does care, and we want to take care of them.”

Wraparound services will be a benefit, too, such as job opportunities and medical assistance that could include mental health treatment.

The city of Alliance prides itself in taking care of its own when its residents see someone in need. Mayor Grove has answered a desperately needed call.

It’s time for area residents and officials to join this fight and support our neighbors.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Alliance Mayor Andy Grove makes right move with shelter for homeless