A homeless encampment is disturbing the peace at a Cambodian Buddhist temple in Fresno, with vagrants leaving behind drug paraphernalia and leaving congregants uneasy.
The Fresno Cambodian Buddhist Society Inc. reluctantly welcomed its new neighbor — a small pocket of the city’s estimated 5,000 homeless population — during the winter.
Members of the temple told ABC 30 that they’ve had issues with homeless vagrants wandering into their house of worship before, but have never seen anything like the growing camp stretching along its walls.
Danny Kim, a member on the society’s board, told the outlet that they once caught someone pitching a tent inside the dining hall after hours, while other strangers have left “needles, paraphernalia, [and] glass pipes” scattered around.
“We don’t want our community to feel unsafe coming over here and also creating a health hazard for children that might be playing over here,” Kim said.
The temple and its worshippers have endeavored to treat the homeless with compassion and respect in alignment with their faith’s teachings, but are struggling to balance their charity with growing safety concerns.
There’s little the temple can actually do to address the encampment, since it falls within an adjacent private property. The area itself falls in District 1 — helmed by councilmember Annalisa Perea.
Perea told the outlet that she wasn’t aware of any encampments within the city limits, but her team dispatched city code enforcement and homeless outreach teams “to see what we could do to be a good partner with the county.”
She assured that the city was trying to get in touch with the property’s owner, but hadn’t received a response as of Thursday.
The Post reached out to Perea’s office and the County of Fresno’s Homeless Response Group for more information.
The temple is separately seeking help and support from the county’s plentiful homelessness organizations, the outlet reported.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has consistently downplayed the severity of the Golden State’s homelessness epidemic. In early January, he boasted about a 9% decline — but the LAPD alone is still responding to roughly 40 calls an hour relating to the homeless.
One swanky Santa Monica restaurant temporarily shuttered its doors for health code violations, but critics suggested the vermin might’ve migrated from the homeless encampment next door.
Another homeless encampment in Oxnard, just 60 miles west of Los Angeles, had 33 tons of hazardous garbage cleared last week.