Up to 50 homeless people who live in a makeshift tent encampment on Caltrain station property at Fourth and King streets will be moved in a few weeks, according to homeless advocates and city\u00a0officials.<\/p>\n
But that’s about all they agree\u00a0on.<\/p>\n
To Jennifer Friedenbach<\/a><\/strong>, director of the Coalition on Homelessness<\/a>, Caltrain’s request for bids to erect iron fencing around the property is unnecessary. She said school kids, people with disabilities and others will be needlessly displaced since the camp is working just fine with no reported hygiene or health\u00a0problems.<\/p>\n The campers have even managed to grow a beautiful garden on the property, Friedenbach\u00a0said.<\/p>\n “From our perspective, these people have nowhere to go so they’re basically displacing people who are in an emergency situation to the streets and forcing them to experience further crises,” she\u00a0said.<\/p>\n But Bevan Dufty<\/a><\/strong>, the point person on homelessness for Mayor Ed Lee<\/a><\/strong>, said the fact that there are juveniles living there is proof the encampment “is concerning.” He said a homeless outreach team will begin visiting campers Tuesday and will make regular visits to convince people to return to their hometowns, accept a shelter bed or move into supportive housing. He said the fence will likely go up in about a\u00a0month.<\/p>\n “We’re going to say, ‘This change is coming and you need to think about what you want to do and can we help you figure that out,'” Dufty said. “The worst that could happen would be for 50 people to be kicked out onto the streets of SoMa which is what we don’t\u00a0want.”<\/p>\n He said it’s totally understandable that Caltrain has made this decision and that the agency has kept city officials in the\u00a0loop.<\/p>\n “It’s their property, and they have every right to do it,” he said. “There have been complaints and concerns about\u00a0it.”<\/p>\n – Heather Knight<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SF Chronicle – Thursday, September 27, 2012 Up to 50 homeless people who live in a makeshift tent encampment on Caltrain station property at Fourth and King streets will be moved in a few weeks, according to homeless advocates and … Continue reading