SANTA ROSA — Dozens of people began gathering their belongings and dismantling makeshift tarp structures and tents at a homeless camp behind a Dollar Tree store in the Roseland area of Santa Rosa Thursday morning.
The “Last Chance and Remembrance Village” camp is located on land owned by the Sonoma County Community Development Commission, which wants the site cleared so it can begin construction of 175 apartments, some of which are to be affordable housing.
The camp was to be vacated by March 23 but the date was extended to April 9. Housing advocates’ attorneys then challenged the eviction and a federal judge suggested a three-week delay. The Community Development
Commission then set Thursday as the final date to vacate the camp.
A Sonoma County Supervised Adult Crew, an alternative program for offenders sentenced up to 90 days in the county jail, began removing trash and debris from the camp Thursday morning.
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About 80 people were at the camp on Wednesday, but some left during the night, according to homeless advocates at the camp Thursday morning.
Others left one by one over the past week ahead of Thursday’s eviction deadline.
Advocates from Homeless Action! said it was home to as many as 130-140 people at one point who were displaced by the October wildfires or the evictions of people who were living underneath three U.S. Highway 101 overpasses in downtown Santa Rosa area and on “Homeless Hill” in east Santa Rosa. The camp started in November 2015.
“I’ve been here 16 months. I came with my boyfriend after I left an abusive marriage with just the clothes on my back,” Nicholle Vannucci said. “I don’t have any place to go.”
Chief Deputy County Counsel Alegria De La Cruz said about 55 beds are available in the Samuel L. Jones Hall homeless shelter in Santa Rosa for those with nowhere to go.
Community Development Commission executive director Margaret Van Vliet, who also was at the site Thursday morning, said permanent housing was found for six people at the Palms Inn motel where previously homeless veterans now live.
She said shelters are “the front door” for assessment of the homeless people’s needs and housing when there are vacancies.
Jennielynn Holmes, director of shelter and housing for Catholic Charities, said 40 campers have found temporary shelter in Samuel L. Jones Hall, and Catholic Charities is helping the campers with inventory and transportation of their belongings.
The Community Development Commission is providing free storage of the campers’ personal belongings for 90 days in the vacant former Roseland Hardware store building on its Sebastopol Road property.
Participants are allowed up to two boxes 18-by-18-by-16 inches.
Bikes, computers, appliances, furniture and perishable food are not allowed.
Several Santa Rosa police officers and some firefighters were present at the site Thursday morning. Police Lt. Rick Kohut said clearing the camp will take several days.
“We’re helping Catholic Charities with outreach and our goal is to get people into services or shelters. We want people to be actively removing,” Kohut said.
Santa Rosa Assistant Fire Marshall Paul Lowenthal said there have been cooking fires and bonfires at the camp and there are concerns about getting people out of the camp containing dozens of tents in the event of a fire.
Lowenthal said there is propane and diesel fuel in the camp, and the fire department has tried to get the campers to create aisles. Clearing the camp will be a lengthy process, he said.
As the decampment slowly progressed, several people took turns addressing the large gathering at the site.
Kathleen Finigan, a homeless advocate, said some campers were panicking because they had no place to go. Most of the remaining campers are disabled, she said.
“People are frustrated, anxious and feel they are fighting for their right to just exist,” Finigan said. “People prefer the privacy of their own tents over the Sam Jones shelter. They don’t feel safe there. This is a real community that has grown here.”
Adrienne Lauby of Homeless Action! said the camp had a formal camp council structure.
The Rev. Christopher Bell of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Santa Rosa, said he had no words, only heartache as he watched the camp disbanding.
“We are not living up to our obligations as children of God. God is on the side of the poor, the homeless and disenfranchised. I’m not feeling that today. I pray for their strength, peace, safety and courage,” Bell said.