On a soggy morning in Gilroy, Greg Porter lifts his cat and puts her inside the tent where he lives to protect her from the rain. The drops pattering on his tarp mark the first signs of the rainy season as he ducks into the flap and pulls out a multicolored flyer with bold red capital letters: VACATE.

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Like many others in Gilroy, he has lived at the encampment on Santa Clara Valley Water District land on and off for years, but now Valley Water is shutting it down, along with another a few miles away — the two largest encampments in Gilroy.

While advocates for the unhoused maintain that the managed encampments served as key tools for providing services and limiting pollution, Valley Water officials assert they have become sites of serious safety concerns. Now, the over 50 residents of the encampments face an uncertain future, and the closure could have ripple effects in a city with arguably one of the worst homelessness problems in the Bay Area.

“I don’t know what a lot of these people are going to do,” said Porter. “It’s just a no-win situation.”

Greg Porter, who has been living at the encampment since 2015, holds a flyer telling people to leave the encampment near Tompkins Court in Gilroy, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) 

Despite its small size, Gilroy has one of the largest unhoused populations in the Bay Area, leading to a history of problems both for those who live on the street and for housed people in the city.

For years, unhoused residents clustered in two encampments on Valley Water land. In recent years, Valley Water began a program like a roadside trash service — residents would put out trash in bags, and the agency would collect it in an effort to limit pollution in the waterways. Early this year, Valley Water began managing the encampments more actively — offering portable toilets at both sites, but also imposing rules and limitations for those who live there, and removing those who violated the rules.

Following a 2023 Gilroy ordinance restricting camping on public lands, the city began encampment cleanups throughout the city. The two encampments managed by Valley Water were the last places in Gilroy where those living in tents could stay without fear of being displaced.

“The sweep will remove what little safety, security and sanitation they have and make it harder for service providers to help them,” said Jan Bernstein Chargin, co-founder of PitStop homeless outreach. She maintains that those forced to leave by the closure will likely move to other parts of the city, and believes that some will end up back on Valley Water land, but without the toilets and trash pick-up to keep them from polluting waterways. “It’s not going to be possible to displace this many people all at once without it impacting the rest of the city — including businesses.”

Over the last year, Valley Water Assistant Officer Mark Bilski said his staff reported more than 30 incidents that sparked safety concerns — including aggressive animals, verbal threats to employees and an argument that nearly resulted in an altercation between Valley Water staff and a resident of the encampment. He also said that staff had found firearms and bladed weapons at the encampment. No employees have been hurt at either site.

In early October, Valley Water announced the closure of both encampments, effective November 3.

“This is not an ideal situation,” said Bilski, who noted that many in the encampment worked to abide by the rules, adding there was a “constant balancing act” between concerns for the environment, residents and staff.  “Right now, we’re way out of whack with staff safety.”

A person walks by tents near Tompkins Court in Gilroy, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) 

Residents describe a very different experience in the encampment  Though they admitted to issues with rising tensions in the camp, they insist it is largely a peaceful place.

JJ Villaseñor, who has lived at the encampment on and off for 10 years, called it “mostly civil.” “They’re not violent. They’re not threatening. For the most part, these people aren’t bad,” said Villaseñor about her fellow residents. “If (the Valley Water workers) are afraid of us, that’s sad.”

Others noted that many in the encampment live with physical disabilities or mental illness, and that the closure would happen right as the rainy season was underway. “We have nowhere to go, especially the mentally ill,” said Diane Barbosa, who lives at one of the encampments. “This is terrible. It’s not right.”

Bilski said Valley Water is partnering with the city and the county to “provide as soft a landing as possible.”

“It’s a disappointment to me that we’re not able to continue to manage the site in that way,” said Bilski. “We are hopeful that at least some people will get housed.”

Santa Clara County’s Office of Supportive Housing said in a statement that it would work to get temporary or permanent housing “whenever possible” for those who will be impacted by the action. Even so, the county already provides assistance at encampments on Valley Water land, and several who live in the encampments already are in the pipeline for housing.

Greg Porter, who has been living at the encampment since 2015, leans against his bike next to his tent near Tompkins Court in Gilroy, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group) 

Currently, there are around eight unhoused people for every shelter bed that is available year-round in Gilroy. In the winter, temporary beds open and drop that ratio to around four people per bed. The stark shortage leaves few shelter options available to those who will be displaced.

“There’s no simple solution to help these people out,” said Tim Davis, the executive director of the Gilroy nonprofit South County Community Services. “These people do not have anywhere else to go, so it is hugely, hugely devastating. … It’s gonna make things a lot worse.”

Even so, local advocates acknowledge that Valley Water has generally been a good-faith partner, willing to try to maintain a space where unhoused people could achieve a level of stability and sanitation. “I want to make sure that we’re not beating them up for a very painful decision,” said Davis.

In the meantime, grassroots volunteers and outreach organizations like South County Community Services are working to provide what aid they can. Chargin is calling on the county and the city to go above and beyond their current efforts to ensure options are available for those who are displaced, and so that the whole community isn’t affected by the move.

“I’m actively engaged with service providers, electeds from the county and electeds from the water district in search of some type of solution,” said Gilroy Mayor Greg Bozzo, while noting that the solution was not yet clear. “Every day is devoted to this.”

Bilski said that Valley Water is exploring multiple sites in south Santa Clara County where they might offer land for interim housing or a safe sleeping site, but he acknowledges those would not come online before the closure of the encampments.

This leaves an uncertain future for those displaced by the closure. “It’s gonna be beyond what our little grassroots nonprofits can do,” said Chagrin. “The county and the city and the water district can come together to find a solution. … I believe it’s possible, but everybody has to work together.”