Vallejo city officials monitor Ryder Street encampment clearing

VALLEJO – Vallejo city officials visited a homeless encampment on Wednesday as city workers cleared debris and encampment residents packed up to meet the deadline of vehicle impound notices the city  issued last week in the process of testing a new approach to encampment clearings.

The encampment off of Ryder Street along Midway Street had approximately 40 residents and consisted of 15 RVs and trailers, a number of vehicles and a tarp structure built by two long-term residents.

The city’s pilot program establishes a process to provide encampment residents with seven days of advance notice before clearing an encampment and calls for homeless outreach teams to visit the site to connect residents with available services and to begin intake procedures for the countywide coordinated entry system. 

The city developed the pilot program after the City Council ordered a two week moratorium on encampment clearings in March that was followed by meetings to collect input from advocacy groups and service organizations. 

The outreach team that includes agency representatives and nonprofit service providers visited the Ryder Street site a week prior and throughout the following week. 

Several residents signed up for the services offered by the outreach teams. But many expressed doubt that they would be able to find housing through the programs offered. 

One of the outreach team members, Kari Rader, who is a staff member with the nonprofit Change and New Beginnings, said that the housing and shelter programs that people need most are often full. “It is frustrating to come out here when you don't have much to offer,” she said. 

DeAndre Richard, the program director of the  Resource Connect Solano coordinated entry system, which is operated by the nonprofit Caminar, also confirmed the limited availability of housing services.

“Housing resources are limited—not just in Solano County, but everywhere,” Richard said in an email. “We strongly encourage individuals to stay engaged with any case managers or community support they’re already working with. Those care teams can provide additional help and advocacy while someone waits for housing opportunities to open up.”

Encampment resident, Lily Lemon, 48, who received a referral for mental health therapy through the outreach team, said that what she really needs is housing. “I can’t even stretch my legs because I am sleeping in the back seat of my car,” she said.

However, Lemon said that she was hesitant to sign up for the coordinated entry system because she had worked with Caminar before. Although she did get housing for a year, the landlord chose not to renew her lease and she ended up homeless again, she said.

The city has struggled to open two long-delayed projects that could offer some relief to homeless Vallejo residents. A 47-unit supportive housing project on Broadway has been plagued by financial mismanagement while a navigation center project has faced numerous setbacks. But the city expects both to open soon.

Assistant to the City Manager Natalie Peterson said the city will be finalizing operator agreements for the Broadway project and the navigation center this month. She said that the Broadway project is on track to begin leasing units at the end of the month and the navigation center should open in early June.

“Anyone that has an active profile with the coordinated entry system would have the opportunity to be referred to the Broadway Project or Navigation Center as well as other housing or shelter in Vallejo and Solano County,” Peterson said in an email. “There may be other criteria that would qualify or disqualify an individual for a certain housing program or shelter provider, but it is important to be in the coordinated entry system as housing/shelter becomes available in Vallejo and Solano County.”

The site of the Ryder Street encampment includes portions of land that was once considered for the navigation center until an environmental report indicated the presence of industrial contamination. The site is next to a small industrial park with several businesses and it also borders the city wastewater treatment facility.

City Manager Andrew Murray visited the site on Wednesday and spoke with encampment residents and advocates. He said that the encampment's proximity to crucial city infrastructure is part of the reason that officials needed to clear the site. 

Peterson said that the city had also received complaints from local businesses about thefts and property damage. “Those incidents are not necessarily connected with encampment residents but the camp does attract attention that may draw others to commit crimes in the area,” Peterson said. 

The Vallejo Homeless Union provided support for 18 residents with disabilities to file Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation requests with the city to receive additional time to move and assistance moving their belongings. But Murray said that the city would not honor the ADA requests because the city is enforcing the California Vehicle Code and not a city policy.  

An attorney for the homeless union, Andrew Prince, said in an interview that the ADA is a federal law and the city would still be violating the rights of a person with a qualifying disability even when enforcing a state law. 

“Federal law absolutely trumps a state law,” Prince said. “The ADA has been upheld many times,” adding that he expects the union to take legal action on the issue.

One family at the camp moved into an apartment that the nonprofit group 4th Second helped to arrange. Mike Nicolai, 59, his mother, Betty Spain, 77, and Mike’s son have been living together in their RV for 7 years. 

The family started working with 4th Second to find housing before the outreach efforts for the encampment clearing began. Still, the confirmation that they had secured the place did not come a moment too soon. Nicolai is disabled and walks with a pronounced limp that he has had since he was hit by a truck a few years ago, so packing up the family's belongings is not an easy task, he said.

The pilot program designates the first hour of a clean-up, from 9-10 a.m., for organizations to support encampment residents in moving their belongings or vehicles off the site. It also notes that the city will work with unhoused residents and service organizations to determine if additional time is necessary.

Some residents continued to pack up well into the afternoon. But for Sarah Golding, the extra time did not ease the worry that she might lose her only shelter. “It's more stressful than I can even put into words,” she said, as she waited anxiously for a friend to arrive with a truck that could tow her trailer.

Jackie Jones, board president of Vallejo Together, one of the service organizations involved in the new outreach teams, said that she feels the coordination efforts are helpful but good outcomes still rely on providing adequate follow up care and services. 

“Unfortunately, there is no housing and no safe parking site,” Jones said, “What good does it do to move folks from one location to the other, you will just be out here next month moving the same folks”

Jones said that he is an advocate of continuing the moratorium on encampment sweeps until the city can open the navigation center and the Broadway project.

Several residents moved to a location a couple blocks away, spurring neighbors to add new see-click-fix notifications to an area that already has a number of open complaints about RVs, abandoned vehicles and dumping.

Other residents moved to a South Vallejo lot alongside the freeway, but the lot’s owners demanded that people leave, according to an unhoused resident that preferred not to give his name.

The city did allow one couple to stay at the Ryder Street site. Rebecca Stine, 65, and Craig Stine, 64, live at the site in a tarp structure they built that is similar to the home of Evelyn Alfred, whom a judge ordered the city not to remove while she proceeds with a lawsuit. The case initially involved an ADA claim as well as a 14th Amendment claim that removal from her home would place her in harm's way. 

The Stines had filed ADA requests for additional time to move but have not received a formal response from the city. Mayor Andrea Sorce visited the encampment toward the end of the day and talked with the couple, but she did not give them a timeline, according to Rebecca Stine. 

“I’m not sure how long we can stay,” Rebecca Stine said. “But I am so grateful for the extra time.”

The couple has lived at the location for three years and were the first to set up camp at the site. Craig Stine said that he has always gotten along well with the businesses nearby and he hopes that their reprieve has something to do with the relationships he has built with neighbors. 

After contact with outreach workers, the Stines began the process of applying for housing through the coordinated entry system and they are hopeful that it will yield some results.

“We are getting too old for this,” Craig Stine said. “I’m ready to have a roof over my head.” 

“Yes,” Rebecca Stine said. “It would be nice to go to the sink and turn on running water.”