Update
We spoke with Prince William County’s Communications Director Jason Grant and got a statement about the situation with the homeless camp.
“There is no eviction. Eviction is a little bit different…if someone’s living in a place and they’re not paying rent, or they’re doing something there, but either way there is property rights that the owner has…Once that property – the structure on the property – got posted, and that was because we were notified – an anonymous caller called Child Protective Services, saying there were children living in the woods there in unsafe conditions. So then they had to go look at it, and they then had to get Code Enforcement…and say ‘Is this thing built up to code? What’s the issue here? Cause now that we’re aware of it, we have to do something about this.’ And Code Enforcement came out and said ‘No, yeah, this property is not – the structure’s not built up to code.’ So that had nothing to do with people living there or not living there…the property owner didn’t build those structures…the property owner has two options – they can bring the structure to code, or remove the structure…the property owner decided to post ‘No Trespassing’ [signs] and that’s their right to do that…at this stage, because they posted ‘No Trespassing’, any ‘No Trespassing’ areas, people [that] aren’t allowed or invited by the property owner aren’t allowed to be on the property. If there are people who continue to be on the property – whether they’re living there, or walking through, or anything – that property owner has the right to [contact police]. The police would have to enforce that,” said Grant.
According to Grant, the property owner appears willing to give the individuals 30 days to move from the property.
“From the one email I’ve seen…probably 30 days – the property owner’s probably willing to say…’I’ll give some time for them to be able to move on.’ That said, if the property owner says…’There’s people trespassing on my property’ the police will respond to that…there isn’t a complaint [from the owner] I’m aware of that’s been filed, but the property’s been posted,” said Grant.
Grant said that the county offers a Continuum of Care that provides services to individuals in need.
“We offer the same services we always do – whether or not they take us up on those services is a decision that they make…that includes temporary housing, shelters, things like that,” said Grant.
For more information about the Continuum of Care, click here.
Prince William County Department of Police Sergeant Jonathan Perok offered us more information about the process for removing individuals that are living on the property.
“We plan on working with Social Services and the property owners to ensure many of the occupants are properly informed that they will need to vacate while also providing resources for assistance. Any approach regarding enforcement will be phased. We don’t plan to immediately issue summonses or make arrests. We will inform then give a reasonable amount of time for the residents to leave. After that time period, there may be charges if someone has not complied. Before any charges are placed, it is likely the individual will be issued a Notice of Trespass which is not a formal charge but rather a document used to officially inform someone they are in violation. We are being sensitive to the needs of those on the property but, as you are probably aware, this is private property and the property owners are requesting they leave. This is more of a trespass issue, not an eviction process,” stated Perok.
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Around 40 individuals living in a homeless camp in Woodbridge have been told by the county that they must leave the property.
Located behind the Bungalow Alehouse location in Woodbridge, the camp is situated on part of an 80-acre plot of wooded land that is privately owned.
Individuals have been living in the makeshift settlement for several years, according to Annemarie Landry. Landry said that the owner was aware of their presence on the land, but allowed them to stay.
That all changed when Prince William County’s Child Protective Services was made aware that Dwayne Green – one of the camp’s residents – had his grandchildren staying with him at the site, according to Landry.
“He had his grandkids out in the woods, and someone reported it to Child Protective Services that there were children out in the woods,” said Landry.
When Child Protective Services came out to the site, the camp and the makeshift structures on the site were discovered.
“They found these structures [at the camp] that were obviously not built to code, because they were built by homeless people who did it to survive, and put it together themselves,” said Landry.
A Fire Marshal for Prince William deemed the structures unsafe, and the county began with eviction proceedings for all of the camp residents.
“The ‘no trespassing’ signs have been hung up. They’ve been issued eviction notices and have been given 30 days to leave,” said Landry.
Landry expressed concerns about where these individuals would go, especially as the winter months are approaching.
“The homeless shelters have a wait list of over 200 people. There hasn’t been Section 8 housing available in a number of years,” said Landry.
Homelessness is a big issue in Prince William. According to a 2016 report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments there are 400 individuals classified as homeless in the county, many of which are children.
Landry is the organizer for Woodbridge HUGS, an organization in Prince William that is looking to create a “tiny house village” to provide safe spaces for the county’s homeless population.
“I wish I had my tiny house village built, because we could put them there, where they could heal, be safe…and become the best version of themselves that they can be. But we don’t have that yet,” said Landry.
According to Landry, Woodbridge HUGS is currently working on a model of the house plans and a presentation for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to get zoning approval to move forward on the project.
Landry said that no code or zoning classification exists for tiny houses in Prince William.
“We’ve been looking for property and we’ve found a piece of property, but it’s sort of a narrow road that we walk because if we buy this property with the pledge money that has been pledged to us…we don’t know that the county will grant us the variance in the zoning that we need, in order to be able to build tiny houses legally,” said Landry.
