How long has the homeless encampment been there? After Caltrans clears part of the encampment, residents move to another part sometimes city property. Wood Street encampment resident Theo Cedar Jones plays guitar. 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. Over the next several weeks, the Caltrans site was cleaned and cleared and the residents moved to other locations and situations. Meanwhile, Council Member Carroll Fife, who represents the district that includes the Wood Street encampment, has directed the city administration to study creating an emergency shelter for 1,000 people on a section of the former Oakland Army Base. 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. Housing | 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. Among its recommendations, the audit found the city should ensure staff members are trained in crisis management and interacting with traumatized encampment residents. Oakland police took an average of four to six hours to respond to emergency calls in encampments during the last two fiscal years, according to the audit. 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. Plaintiffs' lawyers did not respond to an inquiry as to whether they would seek to appeal or otherwise challenge the determination. After nearly two-month delay, judge allows Oakland to remove large homeless camp Warriors treating Andrew Wiggins with understandable patience, but his Gov. The Wood Street homeless encampment once housed 200 people and covered 40 acres. 211 West Temple Street. She graduated from American University with a BA degree in literature with a minor in journalism. 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 . Clutch, a 40-year-old Wood Street encampment resident who said he has no last name, was one of the five people moved last month. Wood Street encampment resident Theo Cedar Jones points to a map of the area hes living near at the Wood Street encampment on April 29, 2022 in Oakland, California.on Friday. She said some weeks she only had 25 open shelter beds out of nearly 600 in the system. The city needs to fund a formal encampment management program to implement the policy passed in October, and to address the findings of the audit, the auditors office wrote. Multiple. Partner with us by contributing resources or time to respond to the homelessness crisis. Housing | The department is taking this action to address the increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment, including from the fire this week that prompted the closure of the MacArthur Maze, Caltrans said in a statement. The city doesnt have the resources to close something as large as Wood Street, said LaTonda Simmons, the citys former interim homelessness administrator. Related Articles The new report, completed by City Auditor Courtney Ruby, found that the EMT was "overwhelmed by the undertaking of closing and cleaning encampments throughout Oakland." Ruby found that Oakland spent $12.6 million on tasks related to encampments over the past two years, and roughly $1,500 an hour on camp closures and cleanings. Caltrans plans to clear 200 homeless people from the sprawling site by the first week of August, officials said. Housing | Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? Related Articles The city of Oakland agreed to assist residents on identifying their options. 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. 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. that was may . Narcan spray and other sanitary products can be seen on a book shelf at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland, Calif. on Monday, May 2, 2022. She started her journalism career reporting on crime and breaking news for The News-Press in Southwest Florida. Local News | A hand-painted sign can be seen at a homeless encampment on Wood Street in Oakland. He dissolved the TRO immediately, conditioned on the city's representations that there would be sufficient shelter options for the displaced residents. The spokesperson said officers were at the scene to assist the citys public works department with an intervention and closure of a small part of the encampment. Stuffed animals are seen on a couch at the Wood Street encampment on Friday, April 29, 2022 in Oakland, California. 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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. 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. The money would fund a new community cabin site or tiny home village at Wood Street for about 50 people. (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. Our Response Homelessness has doubled in the last 10 years. The Encampment Management Team is responsible for implementing the Encampment Management Policy and directing coordination across city departments. Photograph: Talia Herman/The Guardian She has provided coverage on wildfires, mass shootings, the fatal shooting of police officers and massive floods in the North Bay. (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. The encampment is one of the. He says Caltrans has forced him to move several times. 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. Its uncertain if Caltrans has the authority to clear land it doesnt own. In July the city began clearing an area between West Grand and 26th Street in Oakland in preparation for a shelter at the site, which would house approximately 50 people. Its unclear if the transportation agency meant the entire Wood Street encampment or only the part located on land it owns. Ruined vegetation, broken irrigation lines and damaged fencing at Lake Merritt, as well as. Fife said the site which could offer pallet shelters, a community kitchen, bathrooms and wraparound services could house many of Wood Streets residents. He and the others had lived in four old buses one of which was destroyed during the move and a van. What Happens Next Officers from your local police precinct will respond within 4 hours. Despite the problems, Wood Street residents say they look out for each other and have formed a self-sufficient community, building homes using wood panels and doors among the abandoned railroad tracks. OAKLAND, Calif. ( KRON) Caltrans announced in a press release Friday that it will shut down the homeless encampment on Wood Street. The only way to get through involves stepping over bulky items, bbq grills, bikes, tents, and garbage. But the city didnt give the team the resources it needed including a budget, according to the audit. . She graduated from American University with a BA degree in literature with a minor in journalism. The Oakland police department, the Oakland city councilmember responsible for the area, and the mayor's office official running specific policy towards homeless encampments did not respond to a . 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. 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. Thank you for your patience while we work to restore services. Republication, rebroadcast or redistribution without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited. The city also spent money on contracts, legal costs, towing abandoned cars and police and fire responses to encampment emergencies. This is our home.. Homelessness has doubled in the last 10 years. That case was assigned to Judge Orrick, who expressed concern about the short notice and lack of shelter options. 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. 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. The audit found the City was not adequately prepared to shoulder such a massive project and the (encampment management team) was overwhelmed by the undertaking of closing and cleaning encampments throughout Oakland, City Auditor Courtney Ruby wrote in an open letter to Mayor Libby Schaaf, the City Council and other city officials. Thank you for your patience while we work to restore services. He currently plays for his neighbors outside his shelter, where a piano, guitar and drums are set up. To report an issue related to an encampment, please email Homelessness@oaklandca.gov. An attorney for the city said it doesn't have enough safe parking sites for everyone to bring their vehicles there. Nobody who lived in the homeless camp on Wood Street in Oakland was surprised when police cars and helmeted motorcycle officers started driving up and down the block early on a Tuesday. We are ready to scale up for reductions in homelessness, though new state and federal funds and more intergovernmental coordination are needed. 1,000 people on a section of the former Oakland Army Base. The encampment is one of the largest in the city and has been plagued with problems such as illegal dumping and fires for years. Housing | Caltrans says it's closing Oakland's Wood Street homeless encampment because of safety concerns. 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. Their. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service covering the greater Bay Area. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: An officer with the California Highway Patrol watches as a vehicle is towed from the Wood Street homeless encampment on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Caltrans is overseeing the cleanup of its property along Wood Street. Settlement reached between . Under these circumstances, the judge found that the standards for the TRO were no longer met. The city estimates there are at least 140 encampments scattered throughout Oakland. The city wants to build the state-funded community cabin site in partnership with residents and a provider who would offer wraparound services at the site. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: Workers remove a couch from the Wood Street homeless encampment on Monday, Sept. 26, 2022, in Oakland, Calif. Caltrans is overseeing the cleanup of its property along Wood Street. And, he ordered the state transportation agency to work with staff from the city of Oakland and from Alameda County to come up with a plan to relocate residents. 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. Local News | 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. The departments goal is to respond to 90% of calls within seven minutes. Now is the big showdown, said Theo Cedar Jones, a resident at Wood Street for nearly two years. And Caltrans officials said the vehicles would be too difficult to move. To report an issue related to an encampment, please email Homelessness@oaklandca.gov. In an attempt to fend off the impending closure of the Commons, residents sued the city in early January. The news of the clearing comes after a two-alarm fire broke out Monday at the site, which dozens of blazes have torn through over the past year. It is both a humanitarian duty and a civic expectation that our homeless become housed, and our City streets and parks are returned to their intended public uses.. Updated on: July 20, 2022 / 8:30 AM / CBS San Francisco. The EMT is facilitated by the City Administrator's Office via the Homelessness Administrator and receives input and advice from the Commission on Homelessness. Check out the latest season about Muslim converts and past seasons of stories of struggle and never giving up hope. Many people at Wood Street live in RVs, cars and other vehicles. But the money is insufficient to help all the camps residents. To report an encampment online, please scan the QR code below to access the Reporting Tool page: Or go to the Reporting Tool website: https://reportencampments.tucsonaz.gov/ To report an encampment by phone, please call the City of Tucson Resource Line: (520) 791-2540 Initiation of Protocol . While the city was working to open a safe parking area for RVs that would accommodate 29 vehicles and a "cabin community" with 31 beds, neither site was yet ready for occupancy. NO Share; Walters: Is ending Californias homelessness just a matter of money? And where do we go? 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. OAKLAND Nearly a month after a federal court barred Oakland from clearing one of its most prominent homeless encampments, the judge in the case has determined the city has enough shelter beds for the displaced residents and can proceed with the removal. When the City decides to close an encampment, the Team makes every effort to relocate encampment dwellers to emergency shelters or community cabins. Official Website for the City of Oakland | Mayor Sheng Thao. The encampment is now so huge that some residents drive buses and motorcycles to get from one end to the other. The decision from Judge William Orrick comes after a month-long legal battle between residents and the transit agency, the city, and the county. They alleged that there were then 42 residents living at the site and only 27 shelter beds in the entire city. Oakland has responded to the crisis level surge in homelessness with emergency measures like community cabins. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group), OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: Workers take a break 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. 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. Ideally, the auditors office wrote, those calls should have been responded to in 10 to 15 minutes. 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. Under state law, working with homeless individuals to identify housing or shelter alternatives is a local, not a state, responsibility.. Theyre too densely packed together.. A show made by people behind bars in California prisons. The City has implemented a number of interventions at every step in the cycle. Caltrans has completed much smaller sweeps in the past. While the city did open a RV safe parking site for 40 vehicles at Wood Street last summer, its struggled to house more residents.