San Bernardino residents concerned about large homeless camp in Perris Hill Park

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) — San Bernardino residents are increasingly frustrated with the number of homeless tents and encampments that have been set up in a city park.

According to one resident, a few months ago there were only a handful of tents in Perris Hill Park. Now there are more than 150.

“It looks like Skid Row,” said one resident who lives on East 21st Street. “It’s bad at night; they play their music at sky-high volume.”

The resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, said someone from the park even tried to break into her house recently around 9 p.m.

“He was banging on the door, shaking it, trying to get in. I asked, ‘What do you want?’ and he said, ‘Let me in! Let me in!'”

Another resident, who also declined to give her name, said she was too afraid to take her children to the park, even in the middle of the day.

“I would actually come here to the park with my children, but now I can’t take them because of the homeless,” she said. “My son even likes to go to the middle of the park to skateboard, but now he can’t anymore.”

So why has the number of homeless encampments in city parks suddenly increased so much? According to a city spokesperson, a recent district court ruling preventing the city from clearing these encampments may have exacerbated the problem.

In August 2023, the ACLU filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of several homeless people who were staying in city parks, claiming that city officials had unlawfully seized and destroyed their property and failed to provide adequate housing for homeless people with disabilities.

In January 2024, a U.S. district judge granted the ACLU a preliminary injunction, ruling that it had “made a prima facie case that the city … seized and immediately destroyed personal property belonging to homeless people.”

The judge ruled that city authorities are currently prohibited from clearing homeless encampments unless the city “drafts and submits a revised homeless encampment clearance policy that complies with the law and that revised policy is approved by the court.”

A city spokesperson told Eyewitness News that such a solution is “imminent” and should be announced shortly.

But even if the city were allowed to clear homeless camps again, it might be a relief for residents, but it would not be a permanent solution to the problem.

“The need is so great,” said Pastor Paul Jones of Independent Trinity, who helped organize a food distribution event for low-income residents in Perris Hill Park.
Jones said the astronomical cost of living is forcing many people to leave their homes – even people who currently have jobs.

“There’s a security guard living here (at Perris Hill Park),” Jones said. “They have to decide what they’re going to pay. Do they pay their rent? Do they pay their electric bill? Or are they going to be homeless?”