Santa Maria city workers remove 62,000 pounds of trash from homeless encampment in one week

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – The city of Santa Maria filled up more than 24 truckloads and removed 62,000 pounds of trash from a city homeless encampment over the course of a week, according to city spokesman Mark van de Kamp.

Cleaning up homeless encampments became a priority for the city after it received several complaints about noise, fires, vandalism, theft, digging, and trash odors, van de Kamp said.

The homeless encampment was on a private property owned by the Santa Maria Valley Railroad, and the city, nonprofit partners, businesses, two apartment complexes, a cleanup company, and the railroad undertook the project together.

The city has issued dozens of citations for trespassing along the homeless encampment stretch since January, van de Kamp said.

The trash went to the Santa Maria Regional Landfill, and the city used around $16,000 of its American Rescue Plan Act COVID-19 relief funding to pay for the project.

During the cleanup, three people living in the encampment were reconnected with their families for housing, and the rest declined offers for shelter, van de Kamp said.

The city said that there were signs posted 72 hours in advance notifying residents of the homeless encampment to vacate, and the back of the signs provided resources about where to find food, shelter, and counseling.