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Placer County leaders have ordered the clean-up of homeless camps near Auburn.
After a months long debate, the Placer County Board of Supervisors is approving an ordinance that will regulate homeless encampments on county property. Camping is now prohibited on county land and in fire-prone areas with the proper signage -- it is aimed at regulating a particularly large camp outside the Placer County offices in North Auburn. “This is not the perfect solution, but this is one tool in our process in how we’re trying to really meet the needs of the unsheltered,” said Supervisor Bonnie Gore during the meeting.
The original draft of the ordinance was intended to regulate no camping between 7pm and 7am, however with community feedback that stipulation was removed. The new ordinance also allows for a task force that will monitor and regularly clean up the camps as a matter of public health. Residents raIsed concerns that leniency in any ordinance issued towards the homeless encampments would encourage more congregation in residential areas, and according to an official staff report, members of the public voiced concern the “daily breakdown and set up of camps would create a hardship, particularly for elderly or disabled individuals.”
Implementation of the new policy by the board is expected to cost the county $150,000 in clean-up efforts, a staff report said.