UPDATE: Sacramento County posted eviction order at homeless camp, but clearing hasn’t happened
Update: By Friday afternoon, the county had not cleared the camp. Ken Casparis, spokesman for the county’s regional parks department, said the county still plans to clear it, but does not yet know which day it will do so.
Sacramento County officials plan to clear a longstanding encampment of homeless seniors Thursday — this time for good.
The secluded riverfront camp near Discovery Park, known as Bannon Island, is home to roughly 30 seniors. Some of them have been living there for more than 20 years.
County officials have largely allowed the camp to stay put, even providing water drop-offs at one point. But last month’s major rain and windstorm caused severe flooding there, county spokeswoman Janna Haynes said. The park rangers posted notices to the camp Tuesday ordering them to leave by Thursday afternoon.
Sacramento is expected to experience rain and a windstorm Thursday and Friday, but even after the storm passes, people will not be able to return to the island, Haynes said. That’s a change from the county’s handling of the January storm.
“Bannon Island has been closed to all (Discovery) Park users since January, not just campers,” Haynes said in an email. “It is currently far too dangerous to have people there. We currently have temporary signs posted stating that the area is closed to the public and more permanent signs will be put in place soon. This will be a long-term closure.”
Crews are still clearing debris, trash and downed trees from the January storm, which block access for first responders, making it unsafe to live there, Haynes said.
Twana James, the island’s unofficial mayor, said she is suffering from pneumonia and does not know where she will go.
“I hate it,” James, 54, said Wednesday. “I can’t move. I don’t know what to do. I’m real sick. I can’t breathe, can’t do anything.”
The camp is mostly secluded from the public, but clearing it will be physically taxing. In the summer of 2021, The Sacramento Bee journalists were the first members of the media to visit the site and report on the residents. Journalists observed about 60 tents, some of which had multiple rooms with furniture and carpeting. Cables were draped between the surrounding trees, holding dog leashes and colorful beach towels.
Following the planned clearing, county staff will store all personal property that is not perishable and/or unsanitary for 90 days, said Ken Casparis, a county spokesman, in an email.
Park rangers have offered shelter to the people living on the island in the past, Haynes said. It’s unclear if county officials will offer to transport anyone to a shelter or motel Thursday.
As many shelters are temporary with limits on number of pets and amount of possessions. What the residents really want is permanent housing, several have told The Bee.
Most of the people living at the island are older than James, in their 60s and 70s. Despite collecting monthly Social Security checks, many cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento, or could not pass credit and eviction checks landlords require, they told The Bee in 2021. Many of them described a tight-knit family environment where the younger people took care of the so-called elders.
At the time The Bee visited, a 58-year-old man with stage 4 liver cancer was living at the camp. Another man, 64, had been on the waiting list for a Section 8 voucher for eight years.
Crystal Sanchez of the Sacramento Homeless Union criticized the county for permanently closing the camp.
“The removal of Bannon Island will create displacement and trauma to those who have lived there for an excess of 20 years,” Sanchez said. “This community is family and they must be provided services as a family, which includes housing them together, because many of them take care of each other.”
People living at the camp have been worried about being permanently swept for years.
“I know that we can’t stay here forever,” James told The Bee in 2021. “It’s always going to be in our minds that maybe they’re gonna change their mind.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 4:40 PM.
