Walnut Creek Police Will Clean Out Homeless Camps On Thursday

Bay City News Service

Police in Walnut Creek will clear out the remnants of three small homeless encampments in the city's downtown area on Thursday.

Contra Costa County health services personnel and other local homeless organizations are working with the roughly 10 to 12 people who live in the camps to connect them with shelter and other essential services.

Central Contra Costa County Homeless Outreach founder Doug Stewart estimates that the campers are among about 40 to 60 homeless people living in Walnut Creek.

Located near the creek in the area of South California Boulevard and Newell Avenue and near South Main Street and Lilac Drive, the encampments have grown in recent months, prompting complaints from surrounding home and
business owners, said Walnut Creek police Sgt. Tom Cashion.

Cashion said the Police Department has received roughly 70 complaints related to the camps, including reported thefts, assaults and incidents of aggressive panhandling and indecent exposure.

One of the encampments saw a scabies outbreak this year that prompted a response from county hazardous materials workers.

In recent weeks, police have met with area property owners, homeless advocates, and the homeless themselves to devise long-term strategies to keep the transient population off of the street, he said.

Evicting those who camp illegally is the Police Department's "compassionate but firm" response to the problem, he said.

That means offering to connect encampment dwellers with a network of services, including beds in county shelters and case managers, he said.

"We're trying to give these people a hand up rather than a hand out -- we don't want to do any enabling," Cashion said.

Over the past two months, county personnel and groups including Central County Homeless Outreach and Anka Behavioral Health, Inc. have worked
with the displaced people living in the camps to educate them about the
resources available to them, including a shelter bed, according to Stewart.

After a few days in the shelters, most people are assigned a case manager to help connect them with a range of services including health care, food stamps and social security benefits.

The homeless population camping out in Walnut Creek are dealing with a variety of issues that prevents them from finding a stable home, from mental illness and alcoholism to unemployment, said Stewart.

But of the roughly dozen people who live in the soon-to-be-cleared camps, only a few accepted the offer of help, he said.

Homeless advocates and police say the homeless appear to be drawn to Walnut Creek in part because it's a nice place to live.

"Walnut Creek's become a little bit of a destination for homeless people, we realize," Cashion said.

For some, "panhandling on off-ramps has become somewhat lucrative for them," he said.

Stewart said he believes the availability of free meals at some Walnut Creek churches a few days each week also draws the homeless to the area.

"A lot of them end up staying and get caught up in the routine," he said.

Stewart said that while free meals for the homeless are a good thing, the city must do its part to enforce laws consistently, before the encampments have a chance to grow.

Several weeks ago, Walnut Creek police announced they would begin sweeping through encampments one by one to clean them out before the winter weather sets in.

In each case, the homeless are given 72 hours notice of the eviction. Police also give them information about shelters and other programs.