Last year, Merced’s biggest homeless encampment was removed on Santa Fe and Highway 59.
Public works crews attempted to use a “dumpster method” expecting transients would use it. One officer told Merced Daily that wasn’t the case. They actually just moved inside it.
After nearly a year later transients took shelter by an old bridge just a couple hundred feet away. The encampment has grown ever since.
Early this morning, Merced City and Merced County public work crews began removing the homeless encampment on Santa Fe in Merced.
All transients were given a two week notice to leave the area.
One officer told Merced Daily that several complaints were made from the garbage that was flowing downstream to people who live within the area.
It’s unknown the exact number of transients that were living in that specific area.
A majority of people that lived there are repeat offenders, according to one officer. Officer said they’ll just move somewhere else.
A majority of Merced PD calls were involving transients in 2019.
