City of San Bernardino cleared to start removing homeless encampments after reaching settlement with ACLU
The city of San Bernardino will soon begin clearing homeless encampments again after a judge lifted an injunction on a lawsuit this week. Despite this, city officials have a new plan to help people find housing while keeping their belongings.
While the Supreme Court has officially ruled that encampment enforcement is permitted, and California Governor Gavin Newsom has directed cities to clear encampments, San Bernardino was unable to do so because of an ongoing lawsuit.
Now that the lawsuit has finally been dismissed, they're ready to act on their new commitment to helping those in need.
San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran says that the health and safety conditions at some parks has gotten so bad in the last nine months — since the city was placed under an injunction — that residents are hardly using them any longer.
"This is the number one concern we hear from our residents, so please know that we hear you," she said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The injunction required them to restructure the way that encampment cleanups were conducted, which is why they finally reached a first of its kind settlement with the American Civil Liberties Union.
In order to clear encampments from now on, the city must secure accommodations for homeless people who have disabilities, and they won't be allowed to destroy people's property. Instead, they'll have to offer 90-day storage.
Some of the unhoused community says that the hardest part of living on the streets, and in San Bernardino in particular, is that they believe the majority of the people there have been unwilling to accept the homeless in the past.
Despite this, the city is set to open a shelter on G Street in 2025.
"All our neighbors deserve a safe, permanent, and affordable home that meets their needs," said a statement from Kath Rogers, staff attorney at the ACLU SoCal. "The agreement recognizes that displacement is harmful, you cannot destroy people's property, and that people are to be treated with dignity wherever they live."
On top of the new shelter, San Bernardino will also reinvest $600,000 into new homelessness programs.
