Judge OKs closure of contentious homeless encampment

Jurist says people there can again be removed from site

A federal judge on Monday ruled the city can resume efforts to remove dozens of people from a large homeless camp in West Oakland, ending a nearly two-month courtroom battle over the camp's fate.

The city has demonstrated it now has enough shelter beds for everyone who will be displaced by the camp's closure, U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled.

“The city may now post notices of the closure and shall give individuals at the encampment at least seven days' notice before the closure begins,” Orrick wrote. He said his latest order could be rescinded if the city fails to provide enough shelter beds or fails to make outreach workers available to help displaced residents find alterative shelter.

At issue is a large encampment on a city-owned piece of vacant land off Wood Street in West Oakland. The city says it needs to clear the camp to make way for a 170-unit affordable housing project planned for the site. But the lot's homeless residents, who have developed a tight-knit community they call the “Commons,” argue they'll suffer when that community is broken up and they're forced to scatter to other locations — including to shelter programs that might not meet their physical and mental health needs.

Last year Caltrans cleared a much larger camp — between 200 and 300 people — on a neighboring lot owned by the transit agency.

In an attempt to fend off the impending closure of the Commons, residents sued the city in early January. The judge quickly sided with the homeless residents, and issued a temporary order barring the city from clearing the camp — at least until the city could prove it had enough shelter beds for everyone displaced. 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. 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.

Now, both new shelter sites appear to be up and running, and the judge has once again changed course.

There are 32 beds available in the new tiny home site off Wood Street, and another 28 new safe parking spaces in East Oakland, the city said in a court filing. There are another 40 spaces available in pre-existing tiny home, safe parking and other sites throughout the city — and there likely will be dozens of beds free at St. Vincent de Paul, a dormstyle shelter in West Oakland, according to the city.

As of last week, the city has offered shelter beds to about 70 people at the Wood Street encampment, according to the court filing.

The city did not say exactly when it planned to begin closing the encampment, but said it would make “reasonable efforts” to avoid displacing people during excessive rain or very cold weather.