For about 30 years, the Hernandez family has owned the only house on the block of 13th Street between B and C Streets. Until Aug. 21, the rest of the block surrounding their home was filled with vacant lots.

"Safe Ground" came to the block when Sacramento lawyer and homeless advocate Mark Merin, who has owned several of the adjacent lots since 2007, teamed up with non-profits, businesses and other individuals. Tightly fit rows of matching tents complete with a "Safe Ground" logo (click here for photograph) began filling the one vacant lot directly behind the Hernandez's house, and for nearly a month, tents have housed about 40 homeless people on the property.

Monday, the Hernandez family, with the support of attorney Aldon Bolanos, filed a lawsuit against Merin on the grounds that the encampment on the property is a private nuisance. Though the tenants of the house are Pedro and Gracilla Hernandez, who are both in their early 70s, their daughter owns the title for the house.

The city had already filed a similar suit on Sept. 9 against Merin for the property being a public nuisance .

Bolanos met the Hernandez family when he was walking his dog. He stopped to watch the campers move onto the Merin-owned property, and the Hernandez family struck up a conversation with him as they watched the tents being installed.

Bolanos also lives in the Downtown area, but further from the camp area. After hearing the Hernandez's story, he felt compelled to take the case, he said.

The dispute over the property began in March 2007 when Merin purchased the plot of land behind the Hernandez residence. Because it was too small to build upon based on city code, he wanted to connect it to an even smaller piece of property he owns on the corner of 13th and C Streets, also next to the Hernandez residence.

After finding out that the only way to do this was through the Hernandez's plot, Merin approached Pedro Hernandez, 72, to try to purchase their backyard. When Hernandez refused, wanting to keep his yard, Merin sued him, alleging a property line boundary dispute.

The suit dragged on for over a year, costing the Hernandez family north of $100,000 in legal fees. But when they won the case last October (the dispute was unfounded), Merin was forced to settle the case out of court.

"It's called playing dirty," said Bolanos, referring to both the lawsuit and Merin's use of the property as a "Safe Ground" location. Since the encampment has taken residence, the Hernandez family has complained about loud noise, garbage, urine, feces, cockroaches, rats and even drug transactions including crack, heroin and meth, Bolanos added.

"[Mr. Hernandez] has observed these campers urinating on his home," Bolanos added. "It's tough for them, and they have a host of health problems, so this has made it a lot worse for [them]."

"You tell me how you would feel if you had this problem in your backyard," Hernandez, 72, said in a Sacramento Bee article. "You can imagine how [my family and I] feel."

Because the encampment is a violation of a city ordinance that prohibits camping for more than 24 hours, police have been regularly entering the property, arresting campers and confiscating tents and other camping equipment. Tents and camping equipment have been donated after every raid.

"I'm sympathetic to the plight of homeless, and if somebody wants to live outside, that's fine with me," Bolanos said. "But to do it in the Downtown core of a major city--and they do it in a manner that affects other people; other people's rights have to be considered, too."

Bolanos expects both the public and private nuisance suits to be combined since they are "substantially similar," he said. If all goes according to plan, Bolanos said the campers might be restricted from Merin's property beginning Thursday, Sept. 17.

He also said that Merin could receive an injunction against campers on his property as early as Tuesday, Sept. 22. But the court's decision on whether Merin violated the law and provided an opportunity for "unlawful camping" could take up to 10 months, Bolanos added.