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Homeless camps cleared out, thousands displaced

Posted at 6:56 PM, Apr 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-04-29 22:40:09-04

A homeless encampment near Highway 99 disbanded earlier this week and now several people are wondering where they will live.

Thousands of other homeless individuals are living outside of shelters, under freeway overpasses, and near the Kern River.

The City of Bakersfield frequently does river sweeps in hopes to secure a safe environment for surrounding communities.

During these sweeps homeless encampments are cleared out, leaving hundreds displaced and looking for a new place to live

But Carlos Baldovinos, Executive Director with the mission at Kern County says there is a place for those individuals to go but many choose not to seek help from shelters

"Whatever the situation or circumstances that made you become homeless, there is hope, there is an avenue to get out of that for that person to get services, for that person to get plugged into a better life than just being homeless," said Baldovinos. 

The Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance says their outreach program helps homeless individual's access resources before it's too late but often times they choose to stay.

23ABC reached out to City Code Compliance to find out if more sweeps could be happening, but we haven't heard back.