Hall of Justice. People living in vehicles represent 35% of Oakland's overall homeless population. Housing | The city of Oakland agreed to assist residents on identifying their options. But if it fails to get people into real shelter and housing, it could be a cautionary tale for officials throughout California struggling with mushrooming encampments. Additionally, the Commission shall be requested to publish reports regarding the following: Canceled - Commission on Homelessness Meeting, Commission on Homelessness - Bylaws and Rules of Procedure. But IT network challenges ended up delaying the opening of the tiny homes (the city proclaimed a state of emergency earlier this month after a ransomware attack brought down many online systems), prompting the judge to once again bar Oakland from clearing the camp. The city estimates there are at least 140 encampments scattered throughout Oakland. Homeless advocates said residents were offered alternative shelter spaces. Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? Now, both new shelter sites appear to be up and running, and the judge has once again changed course. 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. Multiple fires have erupted at the city's largest homeless encampment, which. They're looking to make us homeless. Many people at Wood Street live in RVs, cars and other vehicles. As of last week, the city has offered shelter beds to about 70 people at the Wood Street encampment, according to the court filing. 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. In an attempt to fend off the impending closure of the Commons, residents sued the city in early January. In the meantime, residents say they live in constant fear that they will be forced to leave with little notice. He issued a temporary injunction on July 19, 2022. The city of Oakland pursued closures of 98 encampments during the two years we examined. 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. Earlier this week, a coalition of residents wrote a public letter to state, city and county officials urging them to work with them. Yes, that's a toucan flying around Walnut Creek. . (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: Community members watch as workers clear a section of the Wood Street homeless encampment near an area known as the Cob on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Caltrans is overseeing the cleanup of its property along Wood Street. 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.". Bay, Heres where California reservoir levels stand after recent rainfall, Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). The audit found the new policy lays the groundwork for needed change, but implementation has been slow, as the city is inundated with complaints about encampments. 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"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. (KRON4 News) OAKLAND ( KRON) - A two-alarm fire in an Oakland homeless . Credit: Darwin BondGraham. that was may . The encampment is. In his written decision dissolving the injunction, Orrick recognized that even with the additional time and the help of the city, there were going to be people who would experience serious hardship. Updated on: July 20, 2022 / 8:30 AM / CBS San Francisco. Now is the big showdown, said Theo Cedar Jones, a resident at Wood Street for nearly two years. OAKLAND - Fire swept through a homeless encampment near the MacArthur Maze highway interchange in West Oakland on Monday morning. Sarah Ravani covers Oakland and the East Bay at The San Francisco Chronicle. The encampment is one of the largest in the city and has been plagued with problems such as illegal dumping and fires for years. As in the earlier case, the plaintiffs argued, among other things, that the eviction would amount to an unconstitutional state-created danger. July 11, 2022 / 6:27 PM / CBS San Francisco. But the city didnt give the team the resources it needed including a budget, according to the audit. Antioch council to discuss new liquor stores ban, homeless housing. To reduce homelessness, we must slow its growth and keep more people in their homes. 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. Some people keep watch out for fires or other dangers. It is . At the time, city officials said they didnt yet have a timeline on when the new cabin community at Wood Street would break ground. According to a report by the city administrative officer, the new East Hollywood campground costs approximately $2,663 per participant per month. Los Angeles, California 90012. What could reparations mean for Black residents of Alameda County? OAKLAND, Calif. ( KRON) Caltrans announced in a press release Friday that it will shut down the homeless encampment on Wood Street. Residents say the camp is a place where they can live how they want after losing stable homes because of evictions or job losses. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. 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. Local News | Brigitte Nicoletti, an attorney assisting residents in their pro se lawsuit, reiterated that request at the hearing on Friday. Over the next several weeks, the Caltrans site was cleaned and cleared and the residents moved to other locations and situations. NO Share; When the City decides to close an encampment, the Team makes every effort to relocate encampment dwellers to emergency shelters or community cabins. For now, it appears that camp residents will have at least another long weekend at the park before the standoff continues. . Oaklands biggest homeless encampment could massively shrink with planned sweep of 200 people, Track water shortages and restrictions across Bay Area. 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. Related Articles Their model is wrong, he said. LAPD union supports unarmed responders to certain 911 calls including homeless encampment clean-ups 0. $400 rent for the low income housing they made. Oakland shut down a portion of its largest homeless encampment, starting the daunting work of clearing a massive, sprawling camp that has been plagued by fires as the city prepares to. 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. Housing proposal for unhoused leaves Santa Clara residents sharply divided After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp According to "point-in-time" counts cited in their pleadings, there were 5,055 individuals in Oakland experiencing homelessness, of which 3,347 were unsheltered. The order is the latest in a long-running dispute over a homeless camp that once covered 40 acres under the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland, where between 200 and 300 people lived in vehicles, RVs, tents and other makeshift structures. The Administration is grateful that the City Council unanimously approved a comprehensive, citywide Encampment Management Policy last October, and are now beginning to identify the necessary resources to support this important work with an understanding that even more is necessary, Reiskin wrote in an emailed statement. Previously, she covered breaking news and crime for The Chronicle. But the money is insufficient to help all the camps residents. The city of Oakland agreed to assist residents on identifying their options. 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. That order was dissolved about a month later, when the city said it was set to open a new tiny home site near the encampment, and a safe parking site in East Oakland for people living in RVs. 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. A large fire broke out at the encampment on Monday,. In July, Caltrans alerted the residents they would have five days to pack their belongings and leave. By City News Service on . Oakland which has more than 5,000 homeless people currently has 598 year-round, city-funded shelter beds, 313 community cabin and temporary structure shelter spaces, 147 RV safe parking. Aric Crabb has been a staff photographer at the Bay Area News Group since 1998. Cars, RVs and debris burned Monday, sending a giant cloud of smoke into the sky, and freezing highway traffic in the vicinity. People are seen in a homeless encampment on Thursday, March 19, 2020, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot) SAN FRANCISCO (CN) A temporary restraining order put in place last month to protect the unhoused residents of an encampment the city of Oakland had hoped to clear to make way for new affordable housing has been dissolved. 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. Caltrans says it's closing Oakland's Wood Street homeless encampment because of safety concerns. A day later, tensions escalated when witnesses said Oakland police tased an encampment resident. View the list of locations and servicing schedule below. A large column of black smoke rises Tuesday, April 5, 2022, from a fire at a homeless encampment next to West Grand Avenue and Wood Street in Oakland's Prescott neighborhood. That case was assigned to Judge Orrick, who expressed concern about the short notice and lack of shelter options. View the map in a new window. City leaders have been struggling with how to deal with the massive encampment, which has exploded in size over the past seven years. She said shed never seen such a big escalation, referring to the tasing. The Commission shall review relevant financial and operational reports related to the expenditure of the homeless services fund. 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.. We do need permanent supportive housing and where is it? Specifically, the audit found the City lacked an effective strategy for dealing with the growth in encampments and did not provide sufficient policy direction or adequate funding at the onset of this crisis, the letter continued. In a lawsuit filed this week, grassroots group Neighbors. The complaint stated, "The residents of 1707 Wood Street have nowhere to go. The Oakland City Council voted Monday to open a co-governed homeless encampment to provide shelter for 40 people in West Oakland making it potentially the second site that residents and. Housing | 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. The only way to get through involves stepping over bulky items, bbq grills, bikes, tents, and garbage. Earlier this month, another federal judge allowed that work to continue. Cold Bay Area rains fail to shut down vibrant Holi celebration in Fremont. Narcan spray and other sanitary products can be seen on a book shelf. They declined to speak to reporters. Plaintiffs' lawyers did not respond to an inquiry as to whether they would seek to appeal or otherwise challenge the determination. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: An officer with the California Highway Patrol marks a vehicle during a partial clearing of the Wood Street homeless encampment on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Caltrans is overseeing the cleanup of its property along Wood Street. Wood Street encampment resident Theo Cedar Jones plays guitar. We appreciate your patience; the homelessness@oaklandca.gov service has been restored. In October of 2020, the Oakland City Council adopted an Encampment Management Policy to focus encampment actions on mitigating negative outcomes as they pertain to public safety, public health, and equity outcomes. They alleged that there were then 42 residents living at the site and only 27 shelter beds in the entire city. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). But those are things that are beyond what can be ordered in this case.". The Citys suggestion that it has no responsibility for homeless individuals on state property unless there is a specific earmark is simply unacceptable, Patterson wrote. Determine findings that will prompt EMT intervention; Provide guidance on addressing unreasonable health and safety risks, promoting voluntary compliance, and strategies to address non-compliance. Homelessness has doubled in the last 10 years. The City has implemented a number of interventions at every step in the cycle. That's higher than what a typical . Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani. The commission also must follow an extensive legal process before being permitted to levy the $6,000 daily fine on Oakland, noted journalist Jaime Omar Yassin . A large fire that swept through a homeless encampment underneath the 880 Freeway in West Oakland on Monday destroyed several vehicles and RVs before it was put . Under state law, working with homeless individuals to identify housing or shelter alternatives is a local, not a state, responsibility.. But a solution might be on the horizon. Hayward couple file lawsuit over harrowing honeymoon ocean ordeal in Hawaii. Its unclear if the transportation agency meant the entire Wood Street encampment or only the part located on land it owns. Oakland Workers continued Monday to clear the massive homeless encampment along Wood Street in West Oakland. When could it return? Husbands-Hankin said she saw an officer tase the man and tackle him to the ground. Ramona Choyce recounts the moment when an April fire killed one person at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland. The plaintiffs have raised serious questions that the state will violate their constitutional rights, Orrick wrote in his July order, by placing them in increased danger when it removes them at short notice from the encampment without adequate plans to provide shelter.. Caltrans plans to clear 200 homeless people from the sprawling site by the first week of August, officials said. The City Council has to approve the plans and construction is likely to take longer than other sites because a set of railroad tracks cuts through the property. 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Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? The encampment is one of the. On Tuesday, homeless people in Echo Park were faced with a decision as an imminent city closure drew near. Weve created a system of effective strategies that address homelessness at every step in the cycle. The order is the latest in a long-running dispute over a homeless camp, who expressed concern about the short notice and lack of shelter options, Activist Judy Heumann led a reimagining of what it means to be disabled, How this year's Selma Bridge Crossing could mark a community renaissance, Storms across the U.S. cause deaths and power outages, Russia's foreign minister gets laughed at over Ukraine remarks at a global conference. Caltrans has completed much smaller sweeps in the past. 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. Tucked away from the street, the encampment, commonly known as Wood Street, stretches along property owned by Caltrans, the city of Oakland, BNSF Railway and private owners. City and state leaders say a deadly fire that occurred in April at the site, killing one and displacing five, makes action there all the more urgent. He allowed Caltrans to continue removing debris from the area, as long as it didnt involve residents belongings. She joined The Chronicle in 2016 after graduating from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. 6 of 23 7 of 23. Raised eyebrows. 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 . A hand-painted sign can be seen at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, May 3, 2022. They have lacked funding, housing options and staff, he said. OAKLAND - Caltrans announced Friday that they are shutting down a homeless encampment near the MacArthur Maze in West Oakland due to ongoing safety concerns and a large fire that tore. The streets of Oakland are already full of unhoused persons, many of whom were previously evicted from their encampments.". 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. She started her journalism career reporting on crime and breaking news for The News-Press in Southwest Florida. The city doesnt have the resources to close something as large as Wood Street, said LaTonda Simmons, the citys former interim homelessness administrator. #2. portland oregon created those "affordable housing" by tearing down most of the old hotels or remodeling them. While the city did open a RV safe parking site for 40 vehicles at Wood Street last summer, its struggled to house more residents. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: A member of the Oakland Police Department posts warning notices for illegally parked vehicles at the Wood Street homeless encampment on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Caltrans is overseeing the cleanup of its property along Wood Street. Dozens of Caltrans workers and California Highway . Oakland residents told a polling firm in 2023 that homelessness, such as at the Wood Street encampment, is their top concern for the city to address in its coming budget. All Access Digital offer for just 99 cents! Photograph: Talia Herman/The Guardian The City's Public Works crews visit dozens of known encampments throughout the city on a weekly basis to conduct trash removal and garbage cart, porta potty and hand wash station servicing. Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? In these situations, the Encampment Response Map will include information about the code violation case instead of details about an encampment cleanup effort. February 22, 2023. Because of the connection to the earlier litigation, the case was assigned to Judge Orrick who entered a TRO on January 6, 2023. If you or someone you know is hungry, homeless, or housing insecure - Call 2-1-1. The man was bleeding and was very confused asking police what he had done wrong. Multiple fires have erupted at the citys largest homeless encampment, which extends for several city blocks and has been home to hundreds of people. Caltrans has cleared the parts of the encampment on its property three times in the past year and says it will continue to do so if safety concerns, such as fires, continue. The city spent $12.6 million over the past two fiscal years, mostly unbudgeted, to manage the camps that have spread across city streets, sidewalks, parks and open spaces, according to a report released Wednesday by the city auditor. 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. The audit also analyzed the citys ability to respond when its unhoused communities need help. We are hard at work implementing that policy amidst a historic budget shortfall, staffing shortages, and an ongoing pandemic that has limited the shelter options available to the residents of our encampments, the statement continued. They asked for resources to make the encampment safer, including access to dumpsters for trash removal, fire extinguishers, sand buckets, water hoses and assistance creating markers throughout the encampment so that emergency service providers could more easily navigate the area. 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. Newsom paid a surprise visit to the encampment in April to show the inhumane living conditions too many Californians face.. The encampment is now so huge that some residents drive buses and motorcycles to get from one end to the other. Homeless Action Center Oakland, CA3 weeks agoBe among the first 25 applicantsSee who Homeless Action Center has hired for this roleNo longer accepting applications. Oakland was overwhelmed by the crisis, leaving staff working to solve the problem without proper training or resources, according to the report. Plaintiffs' lawyers did not respond to an inquiry as to whether they would seek to appeal or otherwise challenge the determination. Oakland is experiencing a network outage that is affecting key services such as Oak311, permitting and business tax. They come in out of nowhere, said Ben Murawski, another Wood Street resident, lamenting how agency employees destroy our homes.. 1,000 people on a section of the former Oakland Army Base. 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. There were more than 40 people living there on Dec. 22, when Oakland gave notice that it intended to evict all persons on Jan. 9 to clear the site for the development of low-income housing. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. (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. What could reparations mean for Black residents of Alameda County? 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. Check out the latest season about Muslim converts and past seasons of stories of struggle and never giving up hope. 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. Those are things that are beyond what can be ordered in this case, he said. Thursday evening, representatives from the city of Oakland submitted a plan for a phased closure of the site, beginning at its northernmost edge, where a fire on July 11 sent plumes of black smoke onto the 880 overpass. Gavin Newsoms administration just awarded Oakland a $4.7 million grant to come up with a model at Wood Street one that can be replicated in other cities. Gov. Our housed and unhoused residents are counting on us to make this right, Ruby wrote. Ramona Choyce recounts the moment when an April fire killed one person at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, May 3, 2022. OAKLAND -- About 80 unhoused residents and their property were being cleared from Caltrans property along Wood Street in Oakland on Thursday following a federal judge's ruling that the state. She previously covered startups and venture capital for the Bay Area News Group and prior to that court cases for The Recorder in San Francisco. Ruined vegetation, broken irrigation lines and damaged fencing at Lake Merritt, as well as degraded water quality in the tidal marsh, will cost the city an estimated $550,000, according to the report. The Encampment Management Team tracks all known encampments and prioritizes interventions based on health, safety, and size issues. OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 5: Maria Fuentes, who is a coordinator at the Community of Grace homeless encampment, shows their community garden across from the Home Depot on the 4000 block of .