How the homeless are living in Ventura and what police are up against

It’s been over a month since 35-year-old Anthony Mele was fatally stabbed by a vagrant while having dinner with his family at Aloha Steak House in Ventura.

Since then many residents have questioned police presence against the homeless in highly populated areas around town.

KEYT NewsChannel 3’s Senerey De Los Santos went on a tour with Ventura police around major homeless encampments and witnessed how hundred of homeless people are living and how Ventura police are up against.

In the trees and brush off the Ventura River bottom, there is a place most people never see — a place known as Hobo Jungle. Josh has lived here almost 15 years now.

“I feel like it’s safer than uptown,” said Josh a homeless man who didn’t provide his last name. “You don’t have to deal with the public.”

His home even has a solar panel for electricity. Today, Hobo Jungle is smaller than it used to be.

“We have made a big effort on the Ventura River bottom and we stay very well on top of that to where it has reduced the population of people down there significantly,” said Craig Kelly, police corporal with Ventura Police Patrol Task Force.

According to ‘Nation Point In Time Count’ more than 500 homeless people are in Ventura. In 2012 that number was more than 700.

“The police task force consists of one sergeant, one corporal, and 4 officers,” said Kelly. “Our job is to focus on addressing the issues that are associated with homelessness and vagrancy.”

The Patrol Task Force regularly checks places where the homeless are found. KEYT’s Senerey de los Santos saw 5 arrests in just 6 hours…mostly for drug possession and unlawful lodging

“There is misinformation out there about us having to warn someone 25 times. That is not the case,” said Kelly. “There are four municipal codes that we do need to give citations for prior to booking someone in jail. Those four sections are drinking in public, living in a vehicle, unlawful camping, and being at a park after hours. So it wouldn’t be fair for us to contact someone who is corporative and say we are taking you to jail for being at a park after hours so in those instances we do write five citations within a year before we start booking someone.”

When someone is arrested services are offered after jail release. But the majority of the people don’t want the help.

“If they don’t want to utilize the services that we have then we are going to start taking proactive enforcement against them so they start understanding that their behavior is not acceptable and it’s a burden on the community,” said Kelly.

While Hobo Jungle is getting smaller other areas still see a lot of homelessness. Over in the Santa Clara River bottom, nearly 200 shelters are scattered around. Many with furniture, electricity, even turf, along with endless amounts of trash.

“The biggest obstacles we have when dealing with the river bottom is, where are we going to send these people?” said Kelly. “We don’t have an alternative that is substantial enough to send them to for the amount of people that we have populated down there. So if we were to kick them out of the river bottom then they are going to end up deeper into the community.”

The Patrol continues its work and keeps sending social workers into the river bottoms. The goal is to get people help to get off the streets. It’s what they can do until more permanent solutions are found.