Oakland votes to allowing dismantling of homeless encampments without offering alternative shelter

By Kenny Choi

Oakland has approved a major change in how the city handles homeless encampments, voting Tuesday to adopt a new policy that gives officials more authority to remove RVs and vehicles from public spaces without offering an alternative.

After months of debate and delays, the City Council signed off on the updated Encampment Abatement Policy, marking a significant shift in how the city can respond to encampments and vehicle dwellers on public streets.

Supporters say the change is long overdue and will help improve safety and quality of life in neighborhoods that have dealt with encampments, abandoned vehicles, and illegal dumping for years.

Residents and business owners in East and West Oakland told the council they have been living with worsening street conditions and little meaningful response from the city.

“The homeless encampments are so dangerous,” said business owner Rahima Walker, who also called the policy a matter of “accountability.”

Oakland City Councilmember Charlene Wang, who represents District 2 and voted in favor of the measure, said the burden of encampments has fallen disproportionately on working-class neighborhoods.

“At a certain point, we cannot tolerate this anymore,” Wang said. “Where the encampments are, they’re always in our poorest, most working-class areas. It’s not fair to these neighborhoods.”

Under the city’s previous rules, an RV parked next to a school could be treated as an encampment, limiting the city’s ability to tow it immediately. The new policy changes that, allowing the city to clear vehicles and encampments more quickly in what officials describe as high-sensitivity areas, including places near schools, businesses, and homes.

District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston, who introduced the legislation, said the policy will help improve conditions in impacted neighborhoods.

“Now we can move individuals to low-sensitivity areas, or we can direct them and say, ‘ Go to this low-sensitivity area,'” Houston said. “It will start to improve. You will see improvement.”

But homeless advocates and service providers warn the new rules could deepen the crisis for people with nowhere else to go.

Renee Hayes, who is living in transitional housing at St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland, said clearing encampments without offering an alternative is cruel.

“If you’re telling people that they have to move away from where their things are, and without providing them a place to go, that’s inhumane,” Hayes said.

Sharon Cornu, executive director of St. Mary’s Center, said towing vehicles could strip people of important personal documents and make it even harder for them to get back on their feet.

“People with nowhere to go will still have nowhere to go, except vehicles will be towed,” Cornu said. “People will lose driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, and all of the things that help people become document-ready.”

District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife did not cast a vote on the measure, but voiced concern about the city moving forward without enough shelter or housing options in place.

“With this legislation, we don’t have additional shelter beds, so when we take RVs away, then those RVs will become tents,” Fife said. “That is my deepest concern.”