Backpacks, blankets and sleeping bags spill out of a shopping cart next to Bobbie Coffelt.
She has been homeless in Escondido for six years.
Next to her is her 20-year-old son Jacob. He is autistic and doesn’t say much.
“That made it even more of a struggle,“ she said. “Being out here with my son, my mom … and just trying to keep together as a unit. But it gets difficult.”
Coffelt said camping in plain sight is for their safety — she feels rapes, attacks and theft happen more to people who are hidden.
But that is no longer possible for her. Escondido has joined a growing list of cities across San Diego County and the state who are banning homeless encampments.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson allows cities to ban homeless encampments in public areas, even if the cities don’t have enough shelter beds. Last week, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order pressuring California cities to take action on dismantling the camps. If they don't, they could lose out on funding.
Coffelt fears her safety is fading.
“The cops … they tell everybody to move and everybody ends up going out into the jungle. I'm not going out to the jungle because things happen out there and I can't,” Coffelt said. “They push you further and further away from where you can get the resources.”
Her mom has dementia and is in a nursing home. Her son could get shelter in a group home, but doesn’t want to be without his mom.
“He doesn't want to be taken, singled out and put in a group home. I mean … Is that really how you handle something? You break up the family like that? It just doesn't seem right,” she said.
Coffelt doesn’t want to go to a shelter because she’d have to give up her cats.
Holly Herring, a homeless advocate in North County, said the bans make it harder to help people.
“Ultimately, it makes people less trustworthy. So you'll hear a lot of people say they don't want help and you have to realize there's something you need to add to that sentence for it to make sense,” she said.
She used to be homeless and understands what people want and don’t want.
“They don't want the help you're offering or they don't want the help from you,” Herring said. “And there can be a point in time, after a number of engagements, where somebody can come to trust that you actually have a solution for them. They'll say, ’all right, I'm interested in that solution.’”
She thinks enforcement will burn any trust or relationship built with outreach workers.
“People are going to be more guarded about what they say, where they sleep at night, what kind of environment,“ she said. “Their interactions with law enforcement are going to make it more difficult when they do come with the solution to actually help house people.”
When the cities of Escondido and San Marcos recently enforced encampment bans, they both referenced public safety in their decisions.
There is no homeless shelter in San Marcos, Instead, the city pays more than $100,000 for regional support every year.
“I am aware of these organizations that are helping in the community. But what I continue to encounter is the fact that we are told that either, there's no capacity, or that a family doesn't meet the particular qualifications,” San Marcos Councilmember Maria Nunez said.
She was the lone vote against the ban, saying it leaves homeless people with little to no options.
“What happens to that family? What happens to those individuals?” she asked. “And now that we are going to be enforcing, and potentially citing individuals, potentially ending up with misdemeanor citations, then I can't help to wonder… what are we going to do with these individuals? Are they going to be detained? Are they gonna be incarcerated? Where do they go?”
Interfaith Community Services is the largest homeless service provider in Escondido.
CEO Greg Anglea said the recent orders mean people need places to go even more.
“More short-term housing options,“ he said. “But ultimately, what people need is a permanent home of their own. So it really calls for the need for rental assistance to help people overcome the high cost of getting into a new home.”
Back in Escondido, next to her overflowing shopping cart, Bobbie Coffelt has one message.
“If you really want to help, come out and meet the people,“ she said. “Figure out what can be done instead of enforcing these laws that just push everybody away and out. So we’re like hidden in the shadows, because we're never going to be hidden in the shadows. All we want to be is housed.”
