OAKLAND — A federal judge has temporarily blocked plans by Caltrans and the city to disband the massive Wood Street homeless encampment in West Oakland, where city officials intend to build a new shelter.
Caltrans was set to start clearing the area Wednesday, and planned to have the entire camp removed by the first week in August. On Tuesday, Judge William Orrick issued a temporary restraining order barring the agency from removing the encampment — at least for now. A court hearing is set for Friday to determine next steps.
The Wood Street encampment, which is home to an estimated 200 people, extends for multiple city blocks and sprawls across vacant land owned by Caltrans and BNSF Railway. It’s been the site of multiple fires, including one last week that shut down traffic on the I-880 and I-580 overpasses that run above the encampment. But it’s also home to several communities of well-organized residents who have resisted efforts to displace them in the past. On Monday, a group of residents sued, attempting to stop the planned closure of their camp.
They have lived there for years, the plaintiffs argued in their court filing, and there is no reason to close the camp now, especially when COVID-19 continues to spread and there is not adequate housing for everyone living there. Caltrans, the city and other agencies, they added, “must be restrained until a proper plan can be made about how to move forward on Wood Street.”
Neither Caltrans nor the city of Oakland immediately responded to a request for comment.
City workers cleared a part of the camp on Wood Street, between West Grand Avenue and 26th Street, last week in preparation to build a new homeless shelter on the site. The city was awarded $4.7 million by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration earlier this year to help eliminate the encampment and move the residents into shelter or housing. Daniel Cooper, the city’s new homelessness administrator, recently said the city hadn’t yet received the funds, but he hoped to use them to build a shelter — possibly in the form of high-end tiny homes — for 100 people within the next few months.
“Three months later, and none of the resources and grand promises of the Governor have materialized,” the plaintiffs wrote in their lawsuit. “Instead, all of the property owners are now acting in concert to eradicate the Wood Street Community.”
Newsom, the county, BNSF Railway and a handful of city, county and agency officials also are named as defendants in the lawsuit, which the residents filed without attorney representation.
Caltrans said last week it planned to clear the camp to address the “increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment.” The agency said it was coordinating with the city and the county to offer residents shelter, and added that additional beds are expected to be available this summer.
Last week, the city said about six camp residents had agreed to move into shelter sites.
Both sides are set to appear in court Friday, at which point the judge will consider whether to extend the temporary restraining order, and whether to issue a more long-term preliminary injunction.
Source: www.mercurynews.com