Judge OKs ‘Club Homeless’ Evictions : Courts: Transients in elaborate camp under freeway may be forced out by week’s end.

Citing safety and sanitation concerns, a judge ruled Monday that Caltrans officials can evict more than 20 transients who took up residence beneath the San Diego Freeway in Huntington Beach in an elaborate, furnished encampment.

The decision by Orange County Superior Court Judge Robert E. Thomas paves the way for Caltrans workers to force homeless men and women off the public property dubbed “Club Homeless.” The evictions could come later this week, Caltrans spokeswoman Rose Orem said.

For Don Wilson, 59, the ruling means he will have to move from the plot of land he has called home for the past three years since falling on hard times.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do now, where I can go,” said Wilson, who called the judge a “jerk” outside of court. “Is this justice? I don’t think so.”

The state Department of Transportation was slapped with a lawsuit earlier this year after Caltrans workers tried to roust those who had erected makeshift homes near the freeway’s Beach Boulevard off-ramp. Several of the quarters had furnished living areas. One man’s site even had a kitchen equipped with a stove and stocked spice rack.

The hearing marks the latest legal clash over the homeless problem in Orange County, where some officials estimate there are more than 10,000 homeless people but just over 300 shelter beds.

Caltrans officials want the area cleared so they can proceed with maintenance and gardening projects. The eviction notices also followed complaints about crime in the area that some attributed to the homeless.

Wilson and other homeless people claimed that unidentified Caltrans workers have known about their encampments for years, and even gave permission for them to live there if they did not cause problems.

Attorney Paul M. Gray, who represents the homeless, said Caltrans should be responsible for finding the homeless a new place to live.

“They have no other place to go, to live, to sleep,” he told Thomas.

But attorney Glenn Mueller, who represented Caltrans, disputed those claims. He said Caltrans officials only learned of the encampments a few months ago.

Mueller cited safety concerns, since the transients are close to fast-moving cars on the freeway, and also noted that area lacks running water and toilet facilities. The transients relieve themselves in an open-pit latrine, he said.

There are also concerns that the encampments create a fire hazard. Earlier this month, authorities believe a fire was deliberately set at a neighboring homeless site just hours after a judge issued a temporary order prohibiting Caltrans from evicting the homeless from the encampment until Monday’s hearing.

Caltrans officials have tried to proceed with the evictions as “humanely” as possible, Orem said. The homeless have been given information about 52 county shelters and organizations that can assist them, she said.