Collaborative efforts recently worked to clear the long-problmatic Castro RV encampment while providing services to the people who lived there, Richmond City Manager Sasha Curl reported at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
The city was awarded a $4.8 million state grant to help sunset the Castro encampment located at Castro and Hensley streets and steer the people living there into permanent housing. The encampment had long drawn crime and safety concerns.
Organizations including the Housing Consortium of the East Bay, Way 2 Love Inc., SOS! and Ascend Security joined a coalition of city and county agencies working to provide services to 96 people at thr encampment, according to Curl.
The encampment’s official closure occurred June 30. Among the former campers, 12 are in hotels, 21 are in single room occupancy units, five are in shelters, three are in shared living, one has been placed in a program and 37 are in permanent housing, Curl reported to the Council. The city is continuing to provide services to another 15 former campers, she added.
Curl lauded the work of government, nonprofit and private organizations for efforts to “sunset this encampment in a thoughtful way.”
