Santa Rosa homeless moved from under downtown Highway 101 overpasses

Homeless people camping at three downtown Santa Rosa Highway 101 overpasses, some for weeks, moved out Wednesday morning as city public works crews and police moved in to give the area a deep cleaning.

The effort cleared the sidewalks of the Ninth, Sixth and Fifth streets' Highway 101 overpasses that had become unsanctioned shelters for a few dozen people in recent weeks. They'd hunkered down during the nights and often throughout the day, their belongings eventually blocking sidewalks to the extent residents complained and asked the City Council for action.

Wednesday's cleaning came the day after a two-day “Summit on Homeless Solutions” in downtown Santa Rosa and just five days after an annual count of the county's homeless population. While those numbers have not been released, officials estimate 2,000 people are living without permanent shelter in Sonoma County as a whole, a homelessness rate higher than San Francisco and three times the national average of about 18 homeless people per 10,000 people in the general population.

The homeless moved Wednesday scattered into the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods.

“I don't know where everybody is going,” said Ron Cahill, 56, who until Wednesday morning had used the Ninth Street overpass for shelter for a few weeks. He'd moved his large mound of belongings to a grassy area around the corner and was deciding between a shelter bed or finding a new location on the streets.

“I was at the Fifth Street overpass before this,” he said.

Area resident Catherine Dale, who has spoken out at City Hall about homeless issues inundating the neighborhood, said the morning effort was a great improvement.

“I think it was absolutely fantastic,” said Dale.

'Many of the people who moved from the overpasses headed for nearby state property and then later returned, she said. “Everybody is back, but not with the amount of goods. That always was the issue.”

Six police officers accompanied the public works employees. No one was arrested or cited, said Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Jonathan Wolf, head of the downtown enforcement team.

He said whether people would stay away, return or find a new place to congregate would likely be answered by Wednesday evening.

“They may very well go back today,” Wolf said. “We're not arresting anybody. There's no big change in policy, and it'll likely be raining tonight. We're not going to force people out into the rain.”

Police and public works employees were accompanied by two outreach workers who met with more than a dozen people and helped five get into available shelters.

“Five in one morning is actually pretty good,” said Jennielynn Holmes, director of shelter and housing with Catholic Charities Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Cahill said he'd been offered a bed in the Sam Jones Hall shelter but feared that meant he'd have to give up his belongings.

“I know it's just material stuff, but it's all I got,” he said.

Holmes said people using the shelter can store some belongings, and if that's what was keeping Cahill from getting inside, “we'll go find him” to let him know.

The recent break in the weather gave the city an opportunity to move the people and clean the areas. Notices had been posted in recent weeks that people had to move by Feb. 1, Wolf said.

Several people moved their belongings out Tuesday night so when the six officers and crew of public works employees started about 9 a.m. on Ninth Street, about 10 people remained, Wolf said. Fewer people were still on Sixth Street and by the time crews got to Fifth Street, no one was left.

By late morning, the overpasses were cleared of what had been for weeks a scene of humanity, tents and grocery carts full of belongings and the area cleaned of the acrid smell of urine, rotten food and abandoned belongings.

“They brought in the equipment for a really serious cleaning, an intense cleaning. It needed to be done,” Wolf said. “They used an enzyme that effectively eliminates fecal matter and urine.”

Several homeless people, who said they'd been moved from the overpasses, were hanging out on city lots, sidewalks and street corners.

One woman, whose belongings included a full shopping cart and large plastic bags of items, said she'd been staying at the Sixth Street undercrossing. Wednesday morning she was standing in a private driveway.

The woman declined to identify herself and said she didn't know where others were headed for the night. But she had a plan: “I'm still going to sleep under the bridge.”