‘I don’t know what to do’: Turlock homeless woman evicted from encampment speaks out
After pushing her belongings out of a Turlock homeless encampment along a Highway 99 on-ramp and nearly passing out in the heat, Toni walked as far as she could Tuesday night.
The 50-year-old woman, who did not give her last name, laid a few blankets on the concrete, curled up with her dogs and slept only a few blocks from where the encampment crews swept the next day.
As California Department of Transportation workers cleared the camp near Taylor Court and Turlock police officers evicted another one nearby Wednesday morning, Toni called out to her friend Billy. He set up his tent a few feet away after they left the encampment and also had not moved. The friends represent an uncertain number of evicted encampment residents who declined to enter shelters during Turlock’s declared homeless emergency.
“I’m just praying nobody stops and arrests me because I don’t know what to do,” Toni said.
The city estimated 18 people lived in encampments near Taylor Court, or Highway 99 and the railroad tracks between Taylor Road and Monte Vista Avenue, as of two weeks ago. Toni lived in between the highway ramp and Empower Truck & Trailer Repair, while others lived on the other side of the overpass.
Initially, Toni said she planned to move to the other side of the overpass until a friend told her about the notice to vacate that area, too. Because her dogs, Sadie and Gabby, stay by her side, Toni said she cannot enter the Turlock Gospel Mission shelter. Putting them in crates on the shelter’s patio and sleeping without them is not an option, she said.
But Toni plans to accept the mission’s offer to spay and register her dogs. For the past eight years, Toni said Sadie has grounded her as her therapy dog. When her trailer and truck in the Keyes Mobile Home Park burned in December 2018, leaving her homeless, Toni said Sadie and her purse were all she had left.
Her family in Pennsylvania does not know she is homeless, Toni said. She does not want to return because last time she spoke with her adult children, they urged her to give her abusive ex-husband another chance.
At the same time, Toni added she has struggled to get a job while living on the streets. With her experience in restaurants and heavy construction, Toni said, employers have rejected her for being overqualified. Others never contact her after she submits job applications.
“It’s extremely frustrating because nobody wants to give you a chance,” Toni said. “They all think the same thing: Everybody out here is a bad person and everybody out here is a drug addict. And not everybody is.”
Turlock police evict homeless couple
Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, an engaged couple living in an encampment on the other side of the highway overpass packed the last of their belongings while about five police and fire staff stood nearby. One officer offered to hold their two dogs while they loaded bins and bags on carts.
The couple, who declined to give their names, said they hoped to go to a friend’s house and do not want to enter shelters because of their pets. They own a third dog but said a rattlesnake bit it. To get it back from animal control, the woman said they need to pay $750.
“We’ll figure it out,” the man said.
But the woman asked how and said they probably cannot afford to get the pet back. They said they lived out by the railroad tracks, where dust blows everywhere whenever a train passes, for about a year before the sweep.
During the City Council meeting Tuesday, acting City Manager Gary Hampton disputed describing the city’s evictions of homeless encampments as sweeps. He and others have described how city staff give notice of cleanups and come out with social service agencies to offer services multiple times. Regardless of whether people accept the services, the city or partnering agencies like Caltrans issue eviction notices and hire crews to sweep up whatever belongings and trash get left behind.
The city is nearly halfway into its 120-day homeless emergency. Hampton on Tuesday said staff are looking into providing non-congregate shelter through the state’s Project Roomkey involving hotel rooms and trailers from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Maryn Pitt, spokesperson for the city’s homeless emergency, did not immediately provide details on those possibilities Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 4:00 AM.
