San Diego and Fresno: Homeless camps cleared


San Diego and Fresno: Homeless camps cleared

Raise Questions About Long-Term Solutions and Human Cost

State-led sweeps remove camps but research shows displaced people often relocate nearby, face increased health risks, and lose essential belongings

California's intensified campaign to clear homeless encampments from state property has removed thousands of camps and tons of debris, but mounting research and legal challenges suggest the approach may be causing more harm than progress in addressing the state's homelessness crisis.

This week, Governor Gavin Newsom's SAFE Task Force cleared encampments along the 805 Freeway in San Diego, where up to 30 people had been living at various times, and removed camps in Fresno that housed up to 50 individuals. Caltrans collected 33 cubic yards of debris from the San Diego site and will install fencing and rocks to prevent people from returning.

The Displacement Cycle

While officials tout the clearances as progress, evidence suggests many displaced individuals simply move to new locations rather than accepting shelter or housing services. More than 90% of people who are displaced by sweeps remain in public spaces after displacement, and nearly two-thirds simply move down the street.

In San Diego, the number of unhoused people downtown has been cut in half from 2,104 in May 2023 to 1,063 in February 2024, but tents now line highway on- and off-ramps where the city cannot enforce its ban because Caltrans owns the land. The number of unhoused people camped along the San Diego River has doubled, according to an outreach worker.

After San Diego passed its camping ban, the number of riverbed encampments increased, with a recent census finding more than 420 people living by local waterways—the nonprofit's highest tally yet.

What Happens to Belongings

A major point of contention involves what happens to homeless individuals' possessions during clearances. A lawsuit filed in June 2024 in federal court claims agencies involved in East San Diego County homeless encampment sweeps violated the rights of unhoused people by illegally removing personal belongings, including family photos, jewelry, important papers, and cremated ashes of loved ones.

One woman said sheriff's deputies threw away her walker along with the cremated ashes of her husband and son during a 2022 sweep near the Santee Drive-In. Another homeless woman claims that irreplaceable items like her daughter's first tooth and family photos were confiscated, along with jewelry and birth certificates, while insulin needed to treat diabetes was taken during an August sweep.

Courts have ruled that the destruction of property during sweeps violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, which prohibit unreasonable seizures and guarantee due process and equal protection. Even when objects taken from encampments are stored, people are rarely reunited with their belongings.

San Diego has a 10-page policy specifying that items must be photographed, logged, and stored for 90 days, with removals taking place during daylight hours and not if there is a 50% chance of rain, with at least 24 hours advance warning.

Health and Safety Consequences

Research indicates encampment sweeps create serious health risks for displaced individuals. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association shows encampment sweeps lead to substantial increases in overdose deaths, hospitalizations, and life-threatening infections, and hinder access to medications for opioid use disorder.

Modeling the outcomes of consistent sweeping versus no sweeping over ten years, the study found that encampment sweeps could contribute to a 15-25% increase in deaths. Encampment sweeps may account for as many as 24% of all deaths among unhoused people who use drugs.

Research found that abatements harmed unhoused people's health through four key mechanisms: forced relocation and property seizures stripped people of health resources and necessities; abatements drove unhoused people into hazardous, isolated, less visible spaces; abatements were grounds for frequent negative encounters between unhoused people and authorities; and distrust of authorities led to reluctance to seek formal support.

A study analyzing involuntary displacement in Denver found insignificant decreases in total crimes in the days immediately following sweeps, with no evidence that displacing people makes crime go down or makes the rest of the community safer.

The Supreme Court Decision

On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 6-3 decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, holding that a municipality's enforcement of ordinances banning camping on public property against individuals experiencing homelessness does not violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California announced in late July that state officials would begin dismantling thousands of homeless encampments in response to the decision. The ruling overturned a Ninth Circuit decision that had provided protections for unsheltered people throughout much of the Western United States.

The Scale of the Problem

San Diego removed more than 155,000 pounds of debris from just one prominent riverbed encampment known as "The Island," which housed around 100 people and required a multimillion-dollar state grant. Since 2021, Caltrans has removed more than 19,000 encampments on state property in California's most populous cities and collected 354,000 cubic yards of litter and debris.

In 2023, Caltrans cleared 2,700-plus encampments in San Diego and Imperial counties, more than three times the total from two years earlier.

Housing Outcomes

Following the San Diego River clearance in November 2024, 48 people moved into shelter or Safe Sleeping Program sites, at least eight people were placed into permanent or long-term housing, and 13 more individuals were awaiting housing placement. However, more than a third of campers refused interim housing in some cases.

An audit conducted by the New York City Comptroller showed that only 90 of 2,308 people forcibly removed from encampments remained in a shelter for more than one day afterward, and only three people obtained housing.

Community Impact

Neighbors living in condos near encampments have raised concerns since at least 2021, with some homeless people washing clothes in the complex's hot tub, fences being cut, and packages disappearing from doorsteps, with dozens of calls to police throughout the area in recent years.

Yet San Diego doesn't have data on where people went after they were removed from downtown encampments or on the change in the total number of unhoused people in the city.

After executing the largest study of homelessness in California, University of California, San Francisco researchers made recommendations on how to reduce and prevent homelessness: increase the stock of affordable housing, strengthen eviction protection laws, and raise the income of adults experiencing extreme poverty.

Sources

  1. Governor of California. (2025, October 24). "Governor's SAFE Task Force and local partners clear homeless encampments in Fresno and San Diego." https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/24/governors-safe-task-force-and-local-partners-clear-homeless-encampments-in-fresno-and-san-diego/

  2. Ashcraft, A. (2025, October 24). "Homeless camps cleared in San Diego, Fresno." FOX 5 San Diego. https://fox5sandiego.com/news/local-news/homeless-camps-cleared-in-san-diego-fresno/

  3. CalMatters. (2024, April 16). "Here's how San Diego's ban on homeless camps has fared." https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2024/04/homeless-encampment-ban/

  4. American Public Health Association. (2024). "Displacement of Encampments." https://www.apha.org/policy-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-briefs/policy-database/2024/01/16/displacement-of-encampments

  5. National Health Care for the Homeless Council. "Impact of Encampment Sweeps on People Experiencing Homelessness." https://nhchc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/NHCHC-encampment-sweeps-issue-brief-12-22.pdf

  6. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. (2024, October 16). "Involuntary Sweeps of Homeless Encampments Do Not Improve Public Safety, Study Finds." https://news.cuanschutz.edu/news-stories/involuntary-sweeps-of-homeless-encampments-do-not-improve-public-safety-study-finds

  7. National Health Care for the Homeless Council. (2024, July 30). "Study Shows Involuntary Displacement of People Experiencing Homelessness May Cause Significant Spikes in Mortality, Overdoses and Hospitalizations." https://nhchc.org/media/press-releases/study-shows-involuntary-displacement-of-people-experiencing-homelessness-may-cause-significant-spikes-in-mortality-overdoses-and-hospitalizations/

  8. Routhier, G., et al. (2022, March 15). "Harms of encampment abatements on the health of unhoused people." ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321522000269

  9. National Low Income Housing Coalition. "Research Finds Increased Risk of Death and Hospitalization Associated with Encampment Sweeps." https://nlihc.org/resource/research-finds-increased-risk-death-and-hospitalization-associated-encampment-sweeps

  10. NACCHO. (2025, July). "The Public Health Impacts of Encampment 'Sweeps'." https://www.naccho.org/uploads/downloadable-resources/FINAL-ES-Brief-Combined-7.28.2025.pdf

  11. ProPublica. (2024, October 29). "Swept Away: What Cities Really Take When They Sweep Homeless Encampments." https://projects.propublica.org/homeless-encampment-sweeps-taken-belongings/

  12. Wikipedia. (2025, May 26). "Homeless encampment sweeps." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeless_encampment_sweeps

  13. Nguemeni, C. (2024, October 11). "A casualty of encampment sweeps: homeless people's health." STAT. https://www.statnews.com/2024/10/11/homeless-encampment-sweeps-health-newsom/

  14. Supreme Court of the United States. (2024, June 28). "City of Grants Pass v. Johnson." https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/23-175_19m2.pdf

  15. New York State Bar Association. (2024, August 16). "Grant's Pass v. Johnson: Supreme Court Decision Illustrates the Difficulties in Solving Homelessness." https://nysba.org/grants-pass-v-johnson-supreme-court-decision-illustrates-the-difficulties-in-solving-homelessness/

  16. CBS News. (2024, June 28). "Supreme Court allows camping bans targeting homeless encampments." https://www.cbsnews.com/news/supreme-court-homelessness-case-camping-ban/

  17. COHHIO. (2024, July 18). "U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Grants Pass v. Johnson." https://cohhio.org/statement-on-u-s-supreme-court-ruling-on-grants-pass-v-johnson/

  18. Inside San Diego. (2024). "San Diego River Encampment Removal Project Complete." https://www.insidesandiego.org/san-diego-river-encampment-removal-project-complete

  19. San Diego Union-Tribune. (2024, August 11). "State agencies were told to clear encampments. It's not clear that much will quickly change in San Diego." https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/08/11/state-agencies-were-told-to-clear-encampments-its-not-clear-that-much-will-quickly-change-in-san-diego/

  20. NBC 7 San Diego. (2024, August 1). "City of San Diego addressing large homeless encampment under I-5 with state grant." https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/city-of-san-diego-interstate-5-homeless-encampment-state-grant/3583232/

  21. 10News. (2024, November 7). "Crews in midst of clearing encampment along San Diego River." https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/crews-in-midst-of-clearing-encampment-along-san-diego-river

  22. San Diego Union-Tribune. (2024, November 13). "They didn't create the homeless encampment. But one couple just realized it's on them to clean up." https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/11/11/they-didnt-create-the-homeless-encampment-but-one-couple-just-realized-its-on-them-to-clean-up/

  23. San Diego Union-Tribune. (2024, November 12). "Just one homeless encampment created 155K pounds of debris by the San Diego River." https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/11/12/just-one-homeless-encampment-created-155k-pounds-of-debris-by-the-san-diego-river/

  24. City of San Diego. "Legal Settlements." https://www.sandiego.gov/homelessness-strategies-and-solutions/about/legal-settlements

  25. NBC 7 San Diego. (2024, June 20). "San Diego's homeless lose things in encampment sweeps. A lawsuit claims that's unconstitutional." https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/san-diegos-homeless-lose-things-in-encampment-sweeps-a-lawsuit-claims-thats-unconstitutional/3544606/

  26. CBS 8. "New class-action lawsuit alleges homeless residents' property was illegally thrown out." https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/lawsuit-alleges-homeless-property-was-illegally-thrown-out/509-0343e511-ecab-4e4e-86f2-0a2a9d12dcff

  27. San Diego Union-Tribune. (2024, June 19). "Lawsuit says homeless people's belongings are being illegally trashed in East County." https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/06/16/medication-birth-certificates-ashes-a-lawsuit-says-homeless-peoples-belongings-are-being-illegally-trashed-in-east-county/

  28. KPBS. (2025, August 21). "California cities lack unified response on homeless encampments." https://www.kpbs.org/news/quality-of-life/2025/08/21/california-cities-lack-unified-response-on-homeless-encampments

  29. CalMatters. (2025, August 21). "California cities lack unified response on homeless encampments." https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2025/08/homeless-encampment-sweep-policies/

  30. CBS 8. "San Diego launches new effort to clear massive encampment under Interstate 5." https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/san-diego-clear-massive-encampment-under-i-5/509-55a4e85e-bd90-4a30-9369-31a5b23cf466

  31. Governing. "California's Push to Clear Homeless Encampments." https://www.governing.com/urban/californias-push-to-clear-homeless-encampments

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Major Downtown San Diego Development Returns to Lender as Office Market Struggles Continue

Image
Building 200 at The Campus at Horton, pictured center left in green, includes first- and second-floor retail space. The five-story building also features three floors of office space. (Stockdale Capital Partners, LLC) Flagship $400M Campus at Horton Project Becomes Latest Casualty of Post-Pandemic Commercial Real Estate Crisis AllianceBernstein takes control of Horton Plaza redevelopment after developer defaults on $365.7 million loan The ambitious transformation of San Diego's iconic Horton Plaza mall has officially failed, with lender AllianceBernstein taking control of the $400 million Campus at Horton project following a public foreclosure auction that drew no bidders on Monday. The foreclosure marks the end of a seven-year effort by Los Angeles-based Stockdale Capital Partners to convert the 1980s-era shopping center into a modern mixed-use office campus in the heart of downtown San Diego. The developer lost control of the 10-acre property after defaulting on...
Read more

Miramar Road property zoned for housing is sold

Image
Miramar Landing Transforming San Diego's Landscape: Commercial to Residential Conversion Takes Shape in Mira Mesa By Claude News Service March 28, 2025 In a significant move that signals the future direction of San Diego's urban development, Pacifica Companies has purchased over 10 acres of land on Miramar Road for $30.6 million, embracing the city's vision to transform commercial areas into high-density residential neighborhoods. The January acquisition of the Miramar Landing shopping center and adjacent properties marks one of the first major investments following the December 2022 adoption of the new Mira Mesa Community Plan. This ambitious blueprint aims to reshape one of San Diego's largest neighborhoods from car-dependent suburban sprawl into a network of pedestrian-friendly urban villages. "We're witnessing the beginning of a fundamental shift in how we utilize commercial spaces in San Diego," said urban planning expert Maria Gonzalez. "Th...
Read more

End of an Era: San Diego Reader Ceases Print Publication After 52 Years

Image
End of an Era: San Diego Reader Ceases Print Publication After 52 Years May 15, 2025 SAN DIEGO — After more than five decades as a staple in San Diego's media landscape, the San Diego Reader has ended its print publication, marking another casualty in the ongoing decline of local print journalism across the United States. The alternative weekly newspaper published its final print edition on February 13, 2025, concluding a 52-year run that began when Jim Holman, then a 26-year-old graduate student, founded the publication in 1972 with an initial press run of 20,000 copies. "It's kind of undeniable that we can't do print anymore," Holman told the Times of San Diego in February, noting that even his own children have abandoned print for digital content. The Reader's new owner, longtime editor Matthew Lickona, who purchased the publication from Holman for just $1 around January 1, had initially hoped to maintain and even expand the print edition. "When...
Read more