Oakland clears homeless encampments by Lake Merritt

OAKLAND — As rain poured down Tuesday morning, about 20 homeless people started moving their things from encampments around Lake Merritt per the city’s orders.

At Lakeside Park on the northwest side of the lake by the playground and the Rotary Nature Center, residents of the encampments — alongside public works crews — began the process of dismantling their tents in the mud. Though some were hopeful about being offered shelter, many were upset that they had to do so in such weather. But not all of the residents were willing to take the shelter options provided by the city.

“They’re just going to be sitting on the street, soaking wet. That’s putting people in a life or death situation, and that’s unacceptable,” said Talya Husbands-Hankin of the Homeless Advocacy Working Group. Husbands-Hankin was one of about a dozen people who showed up at Lakeside Park on Thursday morning to protest the clearing of the encampments.

Many of the encampment residents themselves did not want to be quoted for the story.

Assistant to the City Administrator Joe DeVries said the city wasn’t purposely moving people out in the rain. City officials had been planning for a Thursday eviction for a while, he said, coordinating public works crews, homeless outreach workers and police. DeVries said they didn’t predict the rain, which came and went throughout the day.

Homeless outreach workers had been in contact with the residents over the past few weeks, DeVries said, and had already moved 10 people out of the encampments before Thursday.

The remaining residents were offered shelter at the Tuff Shed temporary housing sites in the parking lot of the vacant Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center and at Northgate Avenue and 27th Street.

There are also beds available for people at the St. Vincent De Paul shelter and the new transitional housing facility at West Grand Avenue and Castro Street, DeVries said.

“We have space for everybody; whether they take it or not is yet to be seen,” he said.

The city has been slowly closing encampments near the lake since opening the Tuff Shed site at the convention center in October, DeVries said, inviting people to stay there for short periods of time while case workers find them more permanent housing.

DeVries said he has been bombarded with complaints from nearby residents of fights at the encampments and harassment.

“I think people will really appreciate having the park restored to its original condition and having people housed at the same time,” he said.

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