California town touts a ‘progressive’ approach to homelessness. How its legal encampment works
In south Tulare, literally on the other side of the tracks, a group of homeless residents lives in a city-approved, open-air dirt lot — an alternative to more dangerous sites and one that officials bureaucratically refer to as a “designated encampment area.”
The progressive project has yielded some important successes, including reduced suicides and the consolidation of city, county and nonprofit services into one place, allowing for more efficient delivery of social services and medical services to the people who need them.
It’s definitely tough living in the industrially-zoned area. There are rodents, signs of human addiction, lots of dogs roaming and plenty of complaints from the men and women who live there. Sobriety is not required, though recommended through available onsite counseling. Drinking alcohol and using cannabis discreetly is allowed. Harder drugs are technically forbidden on the premises.
Most of the dozens of large tents that fill the roughly 600-square-foot site are reinforced with various types of wood and other materials to provide added protection from the elements.
“The best thing I can say about this place is that it gives you a shelter,” said Manuel, 71, a homeless veteran who declined to provide his last name. He thinks he was better off on his own.
But, “they’re doing their best,” Manuel said about the encampment staff.
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As cities in Central California enact stricter anti-encampment rules, Tulare leaders tout a more humane approach, with Mayor Terry Sayre calling it “probably the most progressive city in the county” when it comes to homelessness. The city’s use of a designated encampment site since January 2023 offers a different strategy against the crisis at a time when other local governments in the Central Valley have already enacted tougher laws without having comprehensive plans in place to increase access to housing, critics have said.
A crackdown with stricter anti-camping rules has been underway since June when the U.S. Supreme Court said it was OK to jail and fine homeless individuals for violating local anti-camping ordinances. Gov. Gavin Newsom followed up with his own July decree that said local governments should work to clear encampments. He more recently threatened to withhold state funding for municipalities that fail to take action.
The current situation has some local governments and the state at odds. Local leaders say that addressing the homelessness crisis is as difficult as it has ever been, with rising rents and not enough shelter beds for those who might want to go inside. Finding real solutions is tougher and more complex than simply enacting new ordinances, they, and many others, say.
Tulare’s “progressive” approach, for all its good intentions, has its pluses and minuses.
“This is not a substitute, this is not an emergency shelter, this is not permanent housing,” said Alexis Costales, the city’s housing and grants manager. “This is ongoing maintenance.”
Costales said there is room for improvement at the city-sanctioned site, but he stressed that the consolidation of resources into one place increases service providers’ potential reach to an average of 140 residents at any given time. And the number of suicides by train — the main catalyst for the project — has decreased in the homeless population, which used to line the tracks on the west side of town with tents before the encampment opened.
“Logistically, this presents an opportunity to really meet folks where they are, address some of their basic needs and work on housing,” Costales told The Fresno Bee last week during a tour of the site.
It’s also meant to be temporary for the city of about 70,000 residents — at least 284 of them homeless at the time of the January 2023 count. Tulare has succeeded in moving more than 100 people into permanent housing over the past two years with help from state grants, Costales said. The City Council on Tuesday also unanimously approved more than $9 million in contracts for the construction of a brick-and-mortar shelter on the Hillman Health Center campus one block from the encampment. That facility will have 200 beds with the ability to scale up to 400.
City Manager Marc Mondell describes the approach as “Tulare first,” with services prioritizing homeless people who have ties to the city and county.
The federal Interagency Council on Homelessness — a DC-based agency dedicated to partnering with local governments to end homelessness — is examining Tulare’s encampment to gleen lessons for other local governments. So is staff from the city and county of Fresno. A group was scheduled to visit the encampment Thursday.
“The city is always interested in learning from different cities deploying different models,” Spokesperson Sontaya Rose said in an email to The Bee about Fresno’s planned visit.
The city and county of Fresno each recently authorized jail time and fines as potential punishments for people who illegally camp in public places. Advocates have criticized these measures as harsh and failing to account for a shortage of local homeless shelter beds.
Dedicated homeless camps have run in Fresno in the past, though not government-sanctioned. Fresno advocate Dez Martinez, with We Are Not Invisible, operated a “safe camp” on state property under Highway 41 for more than a year. Funded by donations, it closed in 2021. Martinez said the camp became too difficult to operate without help from the city and other agencies. She did not return messages left from The Bee for this story.
Not housing, but ‘ongoing maintenance’
Tulare’s temporary encampment is considered a low barrier operation that primarily serves people who have histories as local residents. A background check must indicate that the encampment would be a proper place for them, Costales said.
They come voluntarily and from different walks of life. Some require more help and a longer stay than others.
“The goal should always be permanent housing,” Costales said.
Residents have access to case managers who are charged with putting them on a path to permanent housing. Three days a week, various nonprofits provide donated food, supplies and a shower trailer. Twice a week, Tulare County and Adventist Health provide mobile medical and social services. There are porta-potties and barbecue grills for residents, as well as two former transit buses that serve as cooling and warming stations when the weather requires it.
The rules can be difficult to enforce. There is an overnight security guard, but the encampment is not staffed 24/7.
One middle-aged homeless man, who declined to provide his name, said many neighbors disregard the rules and use drugs on-site. He said local gang members sometimes enter the encampment to sell drugs. Costales said the city hopes to install check-in booths soon to monitor entry into the encampment and prevent unwanted visits.
Tulare Police Chief Fred Ynclan said in an email to The Bee that the department gets a lot of calls from the encampment, but also noted the benefits of having a large group of homeless people in one location rather than spread across the city.
“This helps for police response and medical aid during an overdose, a matter where time is essential,” Ynclan said. “The police department supports the encampment.”
The present sanitation issues bother some of the residents, including Donny Earp, who said he tries to keep his living area clean.
“But people don’t care,” he said. “They leave their trash on the ground. They let their dogs run around.”
The initial policy allowed two dogs per campsite. But because of limited veterinary resources and cooperation from residents, Costales said the site has stopped accepting new dogs “until staff can get a better handle on the situation.”
He said fixing the sanitation issues would also require “buy-in from the clients.”
“This would be a team effort where you would want clients to say, ‘Yes, it makes sense not to leave food out’ or ‘I need to pick up my dog waste,’ ” Costales said.
Despite its issues, he said there have been few serious behavioral problems. He said complaints from nearby home and business owners have fizzled out. Overall, most residents are amicable and take their work with their service providers seriously, he said.
“And that’s attributable to the housing outcomes that we mentioned,” he said. “I don’t think we get those without guests and our unhoused neighbors being resilient and trusting in the service providers, because it’s a two-way street.”
Sayre, Tulare’s mayor, said encampment residents will be moved into the shelter currently under construction once it’s ready for occupants.
Until then, Manuel, the homeless veteran, will have to stay in the encampment.
Where would he be if he didn’t live there?: “Probably in heaven,” he said.
