Amanda Veasy set out to launch an organization to help disadvantaged people in Longview, Texas, about four years ago. However, it appears the local government has other ideas.
Veasy started One Love Longview to serve as a sanctuary for the city’s most vulnerable residents. As executive director, she has helped many people experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders, mental health problems, and poverty.
The organization provides a smorgasbord of services, including meals, showers, medical care, and even an accredited high school education program. “We are an all-inclusive, one-stop stop,” she told Townhall.
We tend to serve individuals who are not eligible for services at other local shelters or organizations … The whole goal is to create a very personalized, individualized, one-on-one approach.
One Love Longview was welcomed by the community when it first launched. Veasy recounts expanding to even more locations within its first four years. But things began to change when the organization opened a location in a business district in North Longview.
A prominent business owner in the area allegedly spearheaded an effort against the nonprofit, rallying local officials and other leaders. “He told me that I needed to pick up our operation and move it… and that he wouldn’t stop until we were shut down,” Veasy recounted.
Before she knew it, a group of elected officials, business leaders, and law enforcement allegedly worked together to target her operation and clients.
City officials and law enforcement began enforcing ordinances in ways that disproportionately affected One Love Longview’s clients. Veasy said police targeted her clients for “petty violations” such as jaywalking, camping, and riding bikes on the wrong side of the road. The arrest rate skyrocketed, with 50 clients arrested in 51 days. “Our clients are being targeted for existing,” she told Townhall.
In one instance, police arrested an older man with an intellectual disability.
The most vulnerable client we have ever served, he’s got an intellectual disability that has capped him off at about age five. He’s got a 55, 60 IQ, heavy speech impediment. You cannot interact with this precious soul and not immediately recognize that he has cognitive challenges. He was also arrested in front of my property for walking on the wrong side of the road.
A pivotal moment came when city and business leaders organized a “renew meeting” at a local church. Those critical of One Love Longview were invited to attend, while those supporting the nonprofit were not informed of the gathering.
However, Veasy was tipped off about the meeting and attended. She witnessed what she describes as a “public stoning” of her organization. “No solutions came from that meeting,” she recalls, “and the next day, two of our most vulnerable clients were arrested.”
Veasy stated that when another client was arrested after the renew meeting, she was told “it was because he had an old warrant for a criminal trespass.”
However, the police “had multiple interactions with him, even on our property before that day, and he had never been picked up on that warrant until after that meeting.”
Veasy explained that officers began “padding” calls to law enforcement by “going around and telling the business owners, ‘if someone even so much as steps foot on your property to walk across it, call us.’”
Another critical moment occurred when some of Veasy’s clients were allowed to sleep on her private property in front of the building because they had no other place to go. The city could not take action against her because she was not violating any city ordinances. So, the city passed a new ordinance explicitly prohibiting people from sleeping on private property—even with the property owner’s permission.
Richard Yeakley, public information officer for the City of Longview, told Townhall that “state and local regulations are adopted to promote an environment where individuals and businesses can flourish.”
The City of Longview enforces its regulations across the community without favor. Staff strive to work cooperatively with residents and business owners to ensure compliance, minimize any potential burden, and safeguard the rights of all community members.
Veasy acknowledged that those complaining about people sleeping on the street in front of her building had valid concerns. She indicated that it was not meant to be a long-term solution.
We fully acknowledged that it wasn’t a good solution. But the alternative was these folks were going to be jailed over and over and over, and no matter where they went, they were targeted and harassed and bullied just because of their socioeconomic status.
Amanda Veasy, the founder and executive director of One Love Longview and her staff embody the principle of human respect.
The concentrated effort of selectively enforcing local ordinances by the Mayor, City Council, and Police Department of the City of Longview, Texas,… pic.twitter.com/78v8fiZcq3
— You Are The Power (@YATPOfficial) January 13, 2025
She further explained that One Love Longview had the clients sign contracts “so that we could hold them accountable to working toward solutions because staying on the property was not going to be a good long-term solution.”
After the city passed the new ordinance, it issued multiple citations that carry up to $2,000 in fines for each violation. This has placed the organization in a tough spot, especially since its critics contacted donors to talk them out of giving money to the nonprofit, according to Veasy. To make matters worse, she is also facing criminal charges for allowing people to sleep on her property.
Veasy later found herself at a crossroads when a potential donor approached her with an offer to help her relocate. He expressed interest in purchasing a new building for One Love Longview in South Longview.
The offer sounded like an appealing lifeline for Veasy until the donor attached a condition she could not accept: She would have to issue a public video apology to the City of Longview. “He actually said that he was willing to get involved, help with some restructuring, that thing, and then dropped this bomb on me. ‘All you have to do is record another video making a public apology to the city,’” she told Townhall.
Instead, she offered to step down. “This is, I think, ultimately what they want anyway.” However, the donor rejected her proposal. Further complicating the matter was that one of Veasy’s supporters reached out to the business leader who had originally vowed to shut One Love Longview down.
“She called him and said, ‘I hope you’re happy, right? Look at what you’ve done.’ And she said he was actually very kind to her and said that a group of business owners had gotten together. They actually even talked about the possibility of making some contributions to help us move,” Veasy said, speculating that perhaps the initial donor was part of the group that sought to shut down her nonprofit.
“My suspicion was, especially since they both had found a building on Cotton, that first donor was likely sent by that group or by the City of Longview,” Veasy said.
The executive director fears the conflict could result in the organization’s closure, but she is still fighting the legal battle in the hopes of coming to a resolution that works for everyone. The ordeal has taken its toll on her personally. “My mental health and physical health have suffered tremendously,” she told Townhall. “It shouldn’t be this hard to help people.”
