Sonoma County supervisors have declared a homeless emergency and will meet in a special session Monday to address an encampment with hundreds of people living along a popular hiking and cycling trail.
Officials have said their immediate concern is providing shelter to people living in tents along the Joe Rodota Trail in Santa Rosa.
"We have to treat this as an emergency," said Supervisor Shirlee Zane.
More than 200 people have occupied a part of the eight-mile-long pathway in what Zane called "brutally cold and wet weather."
A portion of the trail is off-limits to the public now.
Supervisors Monday will review a number of options for moving people who are homeless to county land.
A proposal to place them in converted horse stalls at the county fairgrounds was abandoned at a regular county meeting last week.
"Having people in one place and again with lots of strict rules ," such as prohibiting drugs and maintaining 24-hour security, "gives us an opportunity to do the type of work we need to do to get people back into housing," Zane said.
There is money to create transitional housing, Zane said, but questions of where to build and how soon home can be created must be sorted out.