State land became a refuge for unhoused San Diegans amid camping ban. Not anymore

A 35-year-old San Diegan has been living with her boyfriend in a tent for “a long time,” she said, moving to different areas of downtown whenever police come by to enforce the city’s camping ban.

About a week ago, the couple perched themselves on top of an embankment overlooking Interstate 5. Their tent is one of about a dozen in this area, where traffic noise is constant and breaks from the unrelenting sun are hard to come by. But here, police don’t hassle them about living outside, said Abby Vangelder.

“That’s mainly why we’re here,” she added.

They’re part of a growing trend of unhoused residents fleeing to the outskirts of San Diego police jurisdiction, seeking a safe haven on property owned by the state.

Change may be coming soon, though. On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order to remove tent encampments from state property. The order comes on the heels of a Supreme Court decision that upheld the authority of governments to ban people experiencing homelessness from sleeping in public, resolving years of court battles across the western U.S. in the midst of a homelessness crisis.

“We’re done; it’s time to move with urgency,” Newsom said in a video posted on social media. “We have now no excuse with the Supreme Court decision.”

Newsom’s order directs state agencies to immediately remove any encampment deemed a threat to public health and safety, provide advance notice before removing all other encampments, and store any personal belongings left behind that aren’t hazardous. The governor also ordered state officials to partner with local agencies and contact service providers for outreach.

Officials in San Diego have already been doing much of this work. The city narrowly passed a controversial camping ban last summer, and since then, the number of people sleeping on downtown sidewalks has been cut in half.

But it’s not due to a decline in homelessness — the latest count actually shows an increase. Instead, the ban has caused people without housing to flee to more remote, harder to reach areas — such as canyons, riverbanks and highways — to avoid detection from people and local police. Many of these areas are owned by state agencies, such as Caltrans or the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Some even say they have learned the physical boundaries of San Diego police jurisdiction to avoid what they call harassment.

Advocates and outreach workers argue enforcement does more harm than good. People wind up far from the services and help they need, losing connections to service providers as well as important belongings to stay ahead in the search for housing.

Vangelder said she knows this all too well. She and her boyfriend have been trying to get into one of the city’s two sanctioned campsites in Balboa Park after police cleared their encampment several times. But it takes a referral to get in and they don’t have a cellphone. That means even if a space did open for them, they wouldn’t know about it. She said she’s not sure what will happen next.

“That’s the question, where do you go?” Vangelder said. “That’s kind of been our main problem.”

‘They come in full force’

In the past year, San Diego officials have removed more than 6,000 encampments, unloading over 2,500 tons of trash and debris. And in March, the City Council agreed to spend a $3.7 million state grant on outreach and rental subsidies for people living in the riverbed.

In a statement on behalf of a coalition of mayors across the state, Mayor Todd Gloria applauded the governor’s “renewed direction and sense of urgency” to address the crisis with “tangible and meaningful action.”

“The state’s large cities have been leading on resolving unsafe and unsanitary encampments while simultaneously ensuring that vulnerable unsheltered residents have options available to them to move off the streets, into care and on a path to housing and better quality of life,” Gloria said in the statement.

But the region is struggling through a housing crisis. Every month for the past two years, more people in San Diego County have lost housing than those who manage to find it. The vast majority of the county’s unhoused residents live in the city, where emergency shelter remains elusive. The city’s entire shelter system remains more than 90% full — on any given day, it can reach capacity by noon. More than 80% of requests are denied.

Gloria hopes to solve that problem by transforming an old warehouse into a 1,000-bed shelter.

Meanwhile, the city’s ban makes it illegal to camp citywide if shelter beds are available, and anytime, regardless of shelter availability, near schools, parks, transit hubs and waterways. Since enforcement began last summer, San Diego police have issued 87 citations and made 15 misdemeanor arrests for unauthorized camping, according to a spokesperson.

“They come in full force,” said a 57-year-old man who goes by Chewy. inewsource agreed to not identify him by his full name over concerns of retaliation.

Chewy has been living with six friends in a tent encampment near a freeway on-ramp downtown for the past month in an effort to avoid those encounters. Just steps from a four-lane highway and in the wake of exhaust fumes, Chewy said state officials have been leaving him alone for the most part. 

But hours after news of Newsom’s executive order, officials with Caltrans dropped off plastic bags at his encampment and told the residents there to clean up and get ready to leave, Chewy said. A far cry from the “more aggressive” approach from San Diego police, he added.

Even so, he’s worried about where he’ll end up next. Chewy said he’s been trying to get into one of the city-run campsites without any luck. Traditional indoor shelters haven’t worked for him in the past — due to interpersonal conflicts or thefts — and he said other shelters won’t let him back even if he wanted to go.

“I don’t know where to go from here,” Chewy said.

A spokesperson for Caltrans, the state’s transportation department, said in a statement that officials will continue working with city and county agencies to connect people to the help they need and keep state rights-of-way safe.

“Caltrans will continue to follow state guidelines regarding encampment removals, and the Governor’s Executive Order will not affect Caltrans encampment removal operations,” the statement said. “The order reinforces the encampment process already in place for Caltrans District 11 in San Diego and Imperial (counties).”

In the past three years, Caltrans officials have cleared more than 11,000 encampments, removing enough trash to fill roughly 12 football fields 10 feet deep, according to a spokesperson.

In the shadows of an overpass not far away, a husband and wife have been living in a tent for the past month with their two dogs — a 6-year-old German Rottweiler named Oso and a 4-year-old Pitbull named Lucy. 

The family came here after being pushed out of their last encampment near 17th and Commercial streets. Since moving outside police jurisdiction, they haven’t had to worry about having their stuff thrown away, said 34-year-old Natalio Avina. He said he finally managed to get an ID card a few days ago after losing it in an encampment sweep — a sense of stability he might not have otherwise had.

Avina said they have some possible leads on shelter opportunities, and would jump at the chance if presented, but having two dogs makes it more difficult. His wife, 43-year-old Fawnadina Hunter, said they have to remain optimistic in the face of uncertainty.

“Whatever happens will happen regardless of whether we like it or not,” she said. “All we can do is stay positive and know that we have options.”

Correction 5:20 p.m., July 26, 2024:

An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the weight of trash removed from tent encampments in San Diego. The city removed more than 2,500 tons of trash and debris.