SAN DIEGO, CA – Homelessness in the United States is a rapidly growing problem, with tent encampments in both urban and rural areas becoming a more common and unsettling sight; even if the interlopers who resided in them eventually move on, the waste and debris left in their wake can represent very real public safety and health hazards that need to be dealt with.
Such is the case with Shelly and Jason Stewart, residents of the southern San Diego neighborhood of City Heights. The Stewarts had been dealing with a homeless encampment on a one-acre plot of land bordering interstates 15 and 805 that they own, and while those illegally residing there have moved on, they left their mark on the property in the form of mounds of discarded waste that constituted very real pollution and fire risks; issue that the Stewarts would be forced to deal with themselves, and at potentially considerable personal expense.
Due to the dense foliage on the land, the couple weren’t even aware that homeless had taken up residence there until only just recently, at which time the police were summoned to clear them out. However, tenants at an adjacent condominium complex had been complaining to local authorities about the encampment since 2021, to no avail.
The garbage left behind by the homeless ran the gamut from the unsightly yet innocuous – piles of clothing, widescreen televisions, numerous pieces of luggage, a small fleet of rusting bicycles, a three-story dollhouse – to the more ominous and even dangerous, such as large piles of discarded hypodermic needles, the result of rampant intravenous drug use that had taken place on the property.
In all, the former illegal residents of the encampment had left thousands of pounds of waste behind, and due to the ongoing widespread homelessness crisis in California, a lack of budget to adequately deal with it, and a swarth of bureaucratic red tape to slash through, the Stewarts will need to get permission from the state to clean up their own property… and they will likely be forced to do so by paying for it out of their own pocket.
Once permission has been granted a specialized cleanup company, one such as Mayfield, will need to be hired, and further complicating matters is the fact that bringing in dump trucks would require getting a pricey $1,000 permit – as said trucks would need to drive through local government property in order to reach the encampment area – and the city of San Diego may also charge the couple dumping fees.
The agency controlling the adjacent government land is working with the Stewarts to try to streamline the process, and a representative from Mayor Todd Gloria’s office recently visited the property and informed the husband and wife that they will not only be trying to have some of the cleanup fees waived, but perhaps will fully pay for the cleanup with state funds if possible. However, no promises were made, and the project remains in limbo for the time being, a very real source of frustration for the landowners.
At one point, the Stewarts envisioned using their land to build small affordable houses, but their recent experiences – both with San Diego’s homeless population and its government – have soured them on the idea.
