Homeless encampment in Coachella cleared out, campers evicted
After months of notices, people were evicted from a homeless encampment along Highway 86 in Coachella Tuesday morning.
Caltrans began its clean up of the area where homeless individuals had been staying in makeshift shelters. They had given the inhabitants notices since January to vacate the area.
The agency is looking to clean up the area as it begins the process of possibly selling the excess land it owns by the highway.
Approximately 60 people lived in the encampment. One of them was Michael Brown, who began grabbing his belongings and stuffing them into his girlfriend’s vehicle.
“It sucks it’s terrible…moving from here,” he said. “Where are we going, to another spot? Make us move in a month or two?”
Brown said he and other in the camp have had to deal with harsh conditions in the area, such as the wind.
“You sit down try to eat a meal, you end up eating a mouth full of sand or something,” he said. “It’s terrible.”
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In order to survive the conditions, the shelters have become elaborate with solar panels installed and even an underground shelter made.
Caltrans officials said the eviction was for everyone’s safety due to the hazards of camping in the area.
“Snakebites. There’s ants,” Terri Kasinga, public information officer for Caltrans District 8, said. “There’s been two people that have passed away in this camp from infection.”
One camper acknowledge that they had to leave, due to them trespassing.
“It feels unfair but it is the law,” a man by the name of Jose said. “We’re not trying to defy the law. We’re just here trying to survive.” He declined to give his last name.
Caltrans said it teamed with local charities and county officials in order to provide services for the homeless at the camp and was working to find solutions.
“We’re open to different ideas,” Michael Yarbrough with Caltrans, said. “We appreciate the public’s input and we’re just here to help and trying to work together with everyone.”
Christian Jelmberg, a homeless advocate with the Street Life Project, felt the eviction only served to move the homeless issue elsewhere.
“It’s kind of a rotating door. It’s the homeless shuffle,” he said. “I mean they’ve done it before. Last time it cost 500,000 to displace everybody out here. It was 17 people at the time. Only a couple of people got into housing, although they were provided services. It’s just that services can’t keep up.”
Jose said many of the campers simply just wanted housing, as services could go only so far in the short-term.
“Just something. Anything. Four walls and a restroom with a shower, you know,” he said.
Kasinga said Caltrans crews would begin tearing down the camps Wednesday morning and the clean up process could take at least a week.
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