A week ago, Alamosa County Sheriff Robert Jackson ordered a trash dumpster, partnered with Tim Dellett, a co-responder with the Alamosa Police Department, and together rounded up additional help and went to clean homeless encampments that reside on the private property of Sarah Chefas, an out-of-town landowner.
Within an hour of starting the work, Jackson called for a second dumpster and within minutes it too was filled with clothing, tents, disposed needles, and general trash from the homeless encampments.
The Chefas’ property along the Rio Grande and the homeless encampments that show up have long been a source of frustration for Jackson. This wasn’t the first time and likely won’t be the last that the sheriff’s department and volunteers clean the encampments – at a cost to taxpayers.
In fact, four additional encampments remain on the property and are the responsibility of Chefas to clean up as the private property owner, according to Alamosa County Attorney Jason Kelly. Her position is she didn’t create the blight, those who are homeless did when they trespassed on her property. She is seeking help from Alamosa County to address the issue.
Alamosa County Commissioners held a public hearing Wednesday and formally voted that blight existed on the property but agreed to a 90-day moratorium on any enforcement action until a work session is held to try to resolve the problem.
Enter La Puente.
Jackson told the county commissioners that he plans to begin issuing trespassing tickets to staff of the La Puente Outreach team for going onto the Chefas property to bring food and other items to the homeless living in the area.
The sheriff said he has issued 19 summons to homeless living in the area since January. The ticket is a non-arrest summons enforced through Alamosa County Court and has done little to deter the homeless encampments over the years.
Jackson and Jason Kelly, the Alamosa County attorney, said they are working with Alamosa Municipal Court to determine if the sheriff’s office can issue a summons to appear in municipal court that would trigger stiffer penalties around enforcement of homeless encampments on private property.
“It’s a vicious problem that we deal with all the time,” Jackson said. “Do I have a solution? I do not.”
Making La Puente staff also liable for the trashy encampments was met with a nod of approval from the county commissioners. Commissioner Arlan Van Ry asked if La Puente could be held responsible for all the cleanup costs, but Kelly noted that it’s the private property owner who bears responsibility for what occurs on their property.
The county commissioners are calling La Puente representatives into a work session to talk through the issue of encampments on private property along the Rio Grande corridor, which La Puente’s Amanda Pearson said the nonprofit agency is happy to do.
“This is complex stuff,” said Pearson, who is part of the La Puente Executive Committee. “We’re committed to working with our local organizations and governments to help create a healthier and safer community for everyone that lives here.
“I don’t think we’re responsible for people living out there,” she said of the private property river encampments. “These are not our people, they are part of our community. We want to help the community and we want to work on these complex issues that many communities struggle with besides Alamosa.”
Jackson said the growth of homeless encampments began again after the city of Alamosa last year put additional rules around St. Benedict’s homeless encampment in south Alamosa near Alamosa Family Recreation Center.
The city’s action pushed homeless people back into the river corridors like the Chevas property, he said.
Now he is back out cleaning them up. It cost the sheriff’s department $700 to bring dumpsters onto the site to haul the trash away.
The encampments that remain will be left for Chefas to clean up. But a work session with La Puente will occur before, and maybe then Alamosa County will have a strategy on how to address homeless encampments on private property in the unincorporated parts of Alamosa.