Fence being put up in Chinatown to protect construction project and keep homeless out

MidPen will build 92 apartments at the corner of East Lake and Soledad Street — in the heart of Chinatown. A lot of people camp overnight on that corner as you can see. However after the sweep on Thursday, a fence will go around the entire property and extend out into the street, so they’ll no longer be able to camp there.

“What we are going to see are people working here during the day. More construction crews, more eyes on the street. We are going to less real estate for people to camp on. So possibly more camping congestion, or people moving to different parts of the neighborhood, perhaps moving completely out of the neighborhood,” said Dorothy’s Place Executive Director, Jill Allen.

There is a lot of re-development planned for the area. There’s even a sign on Soledad street for a future park.

“I think what you see in front of you is an evolution. People are figuring out that they can’t be here forever, and they either need to do something else with their life or they need to find some other place to set up camp,” said Allen.