An encampment with makeshift fencing and personal property is seen Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in Dededo, Guam.
HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — It’s difficult to miss the encampment across from the Micronesia Mall. It’s a small clearing filled in with interspersed personal belongings shaded by tarps and fenced behind a wall of pallets right along one of the entrances to Two Lovers Point.
But one item recently added to the encampment sticks out from the rest, a warning from the Office of the Attorney General informing occupants they had five days to leave the premises. The last day was Tuesday.
The warning is part of a new initiative to relocate homeless individuals, provide assistance and do away with encampments like this one.
The AG’s warnings state that occupants are violating law, including criminal trespass and public nuisance laws, and have five days to leave, as authorities will clear the premises and remove violators thereafter.
Written along with the warnings is contact information for various services that assist homeless individuals. This program, called the Homeless Relocation Initiative, was officially announced Friday and is to begin with the encampment across from the mall.
Officials, meanwhile, confirmed with The Guam Daily Post that people and belongings won’t be removed immediately, despite the 5-day time frame given.
Yearslong stay
The Guam Daily Post visited that encampment Tuesday, where it did not seem there was any real movement out of the site. A handful of people sat beneath the tarps, sheltered from the heat of the early afternoon sun.
One of the occupants, who did not wish to be identified, said they had lived there for years.
This person, who appeared frustrated and stressed with recent happenings, said it would be difficult to move in five days and that the occupants there would need two or three months to fully vacate.
The person also said that they did not have access to transportation to move belongings. Compounding concerns was that the person had just returned from the hospital.
Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio, who last week helped launch the Homeless Relocation Initiative, along with Attorney General Douglas Moylan, Dededo Mayor Melissa Savares and other officials, stated there have been reports of violence and other activities in the encampment across from the mall and that the community had been voicing concerns.
But the person the Post spoke to said that they felt the occupants at the encampment along the road were being adversely impacted by bad acts performed by people who resided in another encampment, who could be seen peeking out from beside the nearby utilities station and within the jungle.
Deputy AG Frank Gumataotao said he understands that the other encampment is on public property and that this encampment is also part of what authorities plan to clear out.
The encampment along the road is said to be on private property.
While the person who spoke to the Post said they had contacted the property owner, Gumataotao said the Office of the AG did that, as well, and the owner indicated that no one had permission to be there.
“And, the other part was that we talked to the people there. Nobody made a claim that they had a right to be there. We specifically asked. That doesn’t mean they won’t change their story, but, as it stands now, that’s what we’re being told by the people that were there,” Gumataotao said.
The Post has not been able to speak to the property owner independently.
What happens now?
The five-day period in the warning is now up, but that doesn’t mean the Office of the AG will be revisiting the area immediately.
The date for the follow-up visit has not been disclosed.
Gumataotao said when officials do revisit the site, they plan to bus people and their belongings. The officials will then take the people removed from the property to a point where they can receive services.
“They would be taken to a place where they’ll have all the different agencies represented. (A place) that will give them the services for things like ID, medical stuff, immediate housing, all of that,” Gumataotao said.
During last week’s announcement, the lieutenant governor said officials plan to assemble a team at the Dededo farmer’s market to provide wrap-around services. Moylan has sent invitations to various organizations that might help homeless individuals find a job.
“It’s a problem. But, at the same time, we’re trying to look at it from a positive standpoint. Let’s help transition these people, because there’s a reason they’re out there. And, let’s try to make it so that we can eliminate those reasons so that they can have a better life,” Gumataotao said.
