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Isla Vista Parks And Recreation District is putting homeless people camping in the People’s Park encampment at risk of harm and breaking CDC regulations by evicting them without alternative shelter, a new lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit was filed in California on June 9 by lead Plaintiffs Bruce Feldt, Jacob Garcia, and Food Not Bombs, seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Isla Vista Parks And Recreation District (IVRPD) to stop the closure of the Isla Vista People’s Park encampment, where 40-50 homeless people are currently encamped.
IVRPD gave notice that the park would be closed and belongings removed on June 1, however more than twenty residents remain in the park, “threatened with the removal of themselves and their belongings at any moment, having been offered no alternate housing, and having nowhere to go,” the claim states.
According to the lawsuit, 15 people – including Feldt and Garcia, and declarants Jason Howard and Jonathan Dickinson — are yet to be offered any alternative shelter. “Five residents of the park have been offered only one-week hotel stays far from People’s Park, after which point, the camp having been disbanded, they will have nowhere to go.”
Feldt, 53, has lived in People’s Park for two months. He is a veteran who served in the military for ten years and has post-traumatic stress disorder, the claim states, adding that eviction from the camp would be a major setback in his efforts to improve his situation.
“Being forced to move takes the little temporary base of operations that I have and it removes it…People’s Park is our only base of operations right now. Without it, I have to start all over again,” Feldt says in the claim. “When you don’t know where you are going to sleep at night, your whole day is consumed by that thought. Your basic needs are, how am I going to eat? Where am I going to sleep? Without that, that becomes your challenge.”
Garcia, 27, has lived in Isla Vista parks for one year.
“If an eviction proceeds, residents would lose access to a mutually supportive community where they can access food, water, and basic hygiene facilities,” the lawsuit says.
“An eviction would disperse residents into the streets and public spaces in Santa Barbara County, where they would have even fewer amenities and less ability to access supportive services.”
The claim adds that the majority of the homeless residents facing eviction are not vaccinated and remain at-risk of contracting COVID-19. “[To] create a situation where they are forced to choose between entering an enclosed congregate shelter—if they do not wish to assume the risks associated with doing so—and having nowhere to go would be to expose them to a state created danger,” the lawsuit states.
In response to the global pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued “Interim Guidance on People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness and the Coronavirus Disease,” which states that if housing options are not available, all people who are living unsheltered or in encampments must remain where they are, the lawsuit says.
“Clearing encampments can cause people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers. This increases the potential for infectious disease.”
The lawsuit says that, contrary to this guidance, IVRPD is taking the eviction action to make the site available for “recreational programming.”
“Meanwhile, compliance with CDC guidelines, which are directed towards protecting the health of not only unsheltered homeless persons but also the broader community, would have required nothing more than allowing campers to remain where they were,” the lawsuit states.
In May, houseless individuals in Portland, Oregon, filed a class action lawsuit against the City of Portland, saying that they lost nearly all of their property after contractors hired to disperse homeless encampments in the city discarded possessions.
What do you think about Isla Vista closing the People’s Park encampment? Let us know in the comments section!
Feldt and Garcia are representing themselves pro se.
The Isla Vista People’s Park Encampment Eviction Lawsuit is Feldt, et al. v Isla Vista Parks And Recreation District, Case No. 2:21-cv-04722-CJC-PVC, in the U.S. District Court Central District Of California.
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2 thoughts onHomeless People at Risk With Pending Eviction From Isla Vista Parks, Lawsuit Claims
Personally being homeless here Cheyenne Wyoming, I am all for the homeless having rights to some place safe and close to resources.
Here in Cheyenne Wyoming, during July the city officials run homeless people out of town, or find away for you to be in jail. The city if Cheyenne doesn’t want Cheyenne Frontier Days guests to see any signs of people on the street. The city of Cheyenne closes the homeless shelter during Cheyenne Frontier Days. It is a struggle to find a place to eat, sleep, as well as getting out of the hot/cold weather.
I do hope that your voices be heard and humanity becomes a part of each and everyone’s daily life
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