‘It’s a cat and mouse game’: SLO dismantles homeless camp near Bob Jones Trail
Robert Bray helped his buddy pack rain-soaked belongings into a shopping cart early Monday morning. The cart squelched through mud as they walked past abandoned tents and tarps along San Luis Obispo Creek — homes other folks had already left behind.
The word had started to spread: Police were coming to break up their camp, and everyone needed to leave or risk arrest.
Bray, 43, has been homeless for about five years and said police kick him out of his encampments about every month and a half.
“It’s like a natural disaster every other month,” Bray said. “Once you get everything you need — your amenities and your camp stoves and stuff like that, they come in here and they take it and they throw it away. We got to start over every other month.”
On Monday morning, San Luis Obispo city staff tore down a homeless encampment near the Ontario Road entrance of the Bob Jones Trail by Highway 101, displacing at least 15 people who lived there.
The city removed the camp to prepare for a two-week flood prevention project, SLO City Homeless Response Manager Kelsey Nocket told The Tribune.
The area is prone to flooding, and dense vegetation creates a fire hazard. The paths into the camp are steep in certain areas, making it difficult to deliver emergency services to people who live there, Nocket said.
“It’s not a safe place for people to be habitating,” Nocket told The Tribune.
The folks living at the camp violated state laws against squatting, littering and improper use of open spaces, Nocket said.
“Our goal here is not to be punitive towards people,” Nocket said. “We do provide a notice in advance with the express purpose of giving people time to clear out and avoid a citation.”
The city posted notices about the clear-out on Sept. 1, and sent out members of its Community Action Team during the following weeks to connect camp residents with services like the 40 Prado Homeless Shelter, the Transitions Mental Health Association and Lumina Alliance.
The team also works on reunifying unhoused folks with friends and family.
“That has a higher rate of long term success than placing someone in transitional housing,” Nocket said.
A San Luis Obispo police officer and park rangers showed up to the camp at about 8:15 a.m. to remove remaining residents.
‘There’s nowhere else for us to go’: Unhoused population faces uncertain future
Bray saw the city’s notice about the clear-out so he knew it was coming, but that doesn’t make it any less painful, he said.
“It’s a cat and mouse game,” Bray said. “They’re taking our livelihood — they take everything. It’s like a rewind button that erased everything you had before.”
The city encouraged camp residents to move to the 40 Prado homeless shelter, but Bray said he doesn’t trust the shelter. He stayed there once before during a flood and didn’t like living next to people he didn’t know.
“I felt really unsafe when I was hangin’ out at Prado,” Bray said. “I don’t know who’s there. You don’t know their background. They don’t know my background. It’s a dicey situation, I think. Made me feel uncomfortable.”
Bray prefers his neighbors in the riverbed.
“They’re my family,” Bray said. “If we have problems, we come to each other and take care of the problem among ourselves. We don’t usually tie anybody else in there, it’s just us. It’s like a Grateful Dead lot.”
Bray said he and Wolf Boone, another resident of the encampment, met five years ago.
“He’s my family,” Bray said. “You’re out here on the streets. You’ve got to have somebody. It can be hard to find somebody you can trust, to find that one person that’s 100 with you all the time.”
Boone, 37, said he doesn’t know where he’ll land after being forced out of the encampment.
“I don’t want to be here when the police get here,” Boone said. “Supposedly, we’re supposed to be arrested when they get here. They’re usually not that hard-ass, but you never know when somebody might be having a bad day.”
Boone said he has been unhoused for the last three years following six years in jail for an illegal concealed dirk or dagger carry.
Among Boone’s possessions are his shelter, clothing and several mountain bike frames, which he assembles and sells to make money while homeless.
“Look at this place. It’s a f---ing disaster,” Boone said. “It’s not really fair. There’s nowhere else for us to go.”
Residents homeless without a safety net
Debbie Ward, 37, lived on the other side of the Bob Jones trail by the strawberry fields for about two years. Last week, police dismantled her camp, and she moved in with a friend on the Highway 101 side of the Bob Jones Trail, she said.
Her boyfriend of five years returned to their original camp to retrieve their belongings, so police arrested him and seized their tent, she said. Now her only shelter is a tarp, Ward said.
“It seems like every few months they come and tell us we have to move,” Ward said. “It’s really stressful, and I have really bad anxiety.”
Ward, who’s traveling with a small, pregnant dog named Baba, has had a tough time on the streets.
About four years ago, she had her first daughter, Karma. Three days later, CPS took her daughter away. Ward last saw Karma about two years ago, and she now lives in Kansas with Ward’s brother.
Ward doesn’t know where she’ll go next, but she hopes for better treatment from police and city staff, she said.
“The cops just need to back off of us and let us live our lives,” Ward said. “Go after real criminals. We’re not criminals because we don’t have a place to live — and that’s how they treat us. Like we’re criminals because we don’t have a place to live.”
Robert Breeze, 54, also lived in the encampment with a dog, a Chihuahua named Little Man.
He said the dog was a replacement for a pair of dogs he originally owned when he was charged with driving under the influence of marijuana, which he denies having done that day.
When he was arrested, his car and dogs were taken and never returned, with both dogs being adopted out of the pound where they had been held.
“They’ve got to give me my babies back,” Breeze said. “It’s been a year now.”
Breeze, who is not from the SLO area, said he’s had to remain in SLO on the streets during extended court deliberations that have taken four months so far. He’s struggled to make court appearances while homeless and without his car or license, and said he hopes to leave the city as soon as he can.
Breeze said living on the streets is his only choice, as his Social Security payments are not enough to pay for a place to live in SLO.
“I’ve got to get out of here,” Breeze said. “(The police) aren’t going to leave us alone here, anyways.”
This story was originally published September 19, 2022 at 4:08 PM.
