San Jose can resume clearing a prominent homeless encampment in Columbus Park, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, less than two weeks after a lawsuit abruptly halted the city’s efforts in an ongoing battle to relocate more than two dozen people with nowhere else to go.
The encampment has created “dangerous nuisance conditions” at the park and surrounding areas, the city argued in court filings. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley agreed and lifted the order she issued earlier this month, which had tied the city’s hands and prevented it from removing people’s trailers and tents or forcing them to relocate.
Several of the plaintiffs who live at the park pleaded with the judge to extend the order, describing their fear of being left on the street once the city seizes the car or trailer they call home. But Corley sided with the city, which promised that teams of outreach workers are in the process of getting everyone from the park into housing or shelter.
“You don’t have a right to put your trailer wherever you want,” Corley told the plaintiffs. “You do have a right to have somewhere to live. And the city is working on that.”
Though the emergency order has been lifted, the underlying lawsuit filed by seven encampment residents will proceed. An additional 17 residents filed a related lawsuit this week, also accusing the city of violating their rights and illegally seizing their belongings.
Several hundred people once lived in the encampment on vacant land near the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport, until the city cleared the camp this fall in response to a mandate by the Federal Aviation Administration. The city moved many people into shelters and housing, but it didn’t have placements for everyone. As a result, 146 RVs and trailers relocated from the FAA land to Columbus Park, creating a new encampment rife with safety hazards and other challenges, according to San Jose officials.
“Housing advocates and encampment occupants expressed concerns about the density and potential for fires resulting from the crowded conditions,” the city’s lawyers wrote. “Open fuel sources, crowding and unsanitary conditions made the encampment extremely dangerous for occupants and for the wider community.”
The city began removing campers earlier this month, and seven homeless residents responded by suing. On Nov. 16, Corley issued an emergency order temporarily forcing the city to stop clearing the encampment.
Cheryl Imus, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, told the judge Tuesday about the stress she’s been under since the city began clearing the camp. Workers from the city have been threatening to tow her bus, because they claimed she has been using it for storing her possessions, she said. Imus says she’s been sleeping in it.
“I’ve been stressed about it every day since then,” she said. “Because we’re already homeless. I don’t need to be more homeless.”
All residents of the Columbus Park encampment have the option to sign up for the “housing pipeline,” which puts them on the waitlist for a tiny home, motel room, emergency shelter bed or permanent housing, according to the city. Anyone who agrees to be part of the program can move to a nearby lot or side street adjacent to the park while they wait for their housing — at least until Feb. 1.
In addition, the city is offering people up to $500 to surrender their broken-down vehicles and trailers.
As of Nov. 18, there were about 17 vehicles parked in Columbus Park — six of which belonged to people enrolled in the housing pipeline. But the court’s order halting the eviction allowed the camp to grow, according to the city. Now there are 28 vehicles in the park, and another 22 on nearby side streets.
Relocating those new residents will be expensive. It costs between $15,000 and $20,000 per day to clear an encampment, according to the city.
Source: www.mercurynews.com