County and city officials have been meeting about a growing homeless encampment along the San Benito River bed to discuss alternatives there.
A county official, Health and Human Services Director James Rydingsword, spoke to supervisors at their Tuesday board meeting.
“It in the last few weeks it has come to our attention,” said Rydingsword, noting how the county and city are discussing alternatives and met as recently as Monday about it.
Rydingsword said the next homeless planning committee meeting is June 1.
“There’s a level of complexity to any issue like this,” he said. “We are trying to look for some interim solutions that will alleviate what’s happening in the community.”
Those would be short-term solutions. In the long term, the county is planning to build a permanent homeless shelter and officials hope to have it done in the next two years.
The issue of homeless residents along the river bank on the west side entering Hollister came up when Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz said he had been receiving calls about it from concerned residents. They want to know what the county is going to do about the encampment of about two dozen tents.
De La Cruz said he explains to residents that the sheriff can’t just go in and disperse the group.
“They’re helping each other out,” De La Cruz said. “Right around the corner, there will be a facility we can provide to these members of the community. They have some patience, but they really don’t want to see it there a long time.”
The encampment has been growing in recent months after many homeless residents moved from the Park Hill area of downtown as the city progressed with upgrades to the facilities there.
