Oakland OKd to remove last encampment residents

Oakland can remove the last remaining homeless residents from the once-sprawling Wood Street homeless encampment this week, after a federal judge ruled in the city’s favor late Friday.

Oakland had appealed to the courts for permission to evict the residents, arguing that it could lose much-needed state funding for affordable housing if it didn’t clear the site soon.

Judge William H. Orrick said Friday that while he understands that “eviction is irreparable,” he will allow the city to move forward with removing nearly 60 residents still living at the site at 8 a.m. on Feb. 10.

“Though the eviction will inevitably cause hardship for the plaintiffs, that hardship is mitigated by the available shelter beds and the improved weather conditions,” Orrick wrote in his order.

The decision comes as the city has struggled with what to do about the encampment, which was once the largest in Northern California. City and state officials have long sought to clear the site, which has been the scene of rodent infestations, unsanitary conditions, more than 100 fires, and other health and safety hazards.

At one point, the camp took up nearly 25 city blocks, with almost 300 residents living on land owned by the city, state, railroad companies and other government agencies. After months of evictions by Caltrans, the population has shrunk to about 60 people.

But the remaining unhoused residents, who have built a community of makeshift shelters and tents on city land, are reluctant to leave and say Oakland’s shelter options are inadequate. They say they don’t want to lose the close-knit community they’ve built at Wood Street and are demanding that the city create a shelter with more wraparound services, support and freedom.

Residents have presented a list of preferences for the shelter the city offers them — including a recreation room, a community kitchen, a visitor policy, job and training programs, and mental health support.

It’s unclear whether the city will meet the residents’ demands.

The city has offered some residents space in an existing RV safe parking site and at a new cabin community located nearby.

Orrick said Friday that the city had met its obligation to provide shelter and it’s up to residents whether they want to take it.

The city has said nonprofit developers behind a 170-unit affordable housing project slated for the site could miss out on state funding if residents don’t leave. On Friday, Orrick said the effort to build that development is “in the public interest.”

The developers, Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley and MidPen Housing, are in exclusive negotiations with Oakland for a project that has 85 for-sale and 85 rental units. The organizations say the project is affordable housing, but say that they can’t determine what the income requirements will be until they can access the site. The city said in January that it probably had only a 60-day window left to apply for the state funds. The city has said the project will include units for households that are low-income, extremely low-income or no income.

“I have to balance those things in thinking about a temporary restraining order,” Orrick said Friday. “At this point, the balance is tipping towards the city despite the hardship that it’s going to cause.”