New Sonoma County rules aim to restrict homeless encampments outside city limits

New regulations limiting camping in public spaces during daytime hours are set to bolster Sonoma County’s ability to clear homeless encampments in unincorporated areas.

The new rules ban camping on public property between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. and near certain areas, including in public buildings; within any county park; within a high fire severity zone; within 100 feet of a day care facility, playground or school; on any public highway; and near waterways.

The Board of Supervisors approved the new ordinance Sept. 29. The rules seek to bring the county into compliance with Martin v. City of Boise, a 2019 appellate court ruling that protected people’s right to sleep on public property when shelter space is not available.

“It’s really an anti-camping ordinance,” Supervisor James Gore, board chair, said of the new regulations.

Supporters hope the new regulations will help move more people among the county’s rising homeless population into shelter services and ease the clearing of camps that dot roadsides and waterways, including the Russian River, contributing to pollution, officials said.

“It’s going to force individuals to make tough decisions,” Gore said. “Which is ‘where do I go?’”

The rules represent another step in a series of moves by the county and local cities to curb unauthorized homeless gatherings. Next up for the county: rules to prohibit prolonged parking of RVs and campers.

The city of Santa Rosa is expected to take up its own RV ordinance, coordinating its move with the county’s, according to Kelli Kuykendall, the city’s housing and community services manager.

The Rohnert Park City Council last month passed a similar set of rules restricting camping to address human health and safety concerns.

Under the 2019 Boise ruling, local governments have been barred in many cases from moving people camping on public ground without first offering them services and housing, and giving them notice.

Housing options in the county include Sam Jones Hall in Santa Rosa, the county’s largest with a total of 210 beds, and Los Guilicos Village, a transitional housing site with capacity for 60 people that is managed by nonprofit St. Vincent de Paul.

When space at those sites is not available, the county also offers temporary stays at hotels bought or leased with taxpayer dollars through the state’s Project Homekey program to offer transitional housing for homeless people. However, the challenge remains providing people with permanent, supportive housing when their temporary stays expire.

In September, Dave Kiff, interim executive director of the county’s Community Development Commission, and Michael Gause, the county’s homelessness program manager, said the county’s latest annual report on homelessness numbers underscored a need for long-term housing.

It showed the number of chronically homeless people at 725, up 43% over the past year, with more than two-thirds of those individuals found to be without any shelter. The count documented a 5% increase in the county’s overall homeless population, to an estimated 2,893 homeless residents, the first reported increase since the 2017 North Bay fires.

County leaders, including Gore and Kiff, expect new interim housing beds and permanent supportive housing beds — due to open soon under Project Homekey — will help the county meet those needs.

Dannielle Danforth, director of housing and homeless services at West County Community Services in Guerneville, said enforcement of the new camping rules may help convince more people to accept services from the county, but noted the issue is much more complex.

“It’s not about making them program compliant, it’s about how do we make the programs work meeting them where they are?” said Danforth. She added that many unhoused people need to overcome fear and distrust of a system that has repeatedly failed them.

Some advocates for homeless residents have opposed the ordinance. They have raised concerns it is too restrictive and will create more hardships for unhoused people.

Michael Titone, a local advocate, called the ordinance a “travesty” during the board’s Sept. 29 meeting. He noted it would impact unhoused people with jobs who would have to pack up their camps every day before work.

“This ordinance doesn’t respect people’s right to have a place to go during the day,” Titone said.

The ordinance is also expected to limit how close people can camp to waterways.

Environmental advocates have joined local elected leaders, including Supervisor Lynda Hopkins and Gore, in raising concern about the impact of waste polluting streams, and also the safety risks of people camping in areas prone to flooding.

Hopkins raised those concerns during several board meetings amid deliberations over how far back the ordinance should keep people from camping.

“It makes a lot of sense to look at these areas of flood potential because No. 1, there’s a public health concern affiliated with this,” Hopkins said in an interview.

She noted her first week as supervisor took place during Russian River floods in January 2017 and she helped evacuate a large homeless encampment from Vacation Beach. Within hours that beach was submerged in water, Hopkins said.

County staff had proposed a boundary of 150 feet from the high water mark, but Hopkins worried that would not cover all the flood prone areas in west county.

County staff are set to present the board with maps outlining where the ordinance would apply in relation to waterways, in coming weeks, when the rules come back for a second formal vote.

Environmental advocates are hopeful that keeping camps away from waterways will mitigate pollution.

“One of the biggest impacts is things like plastics that are really persistent,” said Don McEnhill, executive director of Russian Riverkeeper, a local environmental group. “And we know that plastics just degrade into smaller and smaller particles but never go away.”

Russian Riverkeeper runs a weekly trash service at local encampments to keep trash from building and winding up in the river, McEnhill said. In addition to plastics, other common pollutants include batteries, propane tanks and human waste, he added.

“I can’t blame them for wanting to camp by the river,” McEnhill said. “It’s a beautiful river but the consequences of that are a problem.”

Environmental impact comes from anyone who camps too close to streams, not just homeless encampments, he said.

Russian Riverkeeper is waiting to see where exactly the boundary will be for waterside encampments, but McEnhill is hopeful it will be a helpful tool.

“Getting them to back up from the edge of the creeks is a lot easier for us to manage,” McEnhill said.

A lingering question the county must answer is when to begin enforcement once the new ordinance takes effect.

“We haven’t answered that question yet,” Gore said.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.