Shortly after Jamie moved into her Kalihi Valley home in September, she started seeing strangers in her yard.

Jamie, who lives with her four children at the end of Wilson Place where Kalihi Stream flows under Likelike Highway, discovered that a group of homeless people lives under the concrete bridge directly behind her rented home.

"I can't sleep. I listen. Every time I hear something, I'm out here," said Jamie, who did not want her last name published to protect her family.

"It's OK that they are here if they don't bother anyone, but when they come on our property and we have the kids here, I'm worried."

William Woods, chairman of the Kalihi Valley Neighborhood Board, said several groups of "squatters" are living at various roadside locations in the valley and that there has been an increase in thefts and burglaries.

Woods said the issue will be discussed at the board meeting tomorrow night.

The walls under the Wilson Place bridge are covered with graffiti. Makeshift ladders have been hung to allow movement between sections of the concrete structure.

Piles of garbage are strewn under the bridge and a wooden pallet leans against one wall to allow people to climb into a narrow gap where people sleep.

Jamie said she has called the police twice but no one has been arrested. She has put up motion-detector lights behind her home. Her boyfriend boarded up much of the open area under the home after a tent and a picnic table were stolen.

Sometimes people yell and scream from the area late into the night, she said.

"We knew they were here, but when they came into the yard and started stealing, then it became a problem, " she said. "We would like to see the area cleaned up and cleared out."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.