Housing extended for burn scar residents
PARADISE » A Butte County ordinance allowing for a year extension to temporary housing in the burn scar of the Camp Fire was unanimously passed by the Board of Supervisors Nov. 9 while transitory housing will come to an end in March.
The difference between the two housing types comes down to whether the home or shelter is connected to services such as electricity, garbage and water. Transitory housing is considered dry camping. The supervisors’ decisions do not extend to those living in Paradise town limits.
Butte County Director of Development Services Paula Daneluk said the county will be working with the North Valley Community Foundation and the Camp Fire Collaborative to aid those in try camping situations in an effort to connect them to utilities. The push to extend the transitory housing ordinance to March was made by Supervisor and Chair Bill Connelly.
“I supported the extension to March because I don’t really want to be seen as kicking people off their land in the middle of winter and January it’s looking like it’s going to be a wet winter,” Connelly said. “I personally am not inclined to extend it beyond that if they don’t have utilities because it’s been quite a long time and is becoming a mess in a lot of places.”
One of the questions asked by Supervisor Debra Lucero during the October discussion was in regards to how many people were known by the county to be dry camping. According to Daneluk, the number is somewhat elusive.
“That is a difficult thing to determine,” Daneluk said. “Right now we have 13 administrative permits, which at the beginning of the year in the spring we started requiring those with that amendment to this ordinance so we know for sure there are 13 who have engaged in the process and we will be working with.”
Even though there are 13 people registered to be in a transitory housing situation, there are more who haven’t followed through with the process.
“There is also another group of folks who have never gotten to that point and are in violation at this time for various camping violations and not meeting those requirements so the scope of that universe could be larger if they were to move out of code violations and into the permanent or temporary housing,” Daneluk said. “I’m not sure all of them will, unfortunately. We have a number of bad actors who are living in situations that do not meet our codes and have not moved forward in trying to come to that resolution.”
Daneluk said there have been more than 80 code violations reported in 2021 alone that her department has been working on.
During an October meeting, the board discussed different possibilities for the two types of housing for those looking to rebuild after the Camp Fire. Supervisor Doug Teeter was in favor of extending the temporary housing part of the ordinance but wasn’t as keen on an extension for transitory housing.
Residents living in the
Paradise and Magalia areas submitted comments on the matter and what they would like to see happen.
Susan Copeland cited concerns over dubious activity among people still in transitory housing.
“We have observed ongoing illegal activity in our neighborhood since we returned to our property a year and a half ago,” Copeland said. “We have made numerous online complaints as well as talked with sheriff and Code Enforcement about the situation in our neighborhood. We still have the problem of non-compliance! I think the thing that most disturbs me is that the sanitation situation on these properties is disgusting. They do not have anywhere to defecate other than
the ground or buckets, and then they dump it on neighboring properties.”
Potential help
Teeter asked that staff make a statement regarding the possibility of those in transitory housing receiving some kind of outside aid before the end of the ordinance in March.
As Daneluk said, the county is working with both the Camp Fire Collaborative as well as the North Valley Community Foundation to come up with solutions for those who are dry camping.
Deputy Administrative Officer Casey Hatcher said the collaborative has put forth some options for services.
“The Camp Fire Collaborative has two things that are already in place that can assist,” Hatcher said. “They have disaster case managers and they work with a variety of community-based organizations to provide assistance. They do not have a wait currently for disaster case management.”
Hatcher said those living in transitory housing who have received administrative permits could utilize these services to work toward connecting to utilities.
“They will use the simple unmet needs round table and the complex unmet needs round table to provide financial resources to address these needs,” Hatcher said. “Those are in place currently and the North Valley Community Foundation has asked us to go through those existing channels instead of funding a different for the county or to residents to assist.”
The Camp Fire Collaborative can be contacted at 4138396. More information can be found at www.campfirecollaborative.org. The Simple Unmet Needs Committee meets at 2 p.m. every Wednesday via Zoom. A request form can be found on the organization’s website to be part of the Zoom meeting.
The Butte County Board of Supervisors meets at 9 a.m. most second and third Tuesdays of each month at its chambers located at 25 County Center Drive, Suite 205 in Oroville. Meetings are free and open to the public. Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear a mask while in the building.