Media coverage of rural homelessness, from California to Iowa

I spent the week of July 4 in Del Norte County, California, population 27,470,  working with Sierra Service Project, based out of Smith River, population 866.  Smith River is the home of the Tolowa Dee Ni' nation.

While in the area, I noted that the region's two local papers, the Del Norte Triplicate and Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon) had both recently run stories on homelessness in the region.  In the former, Tony Reed wrote a June 19 feature under the headline, "Police face tough issues with homelessness."  A subhead, "Court ruling allows camping, not bad behavior," refers to a recent 9th Circuit decision that permits homeless people to sleep in public spaces, in the absence of adequate alternatives.

Reed writes of recent ride-alongs with Del Norte County deputies and Crescent City (county seat) police.  Reed asked Sheriff's Commander Bill Steven what aspects of local homelessness were striking to him:

“The number of females is surprising to me, now that we have run into a pregnant female and possibly two,” he said. “If you had asked me a few years ago that we have pregnant women homeless in this county, I’d have said probably not.” 

Steven said that pretty much any area of land hidden in trees and thickets probably has or had homeless camps hidden in it. 

“We do see the problem but to be honest, homeless people don’t eat up a lot of our manpower,” Steven said. “Occasionally, physical fights will happen inside these camps, and a lot of fire department resources are used. They’ll get these burns going and they’ll burn wood and brush and trash. Generally, they just tell them to put them out or the fire department puts them out, and that eats up resources.” 

Steven said larger stores complain about shopping carts being taken, estimating that we had personally seen 40 to 50 carts in the camps that day. 

“I think they’ve been removed on occasion, so those aren’t the ones that have been there since the dawn of time,” he said. “They’ve been hauled out and they just keep coming back.” 

“As we saw today, there’s both public lands being impacted, there’s private property being impacted without permission,” he said, “but they’re not a big problem with committing crime. But that’s not to say they don’t eat up resources and time.” 

Asked if there was anything he’d like the community to know, Steven brought up the perception that officers are essentially evicting people who have nowhere else to go.
“We’re not the bad guy here,” Steven said of law enforcement personnel. “We have to go to both public and private property by request to have people moved on, but we’re not the bad guys. We’d like to think we’re part of the solution.”

Reed also quoted Crescent City police chief Ivan Minsal:

“I say 99 percent of the time, we look at the spirit of the law, rather than the letter of the law,” he said, noting that often the person who called police just wants people to clean up after themselves.

A K9 Officer explained his reason for not citing homeless people.

“They’re homeless,” he said. “It’s not like they have money to pay for a citation, which is an administrative cite for the city. They start out at like $50 and go up each time they get a citation. They’re not going to pay that. Sure, it could eventually go to civil court, but then, does the city want to spend all that extra money to fight a civil case when these people are never going to pay?” 

Passing Beachfront Park, [the officer] pointed out some people had set up a sort-of dwelling under the gazebo near the restrooms. 

“So far, since I have been on day shift, I’ve not received any calls there,” he said, noting he was unsure if the space is available for the public to use or if it could be reserved or rented. 

However, officers responded to the same location April 23 and arrested one man after an argument left another man with a stab wound to the arm. 

Noting that tents are often erected at Beachfront Park, [the officer] added people often move on when conditions turn to wind and rain.

* * *  

“Really, we treat them the same way we do any other time we contact them,” he said of campers at the park, “The court said they can be there, so we’re not going to say ‘move along.’”

The Oregon paper's headline from June 18 is "Council discusses Mill Beach homelessness."  Journalist Boyd C. Allen writes:

June Podesta began the Brookings City Council meeting June 10 by detailing problems with homeless camps on Mill Beach. She said new problems were arising with the improving weather such as increased garbage and fires. 

New camps had formed underbrush below South Coast Lumber property and the city’s wastewater treatment plant, according to Podesta. She said the transients, unlike residents and families, place their fires back in brush and risk starting wildfires. 

She asked the city to create an ordinance forbidding camping at the beach or limiting fires and said signs posted at the access stating the rules would help as well. 

“Watch ‘Seattle is Dying,’” she said. “That is what is happening at Mill Beach.”
“Seattle is Dying” is a news show shot in Seattle by KOMO TV. 

* * *  

Park rangers from Harris Beach cannot keep up with the trash at Mill Beach, according to Podesta. She said there are so many homeless moving in “there is no way to keep up.” 

Mayor Jake Pieper called the situation “an ongoing saga,” and said it was a shame because Mill Beach is a community gem. He noted the city has closed the parking area at night, but he noted the beach itself is state property.

According to the report, the city council meeting then moved on to a discussion of building department fees.

Meanwhile, I see that the Des Moines Register has a big Sunday feature story on rural homelessness today, "Rural homeless safety net sparse in places, getting stronger."  An alternative headline also running with the digital version of the story is a bit more positive, "In rural Iowa, homelessness is often an invisible issue.  Here's how Iowans are working to solve it."  Here's an excerpt featuring 34-year-old Katie Bennett of Belle Plaine, population 2,534:

Many must choose between staying in their communities, where their support networks of friends and family live, or moving to an urban center, where there are more jobs, housing options and assistance.

Bennett chose the latter. She stuffed a backpack with some clothes and caught a ride to the Shelter House in Iowa City, nearly 55 miles away. She stayed there for 45 days until she got a job, found a place of her own, and enrolled in massage therapy courses.

But the stability was short-lived.

Without a driver's license and unable to find a ride, she missed a court date back in Benton County. She was arrested and spent six months behind bars as court proceedings played out.

Among the themes in the story are attachment to place, transportation (or lack thereof), labor markets, and the criminal justice system.  It's worth a read in its entirety.

Another major newspaper's feature on rural homelessness was by the Arizona Republic about 18 months ago; I blogged about it here.