potrero view

February 2010

State and Local Agencies Make Slow Progress on McKinley Homeless Encampment

By Mary Purpura

For years, homeless individuals have been encamped on the western side of McKinley Park, which slopes down toward Highway 101. Some of the make-shift campground is under the San Francisco Department of Public Works’ (DPW) jurisdiction; some under the California Department of Transportation’s (Caltrans). The Caltrans property is fenced off, and a wall separates Vermont Street from the open space where the encampment is, but campers have found multiple ways to enter the area.

“One of the campers is apparently schizophrenic and when he doesn’t take his medication, he can be troublesome,” said Emmanuel Weisgant, who lives at the bottom of Vermont, across from the encampment. “Behind the wall is garbage, human feces, urine, pornography, used hypodermic needles; and that stuff spills out into our neighborhood. We have young children here; even with that kind of activity behind a wall, it’s always a presence here.”

Many neighbors feel conflicted about the matter. “It’s a tough issue,” said Hill resident Cris Rys, who lives near McKinley Park and tills the community garden near Vermont and 20th Streets. “I think we all want to be supportive [of homeless people], but there is also sometimes danger and crime associated with the encampment.”  While the homeless campers may not be responsible for criminal activity, the encampment appears to encourage peculiar comings and goings, with all kinds of people coming in and out of the area.  Some Hill residents believe that the camp may be a node for drug dealing.

“Over the course of a couple of weeks, all five units in my building were broken into. Everybody had stuff stolen, mostly bicycles,” said Weisgant, who was asleep in his home when his front door was kicked in. “I slept through the break-in, but a neighbor alerted me to what was going on.”  The intruder went into the garage and stole a bike while Weisgant slept. “I don’t think it was these homeless guys that did it, but I do think the feeling of the neighborhood with the homeless encampment right there and so established makes this kind of thing more likely,” he said.

“I don’t blame community members for feeling concerned about this situation,” said Officer Susan Lavin, the San Francisco Police Department, Bayview District’s homeless outreach officer. Lavin, who was appointed to her position seven years ago, responds to community complaints related to homelessness. She works with the Homeless Outreach Team, created by Mayor Gavin Newsom, to offer services to homeless people to get them off the streets. “If they need drug treatment, we arrange that. We can come out with a van and get them into a room so they’re not out on the street. We can facilitate their return to their family.” Lavin reported that almost everyone accepts offers for services.  “There’s one individual living in the [McKinley] encampment who has been there as long as I’ve worked as homeless outreach officer.  He has repeatedly refused all City services that we have offered him. We had no choice but to write him a citation because it’s an illegal encampment.”

Some Hill residents believe that moving out the camp residents would be a temporary solution. “When people move out of the camp, a couple of months go by, and somebody else moves in,” said Jerry Bonafair, who lives at 22nd and Vermont streets. “It’s not the fault of the police. The property is not police-able.”  Officer Lavin agreed. “If we had a pathway — or better yet, a road that we could drive on — through that space, we could patrol the area. As it is now, there are parts of that property that we just can’t get to,” said Lavin. She recounted a similar  homeless camp located on five acres of land at Amador and Cargo in the Bayview. “There were forty encampments on that land and lots of break-ins in the area. We cut down the vegetation and created pathways so the whole area could be accessed. We have never had an encampment there since; that was a permanent solution to the problem.”

The City is negotiating with Caltrans for the state agency to cede their property to the City so that the whole parcel would be under the jurisdiction of a single entity. “That will be a long process. At this point, DPW is willing to go fifty-fifty with Caltrans to make that pathway through the property,” said Lavin.

Hill residents seem to appreciate the efforts of the police, City, and Caltrans.  “I think all the agencies involved are genuinely making an effort to address the problem,” said Weisgant.  “I know that the community has plans to really expand McKinley Park,” said Lavin. “Even though this situation is complicated, the project to make McKinley into a beautiful park that takes advantage of its fantastic views is do-able. We can do this.”

Jerry Bonafair has compiled a photo and video archive of conditions at the homeless encampment. You can view his work on Facebook by typing “crooked truth” in the search box.

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