On the morning of Oct. 15, fog settled between the trees as houseless residents in Pogonip gathered all of their belongings into large plastic bags. They lugged these bags past the side of Pogonip Nature Loop where city officials delivered a warning for an encampment sweep five days prior.

At 9 a.m., a police officer used bolt cutters to open the green gate along the entrance, letting in two police cruisers, three community service officer trucks, and one other city-sanctioned pickup truck into the park. A bulldozer and three large trucks towing dumpsters followed shortly after, signaling the beginning of the sweep.

City on a Hill Press reporters who were present for the raid observed city workers collecting and dumping items from both inside and outside of the taped off work area.

Santa Cruz Community Service Officer used bolt cutters to open the vehicle access gate into Pogonip. All locks had been sealed with adhesive prior to the police’s arrival. Photo by Kyle James Allemand.

Several Santa Cruz Police Department vehicles wait outside the access gate into Pogonip, opposite to food distribution efforts by local organizers. Shortly after, work trucks, a skid loader, and a 40 yard industrial dumpster followed two police cruisers into Pogonip. Photo by Kyle James Allemand. 

“Everyone’s camps, if they were not already vacated, were destroyed,” said Dora Rasch, a member of Homeless United for Friendship and Freedom (HUFF). “And all of their belongings, if they were left behind or if they did not move them fast enough, were also collected and destroyed.”

Houseless community members gathered their belongings in preparation for the sweep. Photo by Cecilia Schutz.

HUFF is a collective of community members, students, and volunteers who frequently meet to discuss the state of homelessness in Santa Cruz. Before the police arrived, HUFF helped the Pogonip residents move their belongings before and during the sweep.

“They’ve been doing this for years and years and years,” said Jeffry, a houseless individual who was not directly affected by the Oct. 15 sweep. “It feels like at some point in that process, someone would go, ‘Hey, this isn’t fucking working.’ … It just seems to be perpetuating a process.”

Jeffry hand constructed a multifunctional fireplace within his abode to combat the cold Santa Cruz nights. Photo by Cecilia Schutz.

Sweeps within Pogonip and other houseless encampments in Santa Cruz County are a relatively frequent occurrence, with one of the last major sweeps occurring only three months prior on July 29.

Some believe the sweeps have been aggravated by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson on June 28. The court ruled that clearing an encampment in compliance with public ordinance is not a violation of constitutional rights.

“The Supreme Court ruled that it is ok to basically criminalize sleeping in public, being homeless,” Rasch said. “The frequency of sweeps has definitely gone up. They can happen once a week, they can happen multiple times in a week … It’s unpredictable but it is more frequent than it used to be.”

Camping in Pogonip is banned under City Ordinance Chapter 6.36. Chapter 6.36.040 of the ordinance requires that an overnight-sanctioned sleeping location or a 24/7 sanctioned sheltering location be available in order for the city to enforce a ban on overnight encampments.

These stairs, also hand built by Jeffry, are engraved near the site of the major sweep that occurred on July 29th. Photo by Cecilia Schutz.

The ordinance goes on to state that so long as 150 spaces in shelters or managed camps are being provided through city programs, bans such as the one in Pogonip are sanctioned — regardless of how many beds are actually available at the time of the sweep.

The City of Santa Cruz operates or is in partnership with two shelter programs. Between the city-run and private programs, Santa Cruz provides about 165 tents and 180 beds in emergency shelters.

There are about 1,850 unsheltered people in Santa Cruz County as of this year, according to a Housing for Health Partnership (H4HP) Homelessness report. The same report finds that 80 percent of the houseless population in Santa Cruz are unsheltered, which refers to people not living in publicly sanctioned or private housing, including shelters.

“For years we’ve had the unanswered question in this community of where can homeless people be?” said Evan Morrison, the executive director of People First in Santa Cruz County, an organization dedicated to providing houseless services. “I think sweeps in Pogonip are a result of us never answering that question.”

Enacting Change in Houseless Sweeps

In an attempt to change the sweep procedures, local advocacy groups have written various letters to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors for consideration. Among them is “Call for Accountability,” written by members of HUFF.

“[We’re] communicating with the city and the county and the local government generally that the way they are doing these sweeps [is] incredibly harmful to our homeless residents,” Rasch said.

In their letter, HUFF members outline issues regarding the methods of conducting encampment sweeps as well as the inadequacy of houseless shelters in Santa Cruz. The letter cites curfews, sudden eviction, the confiscation of property, and other factors as “completely logical and realistic reasons someone may choose not to stay in Santa Cruz’s shelters.”

Another letter written to the supervisors came from the Santa Cruz Mental Health Advisory Board (MHAB), written July 18. In the letter, MHAB advises the county to create a Street Cleaning Encampment protocol that complies with the California Civil Code for future sweeps.

“Survival equipment and valuable personal items are thrown into Parks and Recreation dump truck vehicles, never to be seen again,” the board wrote. “This is unlawful and unacceptable.”

The letter refers to California Civil Code 2080, which requires public entities to maintain unattended property, for which they have taken charge, for at least 90 days.

City on a Hill Press has not confirmed whether or not the belongings confiscated on the Oct. 15 sweep were destroyed following the sweep or preserved in accordance with the civil code.

The letter also recommends decreasing the number of officers present for the sweeps, describing the presence of more than three officers as “unnecessary, threatening, and expensive.”

“There’s always a place to put that money in social work and not in enforcement, you know,” Jeffry said. “Enforcement doesn’t address any of our issues or problems at all.”

MHAB’s letter wraps up with a request to change the county’s mindset in addressing houselessness: “Let us all work together to navigate a new solution that prioritizes health and allocates funding to help, not punish homeless people, including senior citizens and veterans.”

HUFF and other community members voiced concerns to police and county services on the tactics and efficacy of these intensifying raids occurring across the county. Efforts regarding assistance with relocation of property and supplying of meals to the unhoused have been underway since mid June 2024. Photo by Kyle James Allemand.

Additional reporting by Maya Becker and Caly Plowman.