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Homeless Person's Tiny, Makeshift Loft Ordered To Be Dismantled

CONCORD (KPIX 5) -- A tiny, makeshift loft -- complete with a window -- has been built almost like a bird's nest under the eaves of a bridge in Concord.

When pictures of the lofted structure hit the local online news site Claycord.com, police got wind of it, and everyone under the bridge got a 72-hour notice to leave.

The occupants of the loft didn't want to go on camera. But a man named Tony who lives in a tent next to the tiny loft said, "I didn't even see them build it. It was just kind of there all of a sudden."

Tony described what his own life was like living under the bridge.

"Losing everything. Nowhere to go, no one to turn to. The bottom of the bottom," Tony explained.

On Monday afternoon, an outreach team from the county stopped by to offer help, but no one seemed interested. So they left. The director of Homeless Services says there's only so much they can do.

Lavonna Martin, the director of Homeless Services for Contra Costa County said, "We offer shelter beds for them to come in, out from underneath the bridge and get connected to services. For those who don't, they have options to go and find other places to live, perhaps connect back to family."

The county says the real answer to homelessness is to build more houses.

But the little house built under the bridge will soon be torn down.

And if that seems sadder than normal, maybe it's because of that window. It's as if somebody tried to bring a small part of normal back to their lives, by creating the illusion of a home.

"Of somewhere to go, warm and out of the weather, and out of the way," Tony said.

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