Local leaders and community members, some homeless or formerly homeless, appealed to city and county officials this week, pleading for a safe and legal place for Gilroy’s homeless to stay temporarily while they work on finding more permanent shelter.
A 100-bed emergency winter shelter opened Monday at Gilroy’s National Guard Armory operated by San Jose-based nonprofit HomeFirst. The organization offers an additional 79 beds at the Boccardo Reception Center in San Jose, but nonprofit leaders say more can be done locally.
At the Dec. 1 Gilroy City Council meeting, representatives of the Gilroy Compassion Center, a nonprofit that provides daytime outreach services to those in need, asked for the city’s support in requesting a donation of between 10 and 20 acres of public land from the county for a permanent private campground for homeless who are registered to receive services in South County.
Camping anywhere but in areas officially designated as campgrounds is illegal, and those who camp within city limits risk receiving a ticket for the misdemeanor offense. So for the homeless, camping usually means hiding out of police sight—either under a bridge or hidden by shrubbery—and risking safety or else receiving a citation and entering the criminal justice system. But the Compassion Center has been trying a different approach recently.
A private donor to the Center has been paying to help shelter five homeless families in local county-owned campgrounds, and administrators involved with the program say it’s an excellent interim solution, as the permanent solution to homelessness, permanent housing, is years away. The Center also provides tents, heaters and other essentials.
“We believe this is, of course, not a permanent solution, but it’s a very practical solution that works today,” said Joseph Davis, a volunteer at the Compassion Center driving the effort. “The county’s parks department owns 46,000 acres of land and most of it is unused. They’re a vastly underutilized resource.”
“It’s not costing the county parks department anything and it’s providing them a place to camp where they have a bathroom and a shower—plus it’s legal,” said Jan Bernstein-Chargin, board chair of the Compassion Center, who explained that the new program is still under development. “It eliminates some of the harm of being homeless and it takes them out of the situation of having to hide and sleep in places they’re not supposed to be. It’s just like using the county campgrounds like anyone else.”
Simultaneously, the Compassion Center is continuing to raise funds for South County’s first year-round, overnight shelter, Bernstein-Chargin clarified.
Diana Clinton, a Gilroy resident of 15 years who has been homeless the last seven years, said that a campground for the homeless would be an “ideal place.” Hustling from one hidden camp in the city to another is tiring on a physical, mental and emotional level, she said.
“Unfortunately, there’s really nowhere we can sit down and focus on forward motion and progress towards becoming a functioning member of society,” she said. “If we come together as a team—the police department, city council, the homeless, various nonprofits, business owners and the community as a whole—we can all attack this crisis. It has to start somewhere.”
In October, city and county officials cleared an encampment Clinton where was living with her husband and daughter. The mishmash of tents was wedged between trees in an undeveloped lot near the Santa Clara County Social Services building and Community Solutions. Clinton is working toward a certificate at Gavilan College in hopes of becoming a website designer one day, she said.
“If we had a safe and legal place to sleep at night, then we could focus and be on our way so much faster than having to move every few weeks,” Clinton said.
Bernstein-Chargin argues the city’s current course of action, enforcing its “zero tolerance” policy for crimes related to homelessness—like sleeping in a park or loitering, for example—is counterproductive.
“This is not only expensive, it’s completely ineffective because giving somebody a ticket and sending them to court, probation, etc. does nothing. They’re still on the street at the end of it,” she said. “If we’re going to spend money, let’s put it toward a solution: case management, outreach and a safe legal place to sleep.”
Most often, the reason members of the homeless community and police officers in Gilroy interact is either because a citizen called the police to complain or there’s an imminent danger to public safety, Mayor Don Gage said.
“The problem is all the other people whose homes or businesses they’re sleeping in front of start calling the police. And what do we do? We ask them to move so they move to another place,” he added. “It’s the people in the community who are calling us and telling us ‘get these people out of my yard’ or ‘get him out from in front of my store.’ It’s not us walking by, pinching them. The compassion has to go beyond the city and the solution does, too, because we can only do so much.”
On a given night in Santa Clara County, there are more than 7,600 homeless individuals, a 2013 county census of the homeless population showed. Close to 75 percent of all the area’s homeless are out in the cold and live unsheltered—either living in cars, encampments or out of sight, according to county figures.
But in order for the Compassion Center to operate a potential private campground that will be effective in offering temporary shelter while clients look for permanent housing, Davis said, the county will need to relax some of its rules. As it stands now, campers can only stay in a campground for 14 days of every 45 days.
“You have to leave for 31 days and then come back. That means we’re moving families every 14 days from one campground to another and it becomes costly and difficult for everyone involved,” Davis said.
Gage told the Dispatch he’d like to see an action plan detailing how the program will work and how it will be managed before endorsing it.
“They have to have a proposal, send it to us and ask to agendize it for discussion. I’ve got to see some sort of action plan that gives me comfort it will do the job,” Gage said, adding he’d like to see an on-site manager present 24 hours a day at the campground. “I wouldn’t object to writing a letter (to county officials) for them as soon as I look at what they’re going to do and how they’re going to manage it.”
The Compassion Center is also asking the county to change the rules so that qualified homeless individuals, those who are registered with service organizations, are allowed to stay up to six months at a time without having to move. While homeless are at the camp, Davis says local organizations will help them find permanent housing.
“The only times the campgrounds are full are on weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” Davis said. “The rest of the time they’re empty.”
The Council is expected to discuss the proposal at a meeting in January or February, according to Gage.
“There has been some talk over the past year whether we’re too compassionate as a city,” Bernstein-Chargin said. “Why you and I love Gilroy is because of the people and the compassionate, giving heart we have here. We don’t want to give up what’s best about our community.”
