Federal court to City of Santa Cruz: Not so fast

***UPDATE***

In a stunning turn of events, a federal court has put a stop to Santa Cruz’s plans to clean out a homeless camp outside the Gateway Plaza.

The announcement came right as the city council was discussing plans about the future of the camp Tuesday afternoon, and it looked like there would be at least a temporary closure.

The Santa Cruz city attorney read aloud the federal court order that halts all plans the city had to close their largest homeless camp. This comes as a victory for the roughly 200 people living in the encampment.

“The injunction is a necessity. It’s almost like an obvious fact because of how impromptu and poorly planned the city did lay this out upon us,” said Greg Bengtson, a Ross Camp “councilmember”.

The city wanted to clean up the camp this week after a judge declared a public nuisance on Monday. The homeless would have been forced to move out by Wednesday afternoon, with Santa Cruz opening back up the previously used Benchlands area.

But in a lawsuit filed with the US District Court in San Jose on April 9, camp representatives argued the homeless fear that once clean up beings, they will not be allowed back in.

With still no permanent location chosen by the city, scattering the homeless population exposes them to the elements and harassment, they said.

The lawsuit also says the city’s plans to shut down the Gateway camp violates another federal court case out of Idaho, which they believe requires Santa Cruz to provide adequate alternative shelter for the camp’s residents before being legally able to evict them.

“So today is the latest chapter in what has been a very fluid situation,” said Tina Shull, the assistant city manager in Santa Cruz. “What this tells us is we have to pause on any activities to involuntarily take people out of the encampment.”

“We would like to clean up the place ourselves, in fact that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get specifications from the city,” said Bengtson.

While many call this tightly-packed tent city their home, not all homeless agree that the camp should be here.

“It shouldn’t be here because there’s too many people, they run off into the rest of the neighborhood,” said Stanley Huffman, who is homeless.

For now, the controversial can is kicked further down the road.

“Again our emphasis is getting people out of what is a very unsafe and unhealthy situation. As the fire chief has said repeatedly, we have incendiary conditions there,” said Shull.

A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for this Friday morning at the federal district court in San Jose.

PREVIOUS STORY:

The movement of a Santa Cruz homeless encampment is being put on hold following a federal court order.

The Santa Cruz City Council was in the middle of making a decision about closing the Gateway Plaza camp, when the annoucement was made.

The council is now required to wait to take any action until a hearing on Friday.

KION’s Ashley Keehn will have the latest tonight at 5 and 6.

Read the complaint:

Read the decision:

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A judge ruled Monday that Santa Cruz’s largest homeless encampment must be vacated in 48 hours.

The camp near the Gateway Plaza, off Highway 1, was ruled a “public nuisance.” This comes a few days after the Santa Cruz Fire Department said the camp is a safety and health hazard.

Emergency actions now have to be taken by the city to make sure the roughly 200 people living in the camp are moved out. A previously used area, the “Benchlands”, will be available beginning Tuesday. The Benchlands area is near the San Lorenzo River, and behind the County buildings off Ocean Street.

The city council is scheduled to decide on Tuesday how to handle the Gateway encampment moving forward, if people will eventually be allowed back in. A previously used city-sanctioned location on River Street is re-opening on April 30th. It was closed months earlier because of high expenses.

KION’s Ashley Keehn will have more tonight at 5 and 6.