Richmond to Clear Largest Homeless Camp, But Residents Say Nowhere to Go

People living in Richmond’s largest homeless camp will have to leave the area in the next two weeks, the city said, noting it has become a public health and safety risk.

Some 70 people live in the camp, which the city will try to clear on March 18 for the fourth time in a year.

Residents and homeless groups say a local shelter shortage and the wider Bay Area housing crisis have made it tough for them to find permanent homes. The camp has grown from about a dozen people since last September — the city’s most recent attempt to clear it.

“We're not happy about doing this. We wish that we had an alternative location,” Tim Higares, director of infrastructure, maintenance and operations for Richmond, said Tuesday.

“We wish we had the ability to house our homeless population, but just like our neighboring cities — Berkeley, Oakland — everyone is dealing with this crisis.”

People began setting up tents at the central Richmond site in early 2018.

The tents flank a wide transport corridor, being situated near BART and Amtrak lines. The city said it has removed more than 5 tons of trash and debris, including human waste and hypodermic needles, from outside the camp since August 2018, and will have to deal with a growing vermin issue at the site.

Cella Jones left the camp last September when authorities cleared it out, but returned because she couldn’t find shelter. Jones, a lifelong Richmond resident who has been camping since her car was impounded in 2014, has been living at the site for nearly a year. She said it works well for her because it’s next to resources at GRIP, the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program.

“I’ve been here, close to the facilities, so I can maintain my health and self-worth,” said Jones, who goes to GRIP daily for food and to use the bathroom, telephone and laundry facilities, and to collect mail.

Jones said she has tried to get into shelters, but they are often full and can be restrictive. If she leaves the encampment, she has nowhere to go.

“They don’t have enough shelters here,” she said. “Wherever they’re saying there are open shelter beds, there aren’t.”

The nearest shelter option is the Bay Area Rescue Mission shelters, which had two beds for women and 16 for men available as of Wednesday.

“We happen to be fortunate that we have these two beds available,” said Dee Phillips, who works in the women’s shelter. She said they are often full during bad weather.

It is legal in California to sleep on the street if no other option is available. The city of Richmond also has a local ordinance that allows people to camp on streets and in public places if there are no shelter beds available.

Local groups and the county have provided occupants of the Richmond encampment with services, and they will continue to do so after the camp is cleared, the city manager’s office said. The city plans to cover the area with landscaping boulders to discourage people from sleeping in the area, Higares said.

Jennifer Jones, a 31-year-old pregnant woman who lives in the encampment, said it offered community, a place where people check up on one another.

“We don’t harm nobody. We don’t do nothing wrong. We’re just trying to live like everybody else,” said Jones, who is not related to Cella Jones.

Jennifer Jones said the camp’s location was in the perfect spot — right between shelters that serve food.

“I’m gonna still come back. What are they gonna do? Throw me in jail?” she said. “There’s no choice.”