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Santee to penalize anyone starting fires by riverbed in an effort to remove the homeless from parts of the city

A homeless encampment in Santee by the San Diego River in August 2022.
(Blake Nelson / San Diego Union-Tribune
)

Hundreds of blazes were reported in the last two-plus years, but a lack of local shelters has complicated the city’s response

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Santee leaders are looking to remove the more than 100 people living along the San Diego River, arguing that homeless encampments caused hundreds of fires that threatened nearby neighborhoods.

Council members have given initial approval to an ordinance that would largely make it illegal to camp or start fires by the corridor, in an effort to sidestep limits on when cities can force people off public space.

But questions remain about what enforcement will look like and whether the move will change the total number of people sleeping outside.

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This “does not punish somebody for being homeless” but “gives us the ability to protect our communities,” Mayor John Minto said during a public meeting Wednesday. “They can go anywhere else, they just can’t stay there.”

The council approved the rules unanimously. A final vote is scheduled for Jan. 25.

The ordinance would make it illegal for anyone to have a “competent ignition source” that could start a fire. “Camping paraphernalia” that “could obstruct the flow of water” would be banned, as would doing anything to threaten local species or “critical habitat.”

The rules would take effect 30 days after the second vote.

City leaders have long discussed how to reduce fires along the river.

More than 200 were reported by the corridor since September 2020, officials said. Councilmember Laura Koval, who lives near the water, said she and her neighbors have repeatedly had to flee because of fire threats.

Fires “that originate from encampments can be devastating for both the people living there and the habitat,” Sarah Hutmacher, chief associate director of the San Diego River Park Foundation, wrote in an email.

The number of encampments in Santee has risen in recent years, according to data from the foundation.

While there were only around a dozen during the summer of 2019, that number jumped to more than 50 three years later. The corridor was home to an estimated 135 people as of April, along with 71 “hand-built structures.”

Encampments also created more than 72,000 pounds of trash as of last summer, according to the nonprofit.

The city’s response has been complicated by its lack of a homeless shelter.

East County’s only shelter is in El Cajon, and a federal court ruled that people can’t be forced off public land if a city doesn’t have beds to offer.

“We haven’t had much legal teeth lately,” Capt. Michael McNeill, who leads the local sheriff’s station, told the council. “Anything that can give us more, I’m all in favor of.”

While the ordinance threatens violators with “criminal sanctions, civil actions” and “administrative penalties,” it’s unclear what those will be. McNeill later said specific punishments still needed to be ironed out.

It’s also unclear how the move will affect the city’s overall homeless population.

“If you move them from one place, they just go to another,” said Bonnie Baranoff, consulting program director for the East County Homeless Task Force. “It doesn’t solve anything.”

Santee’s plan is similar to one in Vista.

In response to people camping in the Buena Vista Creek, Vista officials passed a zoning amendment to cite anyone who littered, lit fires, went to the bathroom, built structures in or damaged “biological preserves.”

The city also received a grant to beef up outreach, and the area has seen “a pretty significant reduction in the number of encampment instances,” said Jonathan Lung, Vista’s Homeless Services Program Manager.

However, they’re still finding trash, possibly from people who spend the day in the area even if they go elsewhere to sleep, Lung said.

Santee is working to alleviate the problem in other ways, and the council recently directed tens of thousands of federal aid dollars to four organizations that help the homeless.

Yet even those efforts may be hampered by a region-wide dearth of affordable homes.

While the homelessness crisis intersects with mental illness and drug addition, a growing body of research has found that a lack of housing is the main reason people end up on the streets.

The city did recently rezone more than two dozen areas to potentially allow thousands more homes, although new construction is likely a ways off and one large development that has been approved, Fanita Ranch, will likely be out of reach for many low-income people — if it survives a court challenge.

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