Sarah Teague has a system when workers for Caltrans come to clean up the homeless encampment where she lives, under the University Avenue overpass of Interstate 580 in Berkeley.

She moves her tent, her belongings and Zodie, her St. Bernard puppy, to an alleyway nearby and waits for the workers to come and finish the job. Once they’re gone, she moves back. She says if she doesn’t move her stuff, Caltrans will destroy it.

“The punishment is losing your house except what you can run away with,” said Teague, 53. “We don’t have a car. We have to move everything by hand, then move back. Honestly, where would I go? I have no idea where I would go.”

As the homeless populations continue to soar throughout California, Caltrans has increasingly had to deal with encampments on its properties adjacent to highways or under on- and off-ramps. The agency says it regularly removes trash from encampments and, when necessary, clears residents out after giving them notice. Caltrans spends more than $10 million a year dealing with thousands of encampments on agency property across the state, officials said.

Encampments are a challenge for Caltrans, which doesn’t have the same policies, staff training and experience with homelessness that social service agencies do. As a result, Caltrans’ efforts are haphazard and, at times, ineffective because people just move back after they’ve been cleared.

City officials say those efforts can be counterproductive because the agency doesn’t provide the same kind of support they do when encampments are cleared — but add that there is little they can do about it because it’s a Caltrans clearing. Advocates say homeless people are tired of being pushed from one area to another and don’t know where to go.

“Every time (Caltrans) comes, they take tents, they take beds, they take all the things you need to survive,” said Andrea Henson, an advocate for the homeless. The homeless “will clean around their tent, but there aren’t any trash cans around here. We’ve asked the city, but no one will come and pick up the trash.”

The crisis unfolding on Caltrans properties underscores the unique complexities of the crisis as officials with the agency, which hasn’t traditionally dealt with social services for the homeless, are forced to think differently. Part of that shift includes adding a training program for homeless people in Oakland and San Francisco to be hired by the transportation agency. Thirteen people are taking the training and are expected to complete it in up to six weeks.

“It’s not been easy,” said Bart Ney, a spokesman for Caltrans. “I don’t believe the mind-set has been entirely shifted yet. The unsheltered problem is a daily issue for Caltrans, and it’s very clear that just moving encampments is not going to solve the problem. It just gets worse.”

Advocates say the lack of coordination between the transit agency and cities such as Berkeley has a harrowing impact on homeless people. The absence of options and the reshuffling of encampments from one street to another have led to a growing movement of people asking, “Where do we go?”

Now Playing:

Berkeley’s homeless population increased from 972 to 1,108 from 2017 to 2019, about 14%. The number of unsheltered people — those living outdoors — grew from 664 to 813 in the same time period, about 22%. Berkeley has policies that prevent people from camping in parks or on sidewalks if it blocks the path. City officials say they try to refrain from removing encampments unless the homeless can be offered a bed at a shelter or the city’s only navigation center. But that offer doesn’t exist when Caltrans does the cleaning.

Ney said Caltrans officials decided on Oct. 10 to refrain from any cleaning or clearing actions on Berkeley properties. But the notices still go up. Homeless people camping on the property prepare for maintenance workers to come clean. And they don’t.

Ney acknowledged that it’s unlikely that cancellations are posted at the property.

“That’s a fair criticism,” he said. “There isn’t always a notice put up when we are canceling a cleanup.”

Caltrans has spent nearly $30 million from 2012 to 2017 to clean up homeless encampments on its properties. From fiscal year 2015-16 to 2016-17, the amount of money spent on encampments cleanups increased about 34%, from $7.48 million to $10.04 million.

In 2017, Caltrans crews encountered 7,000 homeless encampments on the rights of ways of the state’s 254 highways.

Statewide, nearly 2,000 Caltrans maintenance workers are involved with the cleanups, said Steve Crouch, the director of public employees stationary engineers at Local 39, the union that represents workers.

“The problem is the homeless encampments keep growing, getting bigger and bigger,” Crouch said. “You clean up the one over here, they just move down the road half a mile away.”

In November 2018, Crouch filed a complaint with the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration saying that workers didn’t have the proper training to clean homeless encampments. Since then, Caltrans has implemented new training for workers, but Ney said “it is something that we have to keep on improving.”

On Oct. 29 and 30, Caltrans held its first meeting with Berkeley officials to discuss the unfolding crisis on its properties in the city.

A second meeting is in the works — with no date finalized yet — to include Berkeley officials and social service providers. Until then, the encampment will be left alone.

Councilwoman Rashi Kesarwani acknowledged that the city and Caltrans need to have better coordination.

“I appreciate what Caltrans is trying to do,” Kesarwani said. “They are equipped to clean up debris. They are not equipped to do outreach and help people get into shelter and deal with their social issues. That is where the city needs to do a better job to coordinate with Caltrans and work longer term.”

Those meetings are key, said Joe DeVries, an assistant to the city administrator in Oakland. DeVries said Oakland holds meetings every two months with Caltrans to discuss the agency’s maintenance, particularly when it comes to illegal dumping and clean-and-clears.

Oakland has also entered into agreements with Caltrans to lease its properties for $1 a month for community cabin sites — specifically on Northgate Avenue and 27th Street and the Mandela Parkway site. San Francisco has also entered into similar lease agreements with Caltrans, Ney said.

Meanwhile, under the University Avenue underpass, Frank Dietderich lives with uncertainty about what will happen next at the encampment.

“I’m tired of being pushed around, but I can’t do anything,” Dietderich said. “Caltrans is coming.”

Sarah Ravani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani