ALBANY - About 100 people – including Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy, Mayor Kathy Sheehan and state Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy – crowded into the side room of the Savoy Taproom on Lark Street to discuss the problem of homelessness and its effects on businesses and residents.

The problem — including aggressive panhandling — has been a concern for years, said businesswoman Colleen Ryan.

Recent incidents at the Savoy sparked its owner Jason Pierce to call the neighborhood meeting.

In June, a man struck another man in the head with a bottle. After he was arrested and released, the man was back at the bar, yelling and spitting in Pierce's face. Then two week later, the same man was outside of his bar and restaurant, threatening customers with a sharp stick.

That led Pierce to assemble state, county and city officials as well as members of local agencies like the Albany Police Department and the Albany County Department of Mental Health as well as nonprofits such as the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society, to brainstorm solutions.

Sheehan said the issue is complex.

"If it wasn't, we would have solved it already," she told the standing room only crowd. "We have many resources and tools available, but we struggle to coordinate."

She also said the neighborhoods that absorb much of the homeless population find that it can be incredibly disruptive.

She as well as others, including Liz Hitt, executive director of the Homeless and Travelers Aid Society and Dr. Stephen Giordano, director of mental health at the Albany County Department of Mental Health, spoke of lack of funding and supportive housing, a strained mental health system and the inability to hold the homeless indefinitely in jails and hospitals.

As they described the difficulties, it was clear that frustration was running high in the room.

People who came to talk waved their hands in the air to speak. But the time for the public to air grievances was limited.

Tanya Stevens, the deputy director of Mental Health Empowerment Project, offered assistance. She said rather than constantly call Albany police, who cannot hold a homeless person, she asked business owners and residents to call her organization. She said she works to create relationships with homeless individuals, which is the best means of calming them in a crisis.

"If we engage, we can preemptively take care of the problem," Stevens said to applause. "We can partner with the city, walk up and down Lark Street so they know who are. It's a small handful of people (that are the problem). One or two to be exact. They are treatment resistant. It won't take care of every problem, but relationship is key."

Marlon Anderson, who once ran for Mayor, said that it is the fault of residents because they give panhandlers money.

"You are enabling this behavior," Anderson said. "That's why it's concentrated in this area. You enable them and that needs to stop."

One woman who attended, Evelyn Augusto, said she works with the homeless and wants everyone to remember that they are people too. She brought a poem written by a homeless woman.

Pierce asked those present to remain positive.

Still, he admitted "this is not a problem we can solve. We want to talk about what's working and what's not. How can work together?"