Water district notifies residents of Gilroy homeless encampments to clear out by November

By CBS Bay Area

The Santa Clara Valley Water District, which owns two properties in Gilroy that have turned into the largest homeless encampment sites in the city, is trying to clear out the sites by the first week of November. 

One of the sites is near Tomkins Court, just west of U.S. Highway 101 and east of Monterey Road. Valley Water Assistant Officer Mark Bilski said environmental and safety concerns, including interactions between unhoused residents and district staffers, are compelling the district to strictly enforce a 2023 city ordinance prohibiting outdoor camping in certain areas, such as schools and parks. 

“We look to prioritize the worst environmental and safety impacts and address those, and anybody else who was exhibiting good camping behavior had an opportunity to be considered low-priority for the enforcement of the ordinance,” Bilski told CBS News Bay Area. “There continues to be staff safety incidents that we are struggling to mitigate. Our staff have police accompaniment every time they go out to do their work at these sites, and police are able to respond when safety incidents occur, but it’s always reactive.”

Bilski added that with people moving in and out of the site, there are growing concerns with the campers.

“There have been arson concerns, where campers have set other camper tents on fire. But aside from that, a major concern is aggressive dogs. There are tens of aggressive dogs on the site,” Bilski said. “We continue to recover weapons from campers at the site, bladed weapons, firearms.”

And now, Bilski said, they established a November 3rd deadline for all campers at both encampment sites to vacate the premises. 

“This is my kitchen right here, area is just a mess right now. Trying to get everything all sorted out,” Greg Porter, who has been living at the encampment site near Tomkins Court since January, told CBS News Bay Area. 

“I mean it’s pretty mellow, we all try to help each other out here,” Porter said, adding that he believes they are being misunderstood. “We’re just normal people, like everybody else. There’s no fires out here. None, you see it’s all green out here.” 

CBS News Bay Area reached out to the City of Gilroy for comment, and a spokesperson sent a statement from Mayor Greg Bozzo, saying: 

 “I have long advocated for a collaborative approach to addressing housing and homelessness. As the city located farthest from the county’s core resources, we recognize that this is not a challenge we can solve on our own. Yesterday, I met with District Supervisor Silvia Arenas’ office, Director John Varela with Valley Water District 1, and staff from Valley Water, the County Office of Supportive Housing, and the City of Gilroy to discuss both immediate and long-term solutions to this challenge. Our teams are committed to exploring every viable option. While implementing change takes time, I’m optimistic that Valley Water will consider extending the encampment shutdown date to allow our teams to continue this important collaborative work.”

Community advocates said these campers have nowhere to go, and the lack of available shelter beds is an issue. 

“The County operates a centralized shelter hotline called Here4You in partnership with Bill Wilson Center. Through this hotline, individuals and families are referred to shelter beds as they become available,” said KJ Kaminski, director of the Office of Supportive Housing in Santa Clara County, in a statement to CBS News Bay Area. “There is currently a waiting list for both family and single adult shelter beds.”

Porter said he will just have to find a temporary solution in the meantime. 

“We’re just probably going to find a spot that we can go to, hopefully,” Porter said. “We’re hoping the mayor would come down and talk to us too.”

Meanwhile, Valley Water officials said they will be more flexible with campers who have mobility issues, but still expect everyone else to vacate by the November deadline.