Caltrans cleared a large homeless encampment in Sacramento this week. Why did only 5 people accept a shelter bed?

You can clear out a homeless encampment.  That does not mean the homeless will get off the streets.

“Caltrans cleared a large encampment earlier this week, which it said posed serious safety risks to the highway system. The camp was located on Winters Street near Interstate 80 in the city of Sacramento.

Following the removal, a city spokesperson told KCRA 3 that only five of the approximately 50 people living in the camp accepted temporary housing despite outreach, availability of shelter beds and other resources. KCRA 3 went searching for an explanation as to why.

Caltrans crews have cleared encampments in this area five times within the last year. This encampment, a spokesperson said, needed to be cleared because it was located on state right of the way and posed a risk to public safety, the light rail bridge and to drivers traveling downtown.

Not to worry, this encampment will be back in business shortly.  With the same clientele.  Government does not need to solve the problem—just spend money on it.

Caltrans cleared a large homeless encampment in Sacramento this week. Why did only 5 people accept a shelter bed?

Lee Anne Denyer, KCRA,  5/9/25   https://www.kcra.com/article/caltrans-homeless-encampment-sacramento-5-accept-beds/64731491

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

Caltrans cleared a large encampment earlier this week, which it said posed serious safety risks to the highway system. The camp was located on Winters Street near Interstate 80 in the city of Sacramento.

Following the removal, a city spokesperson told KCRA 3 that only five of the approximately 50 people living in the camp accepted temporary housing despite outreach, availability of shelter beds and other resources. KCRA 3 went searching for an explanation as to why.

Caltrans crews have cleared encampments in this area five times within the last year. This encampment, a spokesperson said, needed to be cleared because it was located on state right of the way and posed a risk to public safety, the light rail bridge and to drivers traveling downtown.

Trash was also accumulating on Sacramento Regional Transit train tracks, a spokesperson said.

“There are safety risks. They’re real and we move people for safety, not for optics,” said Alisa Becerra, of Caltrans Office of Homelessness and Encampments.

According to Becerra, Caltrans created the Office of Homelessness and Encampments in response to the state’s homelessness crisis, to assess the dangers encampments pose to the highway system and to clear camps when deemed necessary.

She said the occupants were notified a month before crews planned to remove the encampment and that the agency worked with the city of Sacramento to try and connect people with resources.

“At the end of the day, these are people, and we believe they deserve dignity and housing,” she said.

Video shared with KCRA 3 showed the large encampment under Tri Stations Road full of tents, furniture and other debris.

Karin Bethmann said she’d been living there for about ten years but declined temporary housing on Tuesday when crews came in and removed the camp.

“I hope and pray that all my other friends out here can get into housing,” Bethmann said.

She estimated between 50 and 75 people, if not more, were living in the encampment. She said that while she would like to get into housing, she would not if it meant leaving behind her three dogs and three cats.

“I couldn’t have all my animals and they wanted me to choose between them,” Bethmann said. “I can’t do that.”

This is a dilemma many people experiencing homelessness have shared with KCRA 3 in recent years. While both city- and county-operated shelters allow pets, they typically permit only one—and in some cases, two—animals per person.

“We work really hard behind the scenes to get outreach, to get people to come out, to make those connections,” Becerra said. “Even on the day of removal, our staff was out here talking to people, trying to help them move their belongings out, not rushing them, making sure they had time to even come back if they couldn’t get it all at once.”

While Caltrans paid for the removal, it relies on city and county programming to provide support to the displaced people.

“Our plan is to really work with our partners because they’re funded. We’re not the homelessness experts. We’re stakeholders in the solution,” she said.

When asked about this camp and the resources made available, Caltrans cited state grant funding that has provided millions of dollars to the county to address homelessness in the area, including nearby Roseville Road and said because the camp fell within city limits, it worked with the city for outreach.

While the encampment site was located outside of the grant funding perimeter, a county spokesperson said they were not notified of the planned removal.

Janna Haynes, public information manager for the Sacramento County Department of Homeless Services and Housing, shared the following statement on Friday:

“The County was not notified of this action. While this particular location is outside the County jurisdiction in both geography and our designated Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF) grant area, there are opportunities to partner with both the City and CalTrans to provide services and possible shelter to campers. Ideally, we’d know several weeks in advance to establish trust with campers and develop plans for relocating them into sheltering programs. The County is always open to partnership opportunities to help serve the most vulnerable community members.”

The California Department of Housing and Community Development awards Encampment Resolution Funding (ERF) to municipalities with specific plans to transition people experiencing homelessness in encampments into “meaningful paths to safe and stable housing.”

“The purpose of the grant is to focus on transitioning folks that are in a homeless situation from an encampment position to a permanent housing,” said Pablo Espinoza, a spokesperson for Housing and Community Development. “If you talk to most all of them, they would say that they would rather not be on the streets.”

Despite the outreach and funding made available to the city and the county, in the case of this removal, it appears most of the people removed are still living outside.