As I am biking through Lower Park and enjoying the lovely Chico weather, I notice the cluster of tents and tarps up ahead. I speed up and keep my gaze forward, avoiding the bits of trash scattered around on the ground. Even though they make me anxious, I can’t help but feel sad for these unhoused people as I rush past them, after all, they are people, just like me.
Chico, California has become home to the largest unhoused population in Butte County,with over 900 unhoused people. The city’s homeless population significantly increased after the devastating Camp Fire in 2018, due to the fact that so many people were displaced, Chico became a haven for Camp Fire victims. Chico gained more than 20,000 people, and the unhoused population increased by about 16%.
There continue to be numerous arguments and opinions regarding solutions for this population, but none have been held to be a significant enough fix and finally put this problem to rest. The well-known “Housing or Enforcement first” argument sets many people apart on this topic. Folks who identify as more progressive politically tend to believe that addressing housing situations before enforcement is the right and smart thing to do. According to Laurel Blatchford and Tyler Norris in their book A Vital Condition to Well-Being: Humane Housing: Exploring how stable housing promotes better health, “In fact, housing can promote good health and enhance well-being when it is within reach of public transportation, healthy foods, medical care, schools, and other vital destinations.” The argument that with housing will come better health, opportunities, and care, is the popular belief. On the other hand, more politically conservative individuals tend to believe that enforcement should come before housing, and implementing things such as sobriety programs, mental health services, managing current encampments, and employment before housing will result in a better outcome. This approach focuses on solving what these people see as the root of the problem. This negates the variables that largely contribute to homelessness before addressing housing.
In Chico, the most apparent issue seems to be a lack of accessible shelter. As SafeSpace shelter volunteer Serra Wells puts it, “I believe we should have a permanent ‘low barrier’ shelter like SafeSpace that has social and mental health services attached like the Everhart Village model.” She combines the ideas of enforcement and housing to propose an alternative and effective housing solution. There are currently shelters that offer mental health services, sobriety services, and therapies, such as the Torres Shelter. Although this shelter offers many amenities, they have strict policies regarding violence, harassment, drug and alcohol use on site, and past sexual assault crimes, making this a higher-barrier shelter. And so although the low-barrier shelters that are available in Chico, The Jesus Center and the seasonal SafeSpace, they do not offer programs and support that are vital to the overall healing process that unhoused people need.
The Warren vs. Chico settlement, which was a ruling set in 2022, is an agreement that has put limitations on the ability for the City of Chico to enforce laws and anti-camping policies on unhoused people when inadequate shelter is available. This settlement was originally set to last for five years, and in March of 2025, the City of Chico sought to shorten, or demolish the agreement. The policy has been left intact due to lack of evidence of increased crime, violence, etc. from the City of Chico.
This ruling has had a significant impact on the way that Chico manages this population and their encampments. There are currently multiple unofficial camping “sites” where unhoused people are staying, located in lower park, among the bike path that runs along the freeway, and around downtown. With scattered trash being left behind everywhere. Trash left behind by those living in the encampments is one of the most visible effects on the city, as it affects our ecosystem, and our beautiful creeks. In an article by Micheal Patterson that explains the magnitude of detritus that volunteers have cleared, “Gustafson says all the debris here was collected by volunteers and city staff over the last week. On average the city and volunteers collect and dispose of 320 cubic yards of trash a month. Each bin at the site is 40 cubic yards.” This significant amount of trash being abandoned throughout Chico is not only an unsightly and potent issue, but an environmental and safety hazard.
The city sanctioned site for unhoused people is located on Eaton Road, and is available for tent camping only. The site is composed of weather-beaten tents and some port-o-potties, which makes for a barely adequate “shelter” for these people. One of the problems with sites that are out in the open like this is that the residents regularly receive harassment and sometimes violence. Jimbo, a 29 year old Paradise native who was left unhoused by the Camp Fire states,“There’s some guy who drives around with a loudspeaker and a mask on saying, ‘Get out of Chico or get killed.’” This is just one of many testimonies that depict unhoused people being subject to hate crimes.
Many people assume that dealing with unhoused folks is always an unsavory and unsafe ordeal, but volunteering or working at a shelter can actually be a great experience. When asked what her favorite park of working for SafeSpace is, Serra shared; “My favorite part of working at SafeSpace is experiencing unhoused people experience genuine care and connection from the greater community. Volunteers are often surprised at the diversity of folks who end up without homes and it is often a heart opening, humanising experience. I also appreciate seeing the amazing outpouring of generosity from volunteers.” I think that if this message was spread more broadly, people would be more inclined to volunteer and help work towards shelter solutions.
Overall this situation is so multifaceted and complex that there isn’t a simple one size fits all solution. I think that the best thing to do right now is to work towards creating an accessible, permanent low-barrier shelter that offers mental health services and sobriety programs. I think that if more people can understand that working with unhoused people isn’t always as scary as it seems, we can work together as a community and through volunteer opportunities to make this happen.
