Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies, Santa Clarita officials and county agencies were on hand Monday as the city continued its efforts to eradicate illegal homeless encampments.
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Santa Clarita has been working with the Sheriff’s Department and several county agencies, such as Bridge to Home, offering services to the city’s homeless population, said Santa Clarita spokeswoman Gail Morgan.
Three large encampments in Newhall were the focus Monday, as deputies set up shop near the Polynesian Mobile Home Park.
“Today, the city’s Neighborhood Preservation Team and the Sheriff’s Department completed a river cleanup in the Newhall area,” Morgan said. “We found six occupants in three different sites and cleaned out approximately 5,700 pounds of trash and debris.”
During Monday’s operation, one woman was taken into custody for possession of brass knuckles, according to Sheriff’s Station officials.
In the months running up to the city’s more recent cleanup efforts, Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies and county resources conducted weekly trips through the river wash, where officials identified about two dozen homeless camps.
The homeless citizens living in the area were offered services, then given posted notice of the evacuations, which have been followed by city-contracted bulldozers to clear the various encampments. Dozens of the city’s homeless population live in the Santa Clarita River wash throughout the city, which the city has been trying to stop.
The last two operations were based in Valencia and Canyon Country, respectively, and resulted in relatively few arrests, but “tons” of garbage removal.
“In the course of the cleanup, we have cleared literally tons of trash and debris,” Morgan said, “and we will continue to monitor the sites that we have already cleaned up, as well as continue to inspect new sites.”
All possession and items gathered by the city are stored for a period of time in accordance with state law, according to officials.
The cleanup effort aimed at the homeless population is the second since the Santa Clarita Valley’s only homeless facility, a seasonal shelter run by Bridge to Home, closed its doors for the season March 22.
The shelter recently sought community help for the Bridge to Home volunteer dental program, which helps low-income residents in addition to the homeless population.
Officials estimate the homeless populations in the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys has increased by 64 percent in the last two years, according to numbers from Bridge to Home officials.
Past estimates by officials put the Santa Clarita Valley’s homeless population in the hundreds.
The homeless shelter operated at or near capacity for most of the season with 60 beds. Shelter Executive Director Tim Davis has estimated in the past that the shelter services about 10 percent of the SCV’s homeless population on most nights of operation.
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This is not a solution either. The city is merely shuffling houseless people around. “offering services” and arresting these people perpetuates the problems they faces. It doesn’t end until housing, financial support, and job training is created. Shipping them off doesn’t mean its fixed either. STOP DESTROYING THEIR CAMPS!
There has to be a better way to address this situation. These are human beings, and this cruelty is no solution. I agree, let’s clean the sites up, let’s offer services, let’s TALK TO these people, and HELP them, in a real way! Taking their few meager belongings and shuffling them around is not helpful in any way. Set up a place where they can shower, relieve themselves, talk to someone, get some sort of housing. Stop stripping what is left of their dignity. Santa Clarita is a wealthy city. Surely we can get a meeting of the minds, and make a place where these forgotten people can find a way back to a life they want to live, rather than this abuse. If this is the only solution at which we can arrive, I mourn the dearth of compassion in not-so-Awesometown.
definitely tired of the homeless people using our carport as a restroom, because the city won’t allow our landlord to put up a gate. :/