State Unlocks New Territory for San Diego’s Encampment Crackdown

When Jonathan Montanez, 37, sees yellow flashing lights and guys in orange shirts, he knows he must gather his stuff quickly.  

“I surely don’t want to be out here, and I know my wife doesn’t want to be out here,” he says standing on a parched slice of land nestled by Interstate 5.  

Montanez has been homeless for seven years and, for the last year, has been living on state property near freeways with his wife, Alyssa Gonzalez, 27, and their dog Diesel. He says state clean-up crews routinely push them out, but the couple usually finds another spot along the freeway.  

That could be harder to do soon. 

The city of San Diego has entered a one-year agreement with the state to clean up encampments along a 5-mile stretch of state freeways. San Diego is the first in California to enter into the agreement, which also allows the city to receive up to $400,000 in reimbursement.  

The agreement includes portions of freeways in the neighborhoods of Little Italy, Sherman Heights, East Village, Barrio Logan and downtown San Diego.  

“These are some of the biggest hotspots that we get complaints through Get It Done, which is one of the core reasons why we wanted to focus our initial efforts in this area,” said Walt Bishop, director of Government Affairs for the mayor.

In July 2023, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an ordinance banning encampments on all public property. After that, many people moved to spaces near freeways to avoid police where city law does not apply to state property. Currently, only state agencies and highway patrol officers have the authority to sweep these areas. Residents have grown frustrated by the growth of these encampments, and city officials’ response that there’s little they can do about it.  

In February, state Sen. Catherine Blakespear introduced a bill that would authorize cities to clear up encampments on state property. The city of San Diego is sponsoring that bill.  

“The city of San Diego was receiving 300 complaints a month about people who were living in Caltrans property,” Blakespear said. “The city had no ability to deal with that.” 

“Caltrans, of course, its main mission has to do with roads. Its main mission doesn’t have to do with homelessness,” she added. “The cities are the ones who have the relationships with nonprofits and a process to give people notice, to provide options, to connect them with services.” 

A spokesperson with Caltrans said the agency does not comment on pending legislation. 

For folks like Montanez, the bill creates more problems than solutions. “How are we supposed to get back on our feet and move forward if we’re constantly having to worry about where are we gonna go next?” 

Last week, Gloria shared the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in downtown San Diego has dropped nearly 65 percent since its peak in 2023. The encampment where Voice of San Diego reported is right on the border of downtown in the neighboring area of Sherman Heights.  

The Downtown San Diego Partnership has documented unsheltered individuals across the city with monthly counts since 2013. For the perimeter outside of the downtown neighborhoods, they counted more than 100 people so far this year.  

Outside a large blue tarp cropped up right by the freeway entrance, Alisha-Nicole Harris, 36, has been camping near Montanez.  

She had previously lived in St. Teresa of Calcutta Villa, an affordable housing unit at Father Joe’s Villages in downtown San Diego. Father Joe’s evicted her in May and she has been on the streets ever since with her pit terrier mix, Bubba. She is trying to take the eviction case to court. She’s worried about the proposed legislation.   

“If they do that, then where do they expect us to go? Where will the people that stay out here go? There are no beds, no shelter beds,” she said. “There are no hotel vouchers, there’s nothing. Where the hell will we go? Do we just drop dead or disappear off the face of the Earth?”  

The city is dealing with impacts from the budget cuts. The Rosecrans shelter, a 150-bed shelter for men and women that provided services for job training and mental health, is getting ready to close. According to reports by The San Diego Housing Commission, only 6 percent (128) of requests for shelter (2,216) in May were placed. 

Franklin Coopersmith, deputy director in the Clean SD Division Environmental Services, said the agreement will allow city outreach workers to go on state property and provide resources for housing and shelters.  

“There’s not enough shelter for the number of people. We know that — but we’re trying to offer what we can and that’s where safe sleeping comes in,” said Coopersmith. “We want to make sure that option is available at a minimum.” 

On the other side of the freeway entrance, Edwin, “OG Mo”, 77, who asked to only be identified by his name and nickname, has also been looking for permanent housing after losing his siblings. 

In 2022, he lost his sister to pancreatic cancer. A couple of months later, his brother passed too. Edwin said he could no longer keep up with the bills to pay for their shared apartment. His wife who passed eight years ago left him with some benefits, but he said it’s not enough for both housing and food. He’s hoping to make his way back to his hometown, Chicago, to reunite with the rest of his family.  

“I’m just trying to find a place to live,” he said. “At my age I think it’s time to go home. I can’t change this.” 

Bruce Higgins, of Old Farts with Hearts, a homelessness outreach group, is concerned about the bill’s impact on people who are already struggling to find a place to sleep for the night. 

“The cheapest, most effective way to deal with homelessness is to prevent it from happening in the first place,” he said. “That means that the people who were already housed – stay in that housing. That means putting in a rent subsidy program.” 

Higgins pointed out that by giving financial assistance to help individuals or families afford their housing by reducing their monthly rent, San Diego can make better use of public money. However, with the city running a $350 million deficit, Higgins said it’s hard to know how San Diego could afford it.  

“One of the big problems of our society is that we don’t have a way to deal with people who fall all the way to the floor,” he said. “And that’s what we need. For right now, it’s gonna have to come for people like you and I – getting out there and giving people a hand.” 

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