Yuba County Homeless Being Moved Out Of River Camps

At least 200 homeless people in Yuba County are being forced to leave their campsites. But, they are being offered housing.

Two areas along the Yuba River in Marysville have been identified as environmental and health hazards.

Russ Brown is with the county says vehicles used as shelter pose a threat to the Yuba River. So does sewage.

"The rising water did take a lot of garbage over the last month into the river system and down river. At the same time, we were notifying the homeless to at least move away from the banks of the rivers to get up to higher ground and they did for the most part. Some didn't. I mean, you can see tents that are actually in the water right now."

The county and several non-profit agencies will work into the summer months approaching small groups of homeless people and offering temporary housing and services.

"The reason we're doing this so slowly is so we can address smaller groups of people who are displaced. If we did it all at once, we would have no possibility of helping these homeless encampments."

There are no plans to track the effectiveness of the outreach efforts or to identify where the homeless have gone.

One area near Avondale Avenue in the town of Linda has already been cleared.  

A homicide at a second site in Marysville last week has delayed the county's work there for at least a week.