How did sweep of Turlock homeless camp go? City plans to clear another area soon
Turlock officials this week are planning another homeless encampment sweep in mid-April after crews finished clearing a camp on Friday.
City contractors completed cleaning and fencing off the West Main Street encampment Friday, a spokesperson said, and police did not arrest any of the about 50 people who lived there.
The city confirmed two of those residents accepted either shelter or services, said Maryn Pitt, spokesperson for Turlock’s emergency homelessness response plan. County and nonprofit agencies visited the camp offering services — including disability, mental health and drug and alcohol addiction resources — on March 2, 9, 11 and 16. Several others living at the encampment between Planet Fitness and Evergreen Packaging told outreach workers they would accept services, Pitt said in an email, but the city cannot verify whether they did.
As of Sunday night, Pitt said Turlock Gospel Mission and We Care homeless shelters both have vacant beds. Neither shelter saw more people from the cleared encampment seeking shelter, Pitt said.
Contractors also set up security cameras at the now fenced-off West Main Street site, Pitt said. CrimeTek Security, a Turlock-based security company, monitors the camera feeds.
Now the city intends to follow the same notice, outreach and clean up-process at West Glenwood Avenue between West Linwood Avenue and Lander Avenue, Pitt said. Officials are planning the Glenwood sweep around April 15, Pitt said. If the city gives a nine-day and two-day notice to vacate again, police could hand out notices around April 6.
Interim Turlock Police Chief Steven Williams previously identified the 600 block of Glenwood as a focus area for the city’s declared unsheltered homeless and encampment crisis. On Monday, tents lined the street across the road from the Travelodge by Wyndham Turlock.
City officials are working to set up an emergency shelter to ensure enough shelter beds for every person experiencing homeless, Pitt said. The city estimated 225 people lived in the five largest homeless encampments this February, but the count does not include people living in smaller camps or in shelters, according to a report to the City Council. In comparison, the average point-in-time count for 2019 and 2020 was 239 homeless people.
“The West Main site was private property and the people were trespassing,” Pitt said in an email. “The Glenwood site is, for the most part, in the public (right-of-way) so we have to make sure we have beds before we move forward on that site.”
A federal court ruling prevents California cities from charging people who sleep in public spaces with crimes if homeless shelter space is unavailable. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued the ruling for Martin v. City of Boise in 2018, and the Supreme Court in 2019 declined to review the case. Part of the ruling stated “the state may not ‘criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless — namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the streets.’”
Only some of the 200 emergency beds the city plans to add will go inside the two existing shelters in Turlock, Williams said previously. City officials have declined to identify the site for these emergency beds because contracts are still in the works.
Salvation Army Turlock talked with Turlock Gospel Mission about providing temporary shelter space in its gym, but the organization cannot do so at this time, corps officer Jeffrey Breazeale said. Salvation Army cannot currently provide the space because of its renters as well as its senior and youth programs, he added. In the next couple of weeks, Breazeale said he is looking to help with finding another shelter location or making arrangements with Salvation Army renters and programs.
“We’re keeping our lines of communication open with Gospel Mission and the City of Turlock to help out in any way we possibly can,” Breazeale said.
The City Council is scheduled to hear an update on the homeless emergency response at its regular 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday. Members of the public can participate in Tuesday’s meeting via Zoom or in-person at City Hall.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 5:17 AM.
