A cleanup effort that cost the city of San Jose $700,000 has not succeeded in keeping several homeless encampments from springing back up pretty much where they were pre-cleanup, as the Mercury News reports. The effort by the city last from May to August and entailed the cleanup of five of the city's 60 some-odd homeless camps the weather down there being a lot more amenable to outdoor living, you see, than up here.
A couple of spots have remained less inhabited, like Kelley Park near Coyote Creek which had become mostly overrun with campers, and this is largely due to frequent patrols by police. Other camps have sprung right back up, however, because of the 150 people displaced by the cleanup effort, only 30 were placed in supportive housing, leaving 120 to just camp out somewhere else.
San Jose can hardly afford to do much more, though, since they're already cash-strapped like most other cities. But nonetheless they've got six more camp cleanups planned, including two large camps.
Meanwhile, the meth-drenched homeless camp that the city of S.F. cleared out last month at Fifth and King Streets, under the 280 on-ramp, was predicted to be repopulated within minutes. We'll let you know what the approximate population count there is the next time we wander by.
Previously: City Clears Out Huge Homeless Encampment at Fifth and King
