by Sheryl Hamlin

At the July 15, 2020 Santa Paula City Council meeting, Chief Monday spoke about the increase in fires in the creek with a council discussion about the homeless population in the area and the involvement of The Nature Company. Please read that article here.

A CJ reader forwarded dozens of pictures taken about three weeks ago of the area. The following subset of pictures shows the homes that have been created among the rocks, as well as graffiti and detritus. There are no pictures of sanitary facilities.

Click on each thumbnail to enlarge.

According to Kay Wilson who has been instrumental in the establishment of the local shelter, as well as a local food distribution center, many unsheltered people will not avail themselves of the shelter because they will not abide by the rules and regulations.

The city has established a Standing Committee on Housing and Homeless. Read about the committee here as well as their most recent meeting.

Some strategies for this population is the establishment of “safe” parking lots where people can sleep in cars, RVs or trailers with sanitation facilities provided. East Palo Alto’s program as well as Los Angeles’ program are often cited as examples.

To read about the author, click sherylhamlin dot com

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