After 20 years, Sacramento County clears riverfront camp of homeless seniors

After years of threatening to do so, Sacramento County has officially cleared a longstanding riverfront encampment of homeless seniors.

Roughly 30 people had been living at the tightknit so-called Bannon Island camp near Discovery Park for as long as 20 years. In February, after a rainstorm flooded the island, the county announced it would permanently clear the camp. It was unclear at the time which day that would occur, however.

Now the island is cleared of encampments for good, said Ken Casparis, spokesman for the county park rangers.

The county recently installed permanent signs that read, “WARNING: AREA CLOSED FOR PUBLIC SAFETY” and “DO NOT ENTER. SENSITIVE HABITAT AREA.”

On the day the county cleared the island, it placed two people directly into shelter or housing, Casparis said. The county placed an additional 12 people on a shelter wait list.

Crystal Sanchez, president of the Sacramento Homeless Union, criticized the county for clearing the island without giving everyone housing.

“They should have housed them,” Sanchez said. “The county had ample opportunity to provide true real-time solutions of housing and services. Instead it chose to displace nearly 60 seniors. If they can’t stand up for our elderly and our unhoused constituents, what do they stand up for?”

The island did flood throughout the years, but the residents had instituted their own “migration path” to safely deal with it, Sanchez said.

The county will reopen the island sometime after the summer to the public, but not for camping, Casparis said.

“We are assessing the area for a complete restoration and are still working on cleaning up the area as flooding allows,” Casparis said in an email. “So far this year, 185 tons of garbage and debris has been removed. Camping will not be permitted at Bannon Island once the area re-opens.”

In the summer of 2021, The Sacramento Bee journalists were the first members of the media to visit the site and report on the residents. Journalists observed about 60 tents, some of which had multiple rooms with furniture and carpeting. Most of the people living at the island were in their 60s and 70s. Despite collecting monthly Social Security checks, many could not afford a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento, or could not pass credit and eviction checks landlords require, they told The Bee in 2021.

After being cleared from the island, many of the residents moved to a grassy strip next to the bike trail along Garden State Highway. But they are not allowed to camp there either, Casparis said.