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By Miriam Raftery
April 16, 2022 (El Cajon) – For weeks, the city of El Cajon has been trying to get help from the County to address a growing homeless encampment on North Magnolia Avenue, just beyond the city limits on unincorporated County property. After fielding numerous calls from residents frustrated by the camp beyond the city’s control, the city posted a sign that reads “Now leaving El Cajon.”
El Cajon, in contrast to the County, has moved the vast majority of its homeless population into shelters or transitional living situations, also connecting them with programs to get off the streets, and has regularly cleaned up debris left by homeless individuals.
City Manager Graham Mitchell posted a video on March 24 on the problem, urging concerned residents to contact the County regarding the camp. He added that El Cajon is “proud” of finding permanent homes for over 200 residents.
But some have resisted help, city officials say, and the county lacks a homeless shelter in East County, though there are efforts underway to find sites to build one or more shelters.
There have been incidents of drug use and sex crimes at the Magnolia site. On March 10, Mitchell reports that San Miguel Fire was called to the encampment for a narcotics overdose. A friend had administered Narcan and the revived party refused medical transport, against paramedics’ advice. On March 23, KUSI news reports, a transient pleaded guilty to sex crimes involving a missing, traumatized teen found in a camper at the site. The report also states there is a drainage tunnel near the site where many sex crimes have purportedly occurred.
The city took steps to clear obstruction along a walkway. On March 28, he advised Councilmembers, “We have seen over the past few weeks, an effort to grow the illegal encampment toward the City. Staff expedited a landscaping project around the entryway on North Magnolia drought tolerant plants. The crew has some decomposed granite to still install, but most of the project is completed. I also got a tour of the drainage channel that is under County control. It was unbelievable how bad it was and this garbage flows into El Cajon for our crews to then clean up once inside the City. We reached out to the County today to have them clean it up.”
Supervisor Joel Anderson responded to the city’s concerns initially with a list of agencies on site daily from March 16 through 31st, noting that visits would drop to weekly on April 1.
The County’s Dept. of Public Works removed a truckload of shopping carts, 15 gallons of biohazardous wastes and 29 aerosol cans from the site on March 17, with more cleanup slated the next week.
The Sheriff’s Homeless Assistance Resource Team (HART) deputies and County Office of homeless Solutions staff have provided outreach assistance, transportation and facilitation into housing and other resources on a daily basis. The HART team has also met with El Cajon Police to collaborate on homeless issues and a HART Psychiatric Emergency Response Team (PERT) clinician has conducted multiple mental health evaluations to facilitate resources for those willing to accept help.
On April 12, Supervisor Anderson sent another update announcing that “Progress is being made! Our office received the following success story that I wanted to pass along to you:
An elderly veteran who has been on the corner of Magnolia for over a year was resistant to all services. He has a Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) voucher but refused to use it. After days of outreach, he finally came around and was willing to engage and let staff help him utilize his housing voucher. He was partially moved as of 4/7/22 and the next day he successfully checked into a hotel. DPW will be out there to clear the very large site he was using.
“To ensure that all available resources are being brought to address the large encampment on Magnolia Ave in the unincorporated area of El Cajon, I requested frequent updates from the County’s Office of Homeless Solutions,” Anderson added.
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