Homeless encampments persist in Santa Fe despite crackdowns
Sep. 13—No matter how many times it gets cleared, an overgrown field adjacent to Vanessa Henderson's home in southwest Santa Fe inevitably turns into a homeless encampment.
"At one point — we're not joking — there must have been at least 40 homeless tents up here on the other side," she said as she pointed to the long and narrow field off Cerrillos Road between Richards Avenue and Vegas Verdes Drive.
That was in the winter.
By May, another encampment resurfaced, along with fires, including a blaze that burned several trees at night.
"If it had been a windy day, it could have burned everything to Airport Road," said Jonathan Batchik, Henderson's husband.
Authorities cleared the encampment over the summer, but a tent reappeared a few weeks ago, sparking concerns from area residents the encampment will continue to grow yet again.
While the city of Española has been in the spotlight in recent months over a city-sanctioned encampment that became a magnet for crime, drug use and other bad behavior, homeless encampments are also a problem closer to home.
Since January, the city of Santa Fe has cleaned up 613 encampments, including 68 where authorities had to issue a 24-hour notice when the person or people staying in the encampment refused to move out when initially asked. The cleanups have generated more than 144 tons of trash.
Jason Sharp, the city's park ranger superintendent, said the number of encampments "can be a little deceiving" because they often include the same people who just move from one location to another.
"There are people we deal with continuously," he said. "It's kind of like Whac-A-Mole."
Still, Sharp said the encampments are affecting residents' quality of life.
"A lot of what I hear from people that put in complaints is that when they see them, they don't feel safe," he said. "There have been incidences surrounding homeless encampments, like people's vehicles being broken into or a home being broken into, so that's a lot of what I hear, is [area residents] are scared when they see them because of the stuff that might come along with the camp."
Sharp said his team responds to complaints and also proactively patrols the city looking for encampments. If the encampment is on city-owned property, he said park rangers will ask the camper or campers to leave.
"Sometimes we run into people that are stubborn, and that's when we would issue a 24-hour notice," he said.
If the property is privately owned, it's a different matter, he said.
"At that point, it would become an issue between the landowner and the people staying on their property, and it would be up to the landowner to contact [police] to have them removed because they'd be trespassing on private property," he said.
Residents of the Trailer Ranch RV Resort, where Henderson lives and where homeless encampments persist in the adjacent field, said the property recently changed ownership and is slated for a high-density residential project.
Chris Acosta, who is Henderson's neighbor at the resort, said the latest encampment popped up about three weeks ago.
"There was one tent and one shopping basket, and now I think there are three tents and about five shopping baskets, and I just want it nipped in the bud," she said.
Acosta wrote a letter to police Chief Paul Joye this week requesting his department's help.
In the letter, Acosta wrote the field had "remained empty, clean and safe" after the summer cleanup.
"Unfortunately, within the past three weeks, a large tent has been set up and several people and multiple shopping carts have moved in," she wrote to Joye. "The camp is directly behind our home, approximately 15-20 feet away from our back fence and highly visible from our raised deck and backyard. It is unsightly, unhygienic, loud and dangerous. We have not been able to live comfortably in our home or enjoy our outdoor space since the camp reappeared."
The Santa Fe Police Department and mayor's office did not respond to requests for comment.
Acosta, who lives in Santa Fe five months out of the year, said she's noticed a significant uptick in homelessness since she's been coming to Santa Fe.
"We have a friend who lives in another community who's concerned about driving onto Cerrillos Road — she won't drive on Cerrillos," she said.
"There are levels of comfort," Acosta added. "I'm from a big city, so I'm not afraid, but I am when it's right in my backyard and in a field of weeds and trees and stuff. It's just concerning."
Another neighbor, Susan Martinez, said residents live in fear when the encampments pop up next door.
"We don't know if they're going to be right behind our gate and we say something to them and they're carrying a weapon and they shoot us," she said.
Martinez said her dog barks uncontrollably when she takes it out at night, making her wonder whether someone is lurking in the darkness.
"I feel bad for them; it's not their fault," she said, referring to the homeless. "But at the same time, it's not right for us to have to live in a nice area and then have all these homeless people."
The field is littered with trash, including discarded hypodermic needles, and some of the garbage ends up on neighboring residents' properties, Martinez said.
Henderson said the recurring encampments have negatively impacted her quality of life.
"I would wake up in the morning, and I'd have my tea or coffee, and I would look over here, and there were men peeing all over the fence," she said. "Sometimes two or three at one time because they think it's funny, and I hear all kinds of stories about what else is over there."
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