Half Moon Bay weighs options to address homelessness

“I do support having an ordinance, I totally support the idea of working with service providers and having a compassionate approach,” she said. “The longer that people are in, say, the creek, the worse the damage is, the more expensive it is to fix that problem afterwards.” 

At a meeting March 3, councilmembers received an informational presentation about the San Mateo County Hopeful Horizons ordinance, which allows officials to charge individuals living in an encampment on public property and in unincorporated areas of the county with a misdemeanor if they continually decline shelter offers. Those charges would then be eligible for diversion programs and jail time could be avoided, and shelter must be available for charges to be pursued. The ordinance requires 72 hours notice before encampment clearings.

It was designed with the idea that local jurisdictions could enact the policy in their jurisdictions. Other cities in the area have taken these steps — Millbrae passed a no-camping ordinance in May 2025, and Redwood City passed the Homeless Horizons ordinance in September 2025.

Millbrae’s ordinance prohibits camping in both public and private spaces and allows for only 24 hours notice before encampments are cleared. 

It might be helpful for any future ordinance passed by Half Moon Bay to also take a locally specific approach that accounts for environmental laws being broken by creek-adjacent encampments, Ruddock said. She also highlighted a need for fencing around the creek. 

“Encampments in this area are violating laws, many laws,” she said. “That’s something people in the community can’t do, and we can’t allow it to happen.” 

If the city takes steps to relocate homeless individuals living in and around Pilarcitos Creek, it will need to account for coordination with local service providers as well as the cleanup of encampments and debris that will have to occur afterwards, Councilmember Patric Bo Jonsson said. 

“Will we have a plan in place for the cleanup at some point? Who’s going to pay for that cleanup?” he said. “We have to find a place for these people, we have to go through the process, we have to store their products, their personal belongings.” 

Upon his arrival to Half Moon Bay in 2017, City Manager Matthew Chidester worked on an encampment removal effort that resulted in 80 individuals being moved to shelter and a subsequent $100,000 cleanup, he said. 

While the homelessness issue facing Half Moon Bay is no longer that substantive, he warned councilmembers that any effort to remove individuals from the relatively-secluded creek areas could result in a “more visible” type of homelessness. 

“Resources have been made available that have changed people’s lives. Really, what we’re dealing with now is people that have much more significant challenges, and if we’re finding more and more of them living in these sensitive areas … as we continue to address this and protect the creeks more, it may become a more visible problem,” he said. 

Future plans for a more specific homelessness ordinance will be brought back to the council at a later date.