CHICO — Local officials are preparing to relocate campers gathered in three areas of Chico, including downtown and a stretch of road by the Genesis shelter facility.
City Manager Mark Sorensen announced Wednesday evening that seven-day notices to vacate will be issued March 27 to unhoused people at City Plaza, along Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway north of East 20th Street and a Highway 99 right of way south of Highway 32.
Per terms of the Warren v. Chico settlement, the city informed Legal Services of Northern California of its intentions.
Sorensen’s announcement said the relocation involves 23 campers between the three spots. City Plaza has the most, 10 — three of whom were assessed previously and either refused shelter or were asked to leave a shelter site. The latter applies to three of the six staying on MLK and five of the seven at the highway.
Available shelter spaces exceed the number of people at these encampments. The city said Genesis has 18 available units, including two with accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act; and the Torres Community Shelter has 37 open beds (28 in the men’s dorm, six in the women’s dorm, three in the gender-neutral dorm).
