‘Being Poor Is Not a Crime’: Calls for Reform Grow as Myrtle Beach-Area Leaders Weigh New Shelter
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — On Sept. 12, 2026, a small container of diced tomatoes, a bag of bread and a half-consumed bottle of water sat atop a garbage can in Chapin Park. Steps away, the parking lot at Hot Stacks Pancake House hummed with activity, surrounded by the shells of former businesses — a juxtaposition Matthew Moody said city leaders could not miss.
“We got three buildings right across the street that are sitting vacant. But yet, city officials are like, ‘We don’t have any place for the homeless,’” Moody said. “Yeah, you do. Stop spending your money on stupid bull crap.”
A meal of diced tomatoes, bread and water sits atop a trash can at Chapin Park in Myrtle Beach on Sept. 12, 2026. Adam Benson/Staff
His frustration came one month after police arrested 14 homeless people outside Fresh Brewed Coffee House on Broadway. Since then, grassroots demands for a new strategy have grown louder, arriving as Myrtle Beach and Horry County leaders explore the idea of building a low-barrier shelter.
Arrests Fuel Calls for Reform
“We are seeing routine arrests and detentions of homeless people for loitering and other non-violent crimes. This creates an adversarial relationship between our police and the homeless. This is a system failure,” Ashley Gehart, founder of the volunteer group Myrtle Beach Community Hub, said at a Saturday rally.
About 30 people attended the rally at Chapin Park to raise awareness and push for action after the mass arrest. Gehart said elected officials were invited, but none showed up. The issue has been a topic of conversation at two recent council meetings.
About 30 people attended a rally at Myrtle Beach’s Chapin Park on Sept. 12, 2026, to raise awareness and push for action following the mass arrest of homeless people. Adam Benson/Staff
Police data illustrates the pressure. Between Feb. 1 and Aug. 9, Myrtle Beach officers made 369 arrests under the city’s loitering ordinance, according to the department. Officers also handled 205 calls for service in the area around Fresh Brewed.
City and County Weigh a Low-Barrier Shelter
Mayor Mark Kruea said Sept. 8 that the city knows what it is missing.
“We’re conscious of the fact that what we don’t have is that low-barrier entry shelter. We’re working with the county and the other jurisdictions right now. We know that is a missing piece of what we have here,” Kruea said.
Horry County spokesman Thomas Bell said city and county leaders contracted with a third party in August to conduct a feasibility study that could be used to construct a shelter.
The study will produce data-driven recommendations for the shelter’s design and operations while assessing the broader homelessness response system to ensure the facility effectively addresses local needs and is coordinated with other community services and resources, Bell wrote in an email.
Officials did not immediately provide cost estimates or a timeline for that work.
Wages, Rent and the ALICE Gap
A recent United Way of Horry County report said 41 percent of households are ALICE designated: asset limited, income strained and employed. That puts them in a donut hole above the federal poverty limit but below basic cost of living expenses.
“We have so many ALICE families that are struggling. It’s scary when you don’t know where your money is going to come from,” Fresh Brewed Director Kate Curran said.
The average hourly wage for a Myrtle Beach worker is $23.90, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But 17.5 percent of those jobs are in food preparation and serving, which pay about $14.15 an hour. That is nearly a quarter below the national average.
In Horry County, an employee needs to make $27.04 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at a fair-market rate, according to last year’s annual report from the state Interagency Council on Homelessness.
A Legal Challenge and a Plea for Openness
The mass arrests in August prompted local attorney Stuart Axelrod to sue, challenging the city’s loitering ordinance.
Daniel Buchanan, a Fresh Brewed employee who was among those arrested, said regional leaders need to shift from enforcement to homeless prevention and intervention.
“We are not asking Myrtle Beach to be generous. We’re just asking for it to be open. Being poor is not a crime,” Buchanan said.
For advocates, the proposed shelter is not just a service question but a test of how the city treats its poorest residents. For officials, the feasibility study is an early step toward answering a problem that has become increasingly visible in parks, parking lots and council chambers.