Deputies Offer Alternatives to Homeless Camps
The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office is bolstering its outreach efforts for the unhoused in the unincorporated areas, two-thirds of which are living outside of temporary housing in tents, vehicles, or on the streets.
Deputies regularly visit each homeless encampment in the Castro Valley area and can bring residents directly to a navigation center like the one in Oakland that gets them needed services, Lt. Miguel Ibarra told the Castro Valley Rotary at its January 25 meeting.
People at the camps can accept or turn down offers of help, said Ibarra. However, some do choose the center after being arrested for a crime, due to a diversion program to keep them from going to Santa Rita Jail over and over again.
“We’re full believers in enforcement,” the lieutenant said. But, he added, many of the homeless people found in Castro Valley and nearby have mental health or substance abuse problems better handled at a navigation center than in repeat visits to jail.
He said navigation centers like the one in Oakland are designed to help people with emergency housing, job training, mental health treatment, and substance abuse treatment.
In 2019, Alameda County counted approximately 8,000 homeless people within its borders with about half of them living in Oakland and two-thirds living outside of temporary housing. The 2021 federally mandated count of the unhoused was rescheduled for January 25 because of public health safety concerns but has again been delayed until February 23.
The small group of deputies in the department’s Crime Prevention Unit try to visit each of the 35 or so homeless encampments in the unincorporated communities regularly. They keep a list of where they are, about how many people are at each and have the names of many of the residents, Ibarra said.
The deputies try to clear up hazards, starting with moving back tents that are dangerously close to automobile traffic and extending to human waste and used needles.
They also try to clean up human waste or used needles, in coordination with the public agencies that often own the land. They contact owners or private land and remind the owner of their obligation to keep the land hazard-free.
“Human waste and needles or not good for either the homeless or the public,” Ibarra said.
Help is offered to the residents of the encampments, Ibarra said but isn’t always accepted.
“Your conversation isn’t always like the conversation we’re having now, where you say, ‘that sounds reasonable, sure I’ll take resources,’” Ibarra said.
“Your mind is somewhere else, and your priorities are somewhere else,” Ibarra said of many people dealing with substance abuse or mental illness.
The deputies often bring along professionals from the county’s behavioral health program who can better convince people with such issues to accept help.
Ibarra said some of the people they convinced to go to the navigation center have dealt with their problems, gotten jobs, and are living in houses on their own now.
“We do have some success stories,” he said.