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 spaces and 353 city-funded transitional-shelter beds. 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. Designate high-sensitivity areas, where unmanaged encampments are presumed to cause unreasonably high levels of health and safety impacts due to the nature of the location; Designate low-sensitivity areas, where enforcement will not be prioritized. Officials said they do not know when construction on a community cabin site would begin. She started her journalism career reporting on crime and breaking news for The News-Press in Southwest Florida. Stuffed animals are seen on a couch at the Wood Street encampment on Friday, April 29, 2022 in Oakland, California. 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. The Encampment Management Team (EMT) is an interdepartmental working group consisting of representatives from Oaklands Public Works Department (OPW), Human Services Department (HSD), Oakland Police Department (OPD), Oakland Fire Department (OFD), the City Administrators Office (CAO), and other consulted departments as necessary (e.g., the Mayors Office, the City Attorneys Office, Parks and Recreation). Recommendations from the Commission on how to prioritize the allocation of funds in accordance with the requirements of this Chapter, including for: services and programs for homeless people, reduction of homelessness, and supporting the provision of affordable housing to households qualifying as at least low-income households (those at 55% AMI or below). The city doesnt have the resources to close something as large as Wood Street, said LaTonda Simmons, the citys former interim homelessness administrator. 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. 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. Police said a person allegedly assaulted a public works employee and when officers tried to detain him, he refused and they used force. The man, who was not identified, was taken into custody. Members of the cleanup crew rolled tires and lifted couches overhead as larger equipment moved car after car, some just burned-out shells, off the state-owned lot. Related Articles Local News | Under these circumstances, the judge found that the standards for the TRO were no longer met. We cant go far, Clutch said. Gavin Newsoms office publicly excoriated Oakland officials for failing to cooperate and threatened to withhold state funds. Gov. Our housed and unhoused residents are counting on us to make this right, Ruby wrote. Police tagged vehicles with illegal parking notices as residents scrambled to move motorcycles, cars and RVs. She has provided coverage on wildfires, mass shootings, the fatal shooting of police officers and massive floods in the North Bay. Sarah Ravani covers Oakland and the East Bay at The San Francisco Chronicle. Stanford University sues Santa Clara County to give tax relief to faculty homeowners, The 10 most expensive reported home sales in Palo Alto the week of Feb. 20, Filipino bakerys addictive sweet bread now available in Brentwood, Super sandwiches: 16 of the Bay Areas best sandos to try right now, Brawl forces end of NorCal high school basketball playoff game, Riordan-Inderkum playoff brawl: CIF hands down punishment after player taken to hospital, Popular East Bay taco truck at risk of being uprooted from spot it has occupied for 16 years, Please stop calling 911 about planets in the sky, sheriffs office in Modesto requests, After 40 years, Caspers Hot Dogs is closing in Walnut Creek, Tahoe really does not want you to drive up this weekend, Info stolen in Oakland ransomware attack set to be released, Disneyland quietly removes controversial lyric from new parade soundtrack, As Adderall shortage continues, DEA plans to limit some telemedicine prescriptions, House where JonBenet Ramsey was found dead listed for sale for almost $7M, Columbia University permanently drops SAT, ACT admissions requirement, The Waterbed Doctor: California retailer lays claim to retro bed with nearly 40 years of service, sales, Felonious Florida podcast: Missing teenage girl leads to several cases of child sex trafficking, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. 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. This chart is updated at the end of each month. Several non-emergency systems including phone lines within the City of Oakland are currently impacted or offline. He said his latest order could be rescinded if the city fails to provide enough shelter beds or fails to make outreach workers available to help displaced residents find alterative shelter. 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. Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Oaklands $12.6 million effort to deal with its recent explosion of homeless encampments was haphazard, lacking strategy, policy direction and adequate funding, according to a scathing new city audit. The Oakland City Council has . We're not homeless. Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? The residents would have a social contract, love thy neighbor and do no harm, Jones said. 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. She said some weeks she only had 25 open shelter beds out of nearly 600 in the system. 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. Oakland Workers continued Monday to clear the massive homeless encampment along Wood Street in West Oakland. Los Angeles, California 90012. It dissolves a restraining order that previously halted Caltrans plans to clear the camp and allows the city to begin a phased closure of the encampment. 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. But the injunction was dissolved in phases, beginning in August of 2022, giving residents more time to find other alternatives. 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. 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. #2. portland oregon created those "affordable housing" by tearing down most of the old hotels or remodeling them. 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. Housing | Previously, she covered breaking news and crime for The Chronicle. To learn more about how we use your information, please read our privacy policy. that was may . The fire at the Wood Street encampment is sending a plume of smoke over the San Francisco Bay and downtown Oakland. Grappling with homelessness, California weighs extending foster care for 5 years We do need permanent supportive housing and where is it? That site reportedly contained a communal area used to organize donations and cook group meals several nights a week as well as "pop-up clinics, regular open mics, and other community town hall events.". Oakland, together we can meet this crisis, expand our progress, and reduce homelessness in our community. street outreach, homeless shelters, The complaint stated, "The residents of 1707 Wood Street have nowhere to go. Velena Jones reports. Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his Gov. Local News | Updated on: July 20, 2022 / 8:30 AM / CBS San Francisco. For now, it appears that camp residents will have at least another long weekend at the park before the standoff continues. Caltrans said it would shut down the entire encampment, clearing out about 200 people who live there. Gavin Newsoms administration awarded Oakland a $4.7. You will be asked to sign off on an arrest warrant. Antioch council to discuss new liquor stores ban, homeless housing. Caltrans crews remove a vehicle from the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland on July 19, 2022. hese are vehicles of human beings," he said at the hearing, "and they are not to be lost. Clutch, a 40-year-old resident, holds his neighbors dog, Panda, near his van at Oaklands Wood Street homeless encampment. Housing | 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 . A burned-out van amid charred rubble of where Ramon Choyce once lived at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland. Sign up for our daily newsletter. Reporting an Issue If you or someone you know is hungry, homeless, or housing insecure - Call 2-1-1. Bay Bridge light display will go dark after a decade Sunday. 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. After nearly two-month delay, judge allows, 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), Bay Area weather: After thunderstorms and hail, snow could be on the way this weekend, After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp, 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. March 23, 2021 6:54 PM PT. On Monday morning, workers removed vehicles, furniture and other items from the encampment on Caltrans property underneath the MacArthur Maze. Jones and several residents presented their idea of a self-governed site to city staff and Fife at a meeting last summer. February 22, 2023. Thank you for your patience while we work to restore services. On Monday, six weeks later, he proved his suspicions correct and dissolved the TRO, authorizing the city to clear the site and begin to ready the property for an affordable housing development. News Feb 07, 2023 the city has scheduled sweeps of the site, cleared the parts of the encampment on its property. Wood Street residents deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, Husbands-Hankin said. But the lots homeless residents, who have developed a tight-knit community they call the Commons, argue theyll suffer when that community is broken up and theyre forced to scatter to other locations including to shelter programs that might not meet their physical and mental health needs. 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. At issue is a large encampment on a city-owned piece of vacant land off Wood Street in West Oakland. Over the years, advocates have thwarted city attempts to close the encampment, demanding that the city offer residents adequate shelter or to leave them be. View the list of locations and servicing schedule below. Get Morning Report and other email newsletters. Raised eyebrows. A show made by people behind bars in California prisons. The encampment is on property owned by the city, railroads and various government agencies, including Caltrans, which owns the property directly under the freeway. Cold Bay Area rains fail to shut down vibrant Holi celebration in Fremont.