Two readers – including John B, who sent the photo – noticed Monday that a longstanding encampment in the city-owned triangle at Delridge.Barton/18th had cleared out. City departments are responsible these days for prioritizing encampment responses, and we knew this was SDOT land from all the talk of a potential park there someday, so that’s where we started our inquiry about whether this site had been “swept.” Here’s the SDOT response:
We are planning scheduled maintenance on this site, which includes updating landscape and fixing the irrigation systems. That encampment has been there for so long and has grown so large that the area needs some weeding done, cleaning up and restoring damaged branches and smashed plant material. In these situations, we work directly with the Human Services Department’s HOPE (Homelessness Outreach and Provider Ecosystem) team to engage with unsheltered people living in area where we need to perform necessary maintenance and ask them to voluntarily relocate. In this case, the individual living in the area was receptive, understanding and willing to relocate.
Whether that means they relocated to another campsite or to shelter/housing, we don’t know but will be following up. You might recall that the sidewalk encampment not far from there, at Delridge/Roxbury, was also cleared without being formally “swept” – outreach workers from the JustCARE program worked with people there for weeks and they left for housing.
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