As workers continue to clear out homeless encampments along the Salinas riverbed in Paso Robles, law enforcement officers are beginning to arrest people who are returning to set up camp.
On May 24, 2021, notice was provided around the Salinas Riverbed in Paso Robles that the Fire Chief had designated the area as high fire risk. With that declaration, homeless individuals living along the riverbed were told they needed to pack up and evacuate.
“We’ve been giving them warnings for the last two months," Paso Robles Police Commander Steve Lampe said. "Really trying to get compliance from these individuals to voluntarily vacate this area.”
Lampe said while many have left the encampments, others are refusing to leave, and some are coming back to set up camp again in areas already cleared.
Lampe said because of this, firefighters are continuously battling blazes that are sparking in the encampments. Now, police are starting to make arrests, and six people living along the riverbed have been taken into custody in the past two months.
"Some of the arrests were drug related, some arrests were regarding fires that were being set down there," Lampe said. "Not necessarily arson, but warming and cooking fires, which are obviously not a good idea with the drought.”
While there is an emergency shelter in Paso Robles, and case workers continue to reach out to those living within the riverbed, Wendy Lewis with El Camino Homeless Organization said many are just moving to a new encampment site in Paso Robles.
“We have had some new faces coming for services here to Echo Paso Robles, but for the majority they are just shifting where they are at," Lewis said. "Typically they stay within their community, because this is the community they know.”
Lewis said they aren’t giving up in helping those individuals get off the streets, but that it takes time and effort from case workers.
“They really just need to build a safe relationship, to trust us and trust the resources we are offering," Lewis said. "Once that happens, all the other connecting pieces can happen.”
Commander Lampe urges people to reach out to state elected officials since he says the city needs the help in dealing with the on-going efforts to clear the riverbed and to get the homeless housed.
