City addresses frequently asked questions regarding homelessness issues
FAQs include statistical data, legal considerations, riverbed issues, local resources
–Due to an increase in requests for information about legal and safety issues surrounding homeless residents and riverbed clearing, the City of Paso Robles has compiled answers to frequently asked questions surrounding those issues.
The majority of concerns expressed by residents center on cleanliness, fire safety, and the city’s legal obligations and/or limitations surrounding residents of Paso Robles experiencing homelessness.
There is a wide-ranging list of considerations surrounding the issue and impacts of homelessness and how the city’s need to clear the Salinas Riverbed of hazardous fuels has displaced individuals who had been residing in the riverbed due to lack of housing, emergency shelter, or by choice.
“Like many cities in California, and around the country and world for that matter, Paso Robles has seen an increase in the number of unhoused local residents, which increased during the Great Recession and again during the pandemic,” says Interim City Manager Greg Carpenter.
“The issue is a complex one, and one that is being wrestled with at the highest levels of government and in courts across the US. What is unique about Paso Robles is that a river runs through the middle of our city, providing relative shelter for unhoused individuals and an increased risk of fires. We have created this FAQ document to help provide context, explain the city’s legal considerations surrounding homelessness and hazardous fuel mitigation in the riverbed, and to provide information on what the city is doing to help address some of the local challenges that have increased homelessness in the area and how interested residents can help.”
In 2021 in Paso Robles on any given night there are more than 200 people sleeping outdoors, many in the riverbed, according to the FAQ report. In the 2019 Point in Time Survey there were 221 unsheltered and 18 sheltered individuals in Paso Robles. According to the report, 85-percent lived in Paso Robles prior to becoming homeless.
The main reason the report says that people become homeless is because they cannot find housing they can afford. Other factors can include a chronic health condition, mental illness, domestic violence, and more. To end homelessness, the nation will need an adequate supply of housing that is affordable to lower-income households.
Click here to read the full FAQ document.
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