Theo Cedar Jones, a resident at Wood Street for nearly two years who lives in a makeshift shelter, said he doesnt like the citys community cabin model and wouldnt use it. Three days later, a group of encampment residents sued Caltrans, the governor, Oakland and a number of public officials in federal court, alleging that their forced removal from the site would constitute an unconstitutional "state created danger" and place them at a high degree of risk because there were not adequate shelter options for them in Oakland. After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp Russell Wilson asked for Pete Carroll, Seahawks GM to be fired; QB denies report. Aric Crabb has been a staff photographer at the Bay Area News Group since 1998. Our Response Homelessness has doubled in the last 10 years. Caltrans plans to clear out 200 homeless people from the sprawling homeless encampment at Oaklands Wood Street by the first week of August, officials said. Updated to include drought zones while tracking water shortage status of your area, plus reservoir levels and a list of restrictions for the Bay Areas largest water districts. The expert behind the report compared it to the poorest places in the world, decried the lack of access to clean water and toilets, and said the rodent infestations, fire dangers and other hazards should be quickly addressed. An attorney for the city said it doesn't have enough safe parking sites for everyone to bring their vehicles there. The encampment is one of the largest in the city and has been plagued with problems such as illegal dumping and fires for years. Audit: Oaklands $12.6 million homelessness, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Bay Area weather: After thunderstorms and hail, snow could be on the way this weekend, Audit: Oaklands $12.6 million homelessness response lacked strategy, direction, Housing proposal for unhoused leaves Santa Clara residents sharply divided, Forcing Californians into mental health treatment would get easier with proposed legislation, Grappling with homelessness, California weighs extending foster care for 5 years, After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp. A United Nations report from 2018, for example, stated that a U.N. investigator witnessed officials "attempting to discourage residents from remaining in informal settlements or encampments by denying access to water, sanitation and health services and other basic necessities, [which] constitutes cruel and inhuman treatment and is a . Cold Bay Area rains fail to shut down vibrant Holi celebration in Fremont. A lawsuit alleges that Stanford-trained chemists Alexander Burckle and Elizabeth Webster nearly drowned after a dive boat left them behind in choppy water near Maui. We cant just let people to continue to die on the sidewalks while we try to figure out what permanent solutions can be, Fife said. Homeless Encampment at Lake Merritt Blvd Oakland, CA, 94607, USA: Hi, both sidewalks on either side of the channel going from Lake Merritt to the Bay are entirely blocked by homeless encampments. A U.N. report from 2018 called the conditions there cruel and inhumane. The expert behind the report compared it to the poorest places in the world, decried the lack of access to clean water and toilets, and said the rodent infestations, fire dangers and other hazards should be quickly addressed. You will be asked to sign off on an arrest warrant. Because of the connection to the earlier litigation, the case was assigned to Judge Orrick who entered a TRO on January 6, 2023. In July, Caltrans alerted the residents they would have five days to pack their belongings and leave. A burned-out van amid charred rubble of where Ramon Choyce once lived at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland. The Oakland City Council unanimously passed a new homeless encampment policy Tuesday, more than 10 hours into a meeting where dozens of members of the public spoke passionately about the proposal and protesters rallied outside two councilmembers' homes. Its uncertain if Caltrans has the authority to clear land it doesnt own. When you are dealing with homeless individuals or a homeless encampment, these types of crimes include: Trespassing Public intoxication Public urination You report that you've witnessed a crime to the police or sheriff. Last year, 19 murders 18% of the citys total for the year occurred in encampments, according to the report. "I realize that there are alternatives that public policy could be generating that would work better for homelessness than what has happened in the past. 550 North Flower Street. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. She joined The Chronicle in 2016 after graduating from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Photos: State clears Wood Street homeless camp,, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Bay Area weather: After thunderstorms and hail, snow could be on the way this weekend, Photos: State clears Wood Street homeless camp, Oaklands largest, Housing proposal for unhoused leaves Santa Clara residents sharply divided, Forcing Californians into mental health treatment would get easier with proposed legislation, Grappling with homelessness, California weighs extending foster care for 5 years, After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp. The encampment is one of the. Their. Over the next several weeks, the Caltrans site was cleaned and cleared and the residents moved to other locations and situations. Photos by Bront Wittpenn and Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle, decried the lack of access to clean water, just awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant. The Commission shall review relevant financial and operational reports related to the expenditure of the homeless services fund. Homeless Encampment at 9418 Edes Ave Oakland, CA, 94603, USA: Im a community member and my street is getting full of RV and abandoned cars for many months now. And Caltrans officials said the vehicles would be too difficult to move. I really love this life here.. Report the issue to our encampment management team at homelessness@oaklandca.gov. In the six weeks following the TRO, the city advanced the RV park and cabin community projects to a point where it represented to the judge that it would be able to "hold" enough spots to accommodate all the 1707 Wood Street residents who wanted to be sheltered. A separate request earlier this month to halt Oakland workers from clearing parts of the encampment on land it owns was denied. Dozens of Caltrans workers and California Highway . Caltrans spokesperson Rocquel Johnson said the agency plans to eventually completely close the parts of the encampment that are under freeway overpasses and work to relocate people to safer conditions.. Where can we fit that? After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp Theo Cedar Jones (third from right) and other residents of the Wood Street encampment proposed self-governing during a meeting with Oakland staff in July. The conditions at the encampment which has mountains of trash and burned-out vehicles were called cruel and inhumane in a U.N. report from 2018. July 11, 2022 Updated 3:24 PM PT. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. She started her journalism career reporting on crime and breaking news for The News-Press in Southwest Florida. Marisa Kendall is a housing reporter for the Bay Area News Group who covers homelessness for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. The audit also analyzed the citys ability to respond when its unhoused communities need help. Californias stormy weather is having an unusual effect on S.F. As he drove past the intersection of 21st and E streets in Northwest Washington, a 68-year-old man peered through the window, struck by an encampment of homeless people here that grew from 10 . The EMT is facilitated by the City Administrator's Office via the Homelessness Administrator and receives input and advice from the Commission on Homelessness. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). Caltrans couldnt immediately be reached for further comment. In May, city officials told The Chronicle that they dont have enough shelter beds to offer to everyone at Wood Street. The encampment is on property owned by the city, railroads and various government agencies, including Caltrans, which owns the property directly under the freeway. That would allow the city and county to figure out their outreach programs so that there could be actual adequate outreach, she said, instead of a rushed approach that will lead to immense danger and harm to the residents.. City leaders say the encampment which spans property owned by the city, railroads and various government agencies is a crisis, but officials havent cleared it, arguing they dont have enough shelter beds for everyone. street outreach, homeless shelters, transitional housing, housing exits, and permanent supportive housing as needed. The Oakland Fire . A day later, tensions escalated when witnesses said Oakland police tased an encampment resident. LAPD union supports unarmed responders to certain 911 calls including homeless encampment clean-ups 0. What could reparations mean for Black residents of Alameda County? Officials have argued that they dont have enough shelter beds to accommodate the number of people living at the encampment, which spans 25 city blocks. people had to eat at charity style centers, and a sunday 'picnic in the park' feed. In an attempt to fend off the impending closure of the Commons, residents sued the city in early January. OAKLAND, Calif. ( KRON) Caltrans announced in a press release Friday that it will shut down the homeless encampment on Wood Street. Staff closed and cleaned about 500 encampments during the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years including camps that were closed once, repopulated, and then were closed again. Sign up for our daily newsletter. On Monday morning, workers removed vehicles, furniture and other items from the encampment on Caltrans property underneath the MacArthur Maze. If you or someone you know is hungry, homeless, or housing insecure - Call 2-1-1. They have lacked funding, housing options and staff, he said. Sarah Ravani covers Oakland and the East Bay at The San Francisco Chronicle. To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. the city has scheduled sweeps of the site, cleared the parts of the encampment on its property. The fire at the Wood Street encampment is sending a plume of smoke over the San Francisco Bay and downtown Oakland. (Beth LaBerge/KQED) Caltrans can begin evicting the estimated 200 people who live under an 880 overpass in West Oakland after Labor Day, a federal district judge ruled Friday. If its model is a success, Oakland could win more state funds to help more Wood Street residents. Resident Ron McGowan, who lives at the site in question, said there are about 80 people there. That speaks to the demand and the concentration of homelessness, she added. The man, who was not identified, was taken into custody. The city doesnt have the resources to close something as large as Wood Street, said LaTonda Simmons, the citys former interim homelessness administrator. We cant go far, Clutch said. NO Share; Related Articles Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Local News | But that's only a fraction of the more than 5,000 encampments on . Partner with us by contributing resources or time to respond to the homelessness crisis. The city of Oakland pursued closures of 98 encampments during the two years we examined. Caltrans plans to clear 200 homeless people from the sprawling site by the first week of August, officials said. Driven by a housing crisis and continuing economic inequality that hits Oakland's most vulnerable. The audit also found the city needs to collect better data on encampments, increase outreach to unhoused people, provide better notice to camp residents before a camp will be closed, improve its efforts to collect and preserve residents belongings when a camp is closed, and create a comprehensive policy on transporting displaced camp residents. Yes, that's a toucan flying around Walnut Creek. Housing proposal for unhoused leaves Santa Clara residents sharply divided Caltrans removed five people living on its property between 16th and 20th streets after the deadly fire in April and is now installing concrete barriers and fencing to prevent people from returning to the area. Lara Tannenbaum, the citys human services manager, who was at the meeting, told The Chronicle last month that officials will meet with residents and any intervention would be done in partnership with them. Earlier this month, Gov. He currently plays for his neighbors outside his shelter, where a piano, guitar and drums are set up. The Encampment Management Policy seeks to address the adverse health and safety impacts of unsheltered homelessness, with compassion and care to not criminalize poverty. The Commission shall publish an annual report regarding how and to what extent the City Council and Mayor have implemented this Chapter. He says Caltrans has forced him to move several times. (Beth LaBerge/KQED) Caltrans workers clear a barricade made by Wood Street residents meant to keep Caltrans out of the encampment in Oakland on Sept. 8, 2022. The City has implemented a number of interventions at every step in the cycle. And where do we go? Velena Jones reports. While the city did open a RV safe parking site for 40 vehicles at Wood Street last summer, its struggled to house more residents. The encampment spans nearly 25 city blocks with about 300 people living under freeways in tents, RVs and makeshift shelters amid burned-out vehicles, mounds of trash and dirt. The homelessness crisis also has taken a toll on Oaklands public parks, according to the audit. A spokesperson for the Oakland Police Department said the department is investigating a use-of-force incident on Thursday just after 2:45 p.m. in the area of West Grand Avenue and Wood Street. Mayor Libby Schaaf, city administrator Ed Reiskin, police Chief LeRonne Armstrong and Daniel Cooper, the citys newly appointed homelessness administrator, were at Wood Street on Wednesday. Pushing people with no real and adequate shelter to accommodate them is inhumane and does not solve the larger problem.. Jones and several other residents want the city and state to give them the land to build their own community, equipped with a kitchen and common area to play music. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. People living in vehicles represent 35% of Oakland's overall homeless population. It ended badly, Hit bean company Rancho Gordo embroiled in discrimination lawsuit. Clutch, a 40-year-old resident, holds his neighbors dog, Panda, near his van at Oaklands Wood Street homeless encampment. That's higher than what a typical . I stretched the point up until now in order to try to get to some sort of a place that recognizes the humanity of the people who've been talking to me.. Residents sued in July, saying it was more dangerous to force people to move on such short notice with no alternatives for shelter or housing. At the time, city officials said they didnt yet have a timeline on when the new cabin community at Wood Street would break ground. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. Local News | A. He concluded his decision with "I recognize that no party is happy with this order. Neighbors tell Da Lin the looming closure is long overdue. February 22, 2023. Housing proposal for unhoused leaves Santa Clara residents sharply divided The judge noted that while the U.S. constitution does not require the government to protect people from harm caused by third persons, there is an exception when the state "affirmatively places [a plaintiff] in danger by acting with deliberate indifference to a known or obvious danger.". But Orrick said requiring Caltrans to provide those resources was beyond the scope of the law. He found that the plaintiffs raised at least a significant question about whether the doctrine applied to them and concluded that under all the circumstances, including the weather and the ongoing "tripledemic," it was appropriate to issue the TRO, though he telegraphed that the pause on eviction would not be unlimited. The land was mostly owned by Caltrans, and after a history of fires on the site and concerns about the proximity of a nearby oxygen production plant, on July 15, 2022 the agency gave residents 5-days' notice to clear the site. She started her journalism career reporting on crime and breaking news for The News-Press in Southwest Florida. In the meantime, residents say they live in constant fear that they will be forced to leave with little notice. Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. LA CITY COUNCIL GREENLIGHTS BAN ON HOMELESS ENCAMPMENTS 500 FEET FROM SCHOOLS, DAYCARE CENTERS Though Newsom's handling of the Oakland matter was worded authoritatively, the governor has also. Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his Gov. At issue is a large encampment on a city-owned piece of vacant land off Wood Street in West Oakland. Newsom paid a surprise visit to the encampment in April to show the inhumane living conditions too many Californians face.. Marisa Kendall is a housing reporter for the Bay Area News Group who covers homelessness for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. He said, "This TRO is not a long-term prohibition on Oakland's actions but rather a stopgap to prevent violation of constitutional rights that are likely to result from the combination of the state-of-emergency weather situation and the failure to provide alternative shelter.". 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A federal judge on Friday refused to let Caltrans "wash their hands" of people living in a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland by clearing them from it. If you would like to report new concern, please use the TacomaFIRST 311 online system or call 3-1-1 within city limits or (253) 591-5000 outside the city. (213) 229-1700. Multiple fires have erupted at the city's largest homeless encampment, which. Now, both new shelter sites appear to be up and running, and the judge has once again changed course. The encampment is. The encampment is one of the largest in the city and has been plagued with problems such as illegal dumping and fires for years. The Rise of Homeless Encampments in Oakland As reported to Public Works The Rise of Homeless Encampments in Oakland As reported to Public Works The Anti-Eviction Mapping Project is a data visualization, counter-cartography, and digitial storytelling collective documenting dispossession and resistance upon gentrifying landscapes. Theyre too densely packed together.. City officials have been . In an earlier statement, Caltrans said it planned to clear the camp to address the increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment. The agency said it was coordinating with the city and the county to offer residents shelter. What could reparations mean for Black residents of Alameda County? Grappling with homelessness, California weighs extending foster care for 5 years City workers do a sweep at the homeless encampment under Interstate 580 in West Oakland as the city promise to deliver porter potties, fences, regular trash pickup, and counseling . And Orrick agreed. Caltrans reports it's on pace to close 1,200 encampments in this fiscal year up nearly 500% from the 269 cleared last year. The transportation agency said in a release they will begin shutting down the entire encampment in phases beginning July 20 and will work with city officials and the county to place people in alternate shelter. A surprise sweep of a newly formed homeless encampment on state property has forced some unhoused West Oakland residents to move - yet again. Husbands-Hankin said she saw an officer tase the man and tackle him to the ground. Many people at Wood Street live in RVs, cars and other vehicles. The Team provides sanitation services and regular trash pick up.