In Chico, city officials have spent millions of dollars clearing illegal campsites, forcing people to relocate so the items and trash left behind can be removed.
But an organization in Humboldt County has a different approach. The People of New Directions is a nonprofit which employs homeless people and provides them with materials to clean up trash in encampments.
John Shelter, coordinator and founder of People of New Directions, said the organization owns all of the equipment including several trucks, trailers and ATVs.
“We've done this all by ourselves. No government funding,” he said.
Shelter started the nonprofit with one truck, one trailer and one employee. Since then, he has employed 197 people, many of whom now work long-term jobs at local businesses, such as Wahlund Construction.
“Basically, we go in and greet the homeless and talk to them, engage them, and clean up the mess because they have no dumpsters,” Shelter said. “[People] are upset with the homeless because they have this trash, but they're surviving. There's no dumpsters that they can take their trash to. It's illegal to put trash in somebody else's dumpster.”
People of New Directions attempts to solve these problems by employing unhoused people to remove the trash, which provides them with an income, training and work experience.
Shelter believes this provides a more long-term solution, and other organizations should take note.
“I know we like to feed people, and I love to feed people and take care of them, but if we don’t bring them into a place and we just feed them like animals, you know, that’s not gonna help anybody,” Shelter said. “We have to rebuild people from the inside out.”
Shelter has been running the nonprofit for over 12 years. During this time, he said he thinks they’ve changed the perception of what a homeless person can do.
“Everyone knows I work with the homeless, but they’re no longer scared to have the homeless I work with come to their houses to do work,” Shelter said.
Shelter believes the nonprofit helps change people’s outdated opinions about the unhoused population and gives other communities new ideas on how to navigate issues related to homelessness.
“You know, people just don't understand the homeless population. They see it from the outside, and nobody wants to get inside,” Shelter said.
Shelter said his organization has picked up more than two million pounds of trash in Humboldt County alone and the program could serve as a model for other communities experiencing similar challenges.
