'Boulder' measures: Rocks to deter camping outside Sacramento business
SACRAMENTO -- For two downtown Sacramento property owners, large boulders placed along the perimeter of their X Street building have a unique job.
The rocks are there to keep the homeless away.
After an extensive process with the city of Sacramento, owners Syeda Inamdar and Kayyum Mansoor say a permit allows them to place the boulders in the grassy area near the sidewalks that line their property.
"I can't feel safe. Nobody in my neighborhood feels safe," Inamdar told CBS13.
Before taking the drastic measure, Inamdar says other deterrence efforts were attempted. This included stadium-style lighting surrounding the building, fencing, 24/7 on-site security, cameras, and noise-deterrence speakers. None of which brought any solution to the problem.
It is not what the husband and wife expected when they began the process to purchase the building in May 2021.
"We knew there was a lot of tents here, but we didn't think that overnight, literally, we would find this on our property. It happened quite quickly," said Mansoor.
The block surrounding their business could be at one time be described as a small city of tents, used by the unhoused as shelter.
"I stopped counting when we had 14 tents out here," said Mansoor.
When Sacramento police cleared the camps outside the property, the boulders went in quickly. Today, the grassy area that lines the building is home only to about 120 large boulders of all shapes and sizes, making it impossible to set up a tent or campsite.
Mansoor put them out over the weekend, which was no small feat.
"We had to get a bobcat with a little grappling hook to place all these," Mansoor said.
It's something he and his wife called a "last resort" to keep the camps from coming back. It is a measure they did not want to take. However, they say the crime became too much for their tenants in the building to bear.
"They used this term, we are evacuating the building, we will come back when we are safe. It was heartbreaking," said Inamdar.
"It was open drug use -- prostitution, especially at night. Human waste, a lot of waste," said Mansoor.
The property owners say the boulders have brought relief. It's a much different now picture than before.
Admittedly, it's not a permanent solution.
"My concern is, it's just whack-a-mole. We are just moving the problem elsewhere. What it needs is a strong political solution and that is what we are lacking," said Mansoor.
Bob Erlenbusch, executive director of the Sacramento Regional Coalition to End Homelessness, agrees with that.
"We've got 7,000 people outside with nowhere to go," said Bob Erlenbusch.
However, he does not agree with the use of deterrence measures like boulders, which, he argues, puts the unhoused between a rock and a hard place.
"We are literally creating no public spaces or very few alternatives for people who have nowhere else to go," said Erlenbusch. "We need to treat our unhoused neighbors with dignity."
Erlenbusch touted other solutions like providing more access to affordable housing, the creation of 'tiny home' villages, access to employment, public bathrooms, and mental health or drug treatment.
Inamdar says for months they tried to co-exist with the unhoused community. She says they offered them water, sharp boxes for needles, access to porta-potties, and tried to connect them to resources. Those efforts were not received well, she says.
"Compassion didn't work. Compassion made it more unsafe," said Inamdar.
From the 100-plus boulders to additional deterrence efforts, Mansoor says it's cost them well over $20,000.
The tenant at the X Street building still operates inside, but many staff members quit due to the daily run-ins with those living at the homeless camps.
The company ended up moving much of its operation away from the site, according to Mansoor and Inamdar.
