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The mayor said most unhoused neighbors crowd in the city to access what they do have.

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LANCASTER, S.C. — The colder temperatures this season are raising concern for officials in Lancaster County.

The coroner’s office says with an uptick in homelessness and a lack of resources for unhoused neighbors, there’s a high chance the county could see its first hypothermia death case in years.

“I just would not want anyone’s exposure to this weather to cause their demise,” explained Karla Deese, the coroner for Lancaster County. “There’s nowhere to go with heat or power and I’m not sure that they would be acclimated to the cold weather -- so I do have concerns."

Deese says with the fact the unhoused community is “exposed and without shelter”, combined with the temperature hitting the “lowest of the year so far”, it’s only a matter of time.

Right now, there’s only one emergency warming center in the county for people to take advantage of at night. This resource is also only available when temperatures hit below freezing.

“It’s a tough problem – it’s an intractable problem. We really need some additional resources. It’s a much larger issue than just the city. The lack of mental health resources from the state is one of the biggest issues – the lack of addiction recovery services is an issue,” explained Lancaster mayor Alston DeVenny.

He said most unhoused neighbors crowd to the city of Lancaster because of what resources they do have – but he also explained the problem is going to require outside help.

“We’ve been responding with the services that we have available, but they’re limited with our small municipality,” DeVenny said.

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On Thursday afternoon, Donna Andrews, the reference services manager at the York County Library’s main branch in Rock Hill, started informing some of the library’s upstairs visitors that the doors would close at noon on Friday and not open back up until Monday.

The reason was the coming of a winter storm that was set to encase Rock Hill and much of the Upper Midlands and Upstate in a layer of ice and snow.

“For the folks that we recognize, who do come in on a regular basis,” Andrews said, “we will be telling them that we will be closing at noon tomorrow and will be closed all day Saturday. Because it can be a hardship for them to find someplace to go if we’re not open.”

To a lot of library patrons, a locked door is little more than an inconvenience. But a lot of these guests, looking out the windows at the municipal complex courtyard or scrolling through phones in soft chairs, the library is where they spend their days. These are the visitors without homes to return to, and they need to make plans for how to spend their days out of the elements, if they want to.

A common option is the city’s free bus service, which unhoused residents sometimes ride for temporary shelter. But the storm could cause disruptions in service.

That leaves the shelters, which the city operates through Pathways Community Center on Cherry Road.

But not everyone wants to spend time in shelters. Cathy Harris, for example, has been living outside for a year, sleeping where she can find a spot of ground and bundling up against the weather.

I ran into Cathy at the library Thursday and asked her what her plans were, given the possibility of sub-freezing temperatures, snow, and ice for the weekend ahead.

“We haven’t thought of it yet,” was her answer. “We just play it by ear.”

Harris also said she’s unconcerned about the weather because she’s been through it before. Her plan, such as it is, is to wrap up in blankets and wait it all out, unconcerned.

“We’ve been in an ice storm before,” she said. “It’s been 19 degrees, so ….”

Our conversation was brief and terse. Harris would endure what she had to and come back to the library when she could. She gave no thought to the real consequences of spending the night on frozen ground, such as hypothermia.

Karla Deese, on the other hand, thinks about that kind of thing quite a lot.

“It’s something that's very much in the forefront of our minds when we're out doing investigations,” Deese said Friday. “It’s the first thing we look for if someone is found outside.”

Deese is the coroner for Lancaster County, where a hypothermia-related death hasn’t been reported in several years. But she’s worried that that might change, as more people who are unhoused, unsheltered, and unconcerned about the dangers of living outdoors in harsh weather find their way onto the streets.

“It's been a few years since I've had a hypothermia case,” Deese said. “However, we have not been in the homeless situation that we are in now.”

Between 2021 and 2024, the number of individuals in Lancaster County experiencing homelessness leapt from 47 to 77, according to point-in-time, or PIT, data from the United Way of Lancaster County. Three in every four of those counted said they had experienced unsheltered homelessness, meaning they either chose to eschew shelter or couldn’t find a bed in one.

These numbers are, for context, considered even by those who conduct the PIT count to be an underrepresentation of the actual number of adults and children experiencing homelessness. In fact, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty estimated that PIT counts can be between 2.5 to 10.2 times lower than real homeless numbers.

According to the United Way report, half of those who reported being unsheltered in Lancaster last year were either sleeping in their cars or on the ground.

For Deese, the growing issue of exposed, unsheltered people in Lancaster County is the result of a lack of available housing.

“Unfortunately, we live in a society now [in which] housing is not very affordable,” she said. “People have lost job, and the economy is not very friendly to them for various different reasons. So, you do have people who are homeless.”

Affordability is an increasing issue around South Carolina, and that includes Lancaster. According to Zillow, the median price for a house in the county jumped from $200,000 to nearly $270,000 between January of 2021 and November of 2024. If you back things up to January of 2020, the median price for a house in Lancaster today is about $95,000 more expensive.

And that’s just the price of the house. In January of 2021, the mortgage interest rate was 2.79 percent. On Jan. 9 of this year, it was 6.93 percent.

In real numbers, that means the median house bought in January of 2021 in Lancaster, given a 20 percent payment on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, would run a homeowner about $855 per month.

The median home bought in November will cost a homeowner about $1,590 per month.

And while it’s harder to break down the effects of escalating rent in Lancaster – its data get lumped into general data for the Charlotte metro – numbers from ApartmentList show that median rents, all swirled together, were about $1,000 more per month in November than they were in January of 2021 in the Charlotte metro statistical area.

For Deese, the pinch of affordable housing is what she most worries will increase the number of people who will find themselves sleeping in cars or sheds or abandoned buildings without utilities.

“There’s obviously no heat,” she said. “There's a little more coverage from the dampness and the dew that then turns into frost, but it's still equal [to the] outside temperature.”

And she worries about this confluence of more people on the streets meeting temperatures below freezing.

“If we see an uptick in [hypothermia deaths], I would not be surprised,” Deese said. “Six years ago, hypothermia would be kind of a one off. And usually, it was related to someone with dementia. someone who was lost, those kinds of things. Now, due to the homeless situation, I very much fear that we’re going to have that happen.”

A massive new senior living community could come to Lancaster County, just south of Sun City in Indian Land.

Delray Beach, Florida, company Kolter Group Acquisitions applied for several county zoning changes to allow a community called Cresswind. It would be an age-restricted senior community by Kolter Homes on nearly 870 acres.

A sketch plan submitted to the county shows 853 home lots. Plans don’t indicate the cost of the project. A call to the developer fromn The Herald wasn’t immediately returned Thursday afternoon.

The western end of Cresswind would be Van Wyck Road, across from thousands more senior living homes at Sun City. Cresswind would stretch east to U.S. 521, or Charlotte Highway, and south to the railroad line across from Waxhaw Highway and the Walnut Creek subdivision.

The sketch plan shows a new public boulevard through the property, giving it two access points. One would across Charlotte Highway from Henry Harris Road. The other would be on Van Wyck Road near River Bend Boulevard, in Sun City.

The sketch plan shows 409 acres of open space that include ponds, streams and wetlands. There’s a 7-acre amenity area at the center of the property in one sketch plan, though it’s broken into two pieces in another version.

The main entrance on Charlotte Highway would have more than 13 acres a business space and 3 acres of institutional space. That’s a zoning typically used for county properties like a park, fire station or emergency response substation.

The area zoned for business is described in documents only as retail or commercial construction.

The project requires a mix of decisions, include zoning and county land use plan changes. It also would involve a development agreement with the county.

A community meeting on Cresswind will be held at 5 p.m. Jan. 14 at the Del Webb Library in Indian Land.

The county Planning Commission will get more information when the proposal comes to that group Jan. 21. The commission will recommend for or against changes, but Lancaster County Council will have the final decision.

The county council won’t look at the Cresswind proposal until at least Jan. 27.

The decisions will take multiple council votes, lasting at least a month from when that group first sees the Cresswind proposal.

This story was originally published January 9, 2025 at 2:38 PM.

The Lancaster boys basketball team won a close one Friday afternoon.

In a showcase game at the Phenom Hoops New Years Bash, the South Carolina state championship contender earned a 70-66 victory to knock off Independence.

Jordan Watford, the Queens-bound combo guard and preseason Rock Hill Herald player to watch, led Lancaster with a 17-point performance — including a one-handed dunk on his defender’s head — on 7-of-10 shooting.

The Bruins (9-1), winners of four straight, also got 16 points from junior Columbus Parker — son of former J.C. Smith great Chris “Green Light” Parker — and 13 points from senior co-captain Jacarey Ballard.

Lancaster will play Cannon at the invitational in the Marvin Ridge gymnasium at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

“Our defense translates into our offense,” Lancaster head coach Jerron Cauthen said. “It was a tough win, a very tough win. I’m excited for our guys. But we’ve got to have short-term memory.

“Don’t get too high on the wins, don’t get too low on the losses. (Saturday), we’ve got to get ready for another tough opponent here in (Concord’s) Cannon.”

Independence, ranked No. 10 in The Charlotte Observer’s latest Sweet 16, grabbed the early advantage and led at halftime after initially getting beaten in transition.

Both sides’ offenses played fast throughout the game, firing short passes and moving with intensity across the court. Lancaster took a slim lead during the third quarter, but it remained close until the finish.

“Independence High School is a very well-coached team,” Cauthen said. “We expected a competitive game, but we also expected to win. We practice hard. Our guys are committed. I’m committed. My staff is committed.

“Our community, as we can see, was here. We’re grateful and thankful to get this win.”

This story was originally published December 27, 2024 at 6:29 PM.

The sheriff's office shared a message on Facebook detailing a recent encounter.

LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — The Lancaster County Sheriff's Office is reminding neighbors to be wary of scams after a member of its team recently encountered a scammer.

Deputies said in a Facebook post on Saturday that their media and public relations officer spoke on the phone with someone claiming to be a "Lieutenant Keith Miller" and a "Captain Woodard" with the Lexington County Sheriff's Office, noting that one person was on the line and changed their voice slightly. The person reportedly tried to intimidate the public relations officer, claiming that they missed federal jury duty and that a judge had issued citations for their arrest.

"Throughout the conversation, [the scammer] used a fake southern accent and repeatedly said '10-4' as if using radio codes, which is highly unusual for a professional law enforcement conversation," part of the post read. "They even claimed they would contact the Clerk of Court to find out where I could pay fines at a “government-approved kiosk.” Then, they demanded that I drive to Walgreens to pay $1,500 in fines."

???? Scam Alert! ???? We want to keep everyone informed and safe, so here’s an important update. Our Media and Public...

Posted by Lancaster County Sheriff's Office SC on Saturday, January 25, 2025

The sheriff's office shared a reminder that legitimate law enforcement agencies will never ask someone to pay fines through Walgreens or other retail locations. Further, most law enforcement professionals don't use 10 radio codes when talking to citizens.

"If you ever receive a call like this, hand up and call the agency directly using the official number listed online to verify the claim," the sheriff's office added.

Lancaster County deputies said people should report suspicious activities either to local law enforcement or the Federal Trade Commission.

Here are some tips to avoid becoming a victim of a scam:

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