Fresno officials plan to raze homeless camps to curb crime

FRESNO, Calif. -- Fresno officials plan to raze three homeless encampments that they say have become magnets for crime.

City Manager Bruce Rudd told the Fresno Bee on Monday that the camps would be razed over the next six weeks. Agencies in the area would help residents find housing and other services.

City officials said the encampments have attracted drug dealers, gang members and pimps. Earlier this month, a 20-year-old man was shot and killed in one of the camps and another man was wounded. Two people have been arrested in the shooting.

Police say they have made more than 80 felony arrests at that same camp over the past three weeks.

Fresno has been sued several times by homeless advocates, who have alleged the city destroyed the personal property of homeless residents after razing the camps.

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