Restoration of former homeless camp underway

More than 20 people were living in the camp every night before it was disbanded. Chidester said services were offered to all campers, and about nine of them moved into a shelter, entered a treatment program or were provided hotel stays, he said, though a handful of them are still camping on private property and other areas nearby.   

Eric Debode, who heads the Half Moon Bay Homeless and Housing Collaborative and Abundant Grace, which provides employment opportunities and other services to homeless people, is actively arranging places for those remaining campers to stay.

His long-term plan is to develop a property with room for 14 affordable units for homeless people, but in the meantime he’s organizing a temporary camp that would be open for one year and offer basic amenities such as a portable toilet, modest kitchen, locked safe and tents reserved specifically for 15 to 20 of the homeless people who were camping behind Safeway.       

For the temporary camp, Debode is looking into several properties, including one on which Catholic church Our Lady of the Pillar sits. He said an area on that property behind the police station would be fenced off with an access point facing away from sensitive areas like the elementary school, adding that that location is in close proximity to a variety of services that campers could take advantage of. He said a budget is still being refined but estimates the camp would cost $300,000 to $350,000, and said it would take at least 60 days to open it as a coastal development permit would be required.  

“The most important thing is to have the community realize it’s less expensive to house homeless and provide services than it is to continue addressing their needs with emergency rooms and jails, that’s the bottom line,” he said. “The sooner the community can embrace that truth, the better, as getting people out of situations that are harmful to them or the environment and getting their needs met is what will make our whole community better.”

Chidester said the city has spent a little under $200,000 so far cleaning up the camp behind Safeway and providing services to the people who lived there. That number of course doesn’t include all other homelessness related costs, nor does it include the future environmental remediation plan, and Chidester added that cleanup costs and fines associated with that site could’ve totaled millions had the city waited longer than it did. 

As for the feasibility of a temporary encampment in town, Chidester said there are “lots of roadblocks.” 

“When you look at properties in our city and zoning that would work, it’s very limited,” he said.

Chidester said homeless people have been camping in the area behind Safeway for at least 30 years, but it grew to the size of more than 20 people about three years ago. Within the last year and a half, a fire broke out at the camp and damage began to get out of hand. 

“It was a hard day and there was a sad feeling in the air and many of them considered this home, but we had to do it and it was the right thing to do and we felt we did it right,” Chidester said. 

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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