Good morning and welcome to the special city council meeting
Tuesday April 14th
Before I call roll. I will give speaker card instructions
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the start of this meeting this
meeting was caused to order at
nine thirty two.
So that time will be.
Eleven thirty two a.m.
Or before the item is called for
discussion.
member five, present, councilmember Gallo, present, councilmember Houston, present,
councilmember Ramachandran, excused, councilmember Unger, here, councilmember
Wong, present, and chair Jenkins, present, good morning, showing six members present
one excused, I'm sorry seven members present one excused, Ramachandran.
Before we begin Mr. Chair do you have any announcements? Yes to announcements
6.1 is an action item, not a consent item.
Again, that's 6.1 is an action item, not a consent item.
Also, because of potential quorum issues, speaker time will be one minute as opposed to two minutes, thank you.
Going to item three, modifications to the agenda.
So on this item, we will move item 6.1 from consent to non-consent.
Any objections?
That's a motion, can I have a second?
motion to move this item from
consent to non-consent moved by
council president Jenkins
seconded by councilmember guy
oh councilmember Brown I
councilmember five I
councilmember guy oh I
councilmember Houston I
councilmember Ramachandran is
excused councilmember under I
also member Wong I I in chair
Jenkins I motion passes with a
vote of seven eyes one excuse
noting that this item is now on
on non-consent, which does allow proceeding of time.
Going to item 6.1, Adopt-a-Resolution,
amending resolution number 88341,
to repeal the 2020 encampment management policy
and replace with a 2025 encampment abatement policy,
that A, defines encampment to exclude vehicles
and authorize the citation and towing of inhabited vehicles
by city departments pursuant to the California Vehicle Code
and open vehicle code, and B,
continues to require reasonable efforts
to make shelter, offers, and seven-day notice
prior to non-urgent encampment closures,
and clarifies emergency and urgent health
and safety conditions that authorize immediate
24-hour or 72-hour notice for encampment closures,
including encampments blocking sidewalks.
At this time, you do have 80 speakers on this item.
Thank you so much, Councilmember Houston.
Please put seven minutes on the clock
for Councilmember Houston.
We limited the public, so we have to limit you as well.
Seven minutes.
So starting off, this has been a very long run.
I've been trying to move this humane policy.
Order in the chambers.
You will be given one warning.
After that, you will be asked to leave.
Order in the chambers.
Since 2016, I'd like to thank everyone
that supported the CAP.
When I say everyone, I'm talking about the city attorney,
the fire, the police, the OPD, city administrator.
And if I leave anybody out, Patricia, can you help me out?
And my staff, Lidded, Trinity, Nellie,
I really appreciate it.
and the thousands, the thousands of businesses
and residents that reached out to say they support this.
And I even like to thank the individuals
that are against it because I know that,
and I believe that they're coming from a good place.
I believe that.
In 2016, really in 2014, I declared this issue
before I was council member, a public health and safety issue,
and a state of an emergency.
K-Top, can you share that video?
And a 2014 open mayoral candidate
launched Operation Stabilize homeless strike.
He's been eating, sleeping, and spending time
with the homeless people in a number of encampments
all around East Oakland.
He says he will do this until the city of Oakland
or Alameda County actually declares the homeless crisis
a state of emergency.
Enjoyed us this morning from the encampment there.
Avenue is the man himself.
Ken, here's to you.
Ken, morning to you.
Good morning, good morning.
Where are you guys at?
Alex is out here.
I want you guys to feel this and touch this.
I'm good, I'm good.
Tell me, do you think that Oakland is becoming
kind of a destination for homeless these days?
It is and it has been.
It's known, it's known that it's a destination for homeless
for all over the trailers, the people that live
the cars it's just it's just getting bigger and bigger and no one really
understands it but yes it is it's a destination it sure is so what do you
want the city to do what would the homeless emergency declare so in 2016 I
purposely I purposely walked with the unhoused to understand the magnitude of
That's what I would do.
Now that I'm a council member, I understand clearly what it feels like.
Let me share something with you.
Do we have a mic, K-top, a mic that I can hand?
Hell, because I should have got that.
Can you get that for me?
This right here, and I'm going to show my council members that I'm going to show the
audience.
This was 104th at MacArthur.
before-and-after picture. It was a young lady living in this trash, living in it.
If a skip loader or anything would have came up, it would have picked her up in
this trash. Now this lady, what we did was we helped her get a RV, moved her to 66
Avenue and cleaned up the area for the businesses and the community. I'm gonna
share something else with you. I'm gonna show the council members first.
Do you see this? Do you see this council members? I'm gonna show this to the audience.
Do you see that? Looks like a pile of trash, doesn't it? Looks like a pile of trash.
but it's not someone is living in this is that in is that humane or is that
inhumane it's inhumane for anyone to live like this council members you see
the foot this encampment abatement policy is not gonna fix everything it's
not. But the encampment managed policy did not work. It worked for that time
it's not working right now. Patricia Brooks can you come up please? I'd like
you to present what testing the EAP is planned to do and how we collaborated
with DOT, the police department, the police fire, so present what the
encampment abatement policy is truly going to do not what this false narrative
is that is inhumane because let me share this with you before you start
Patricia it's inhumane for anyone to think that it's okay to let individuals
live out in the street like that that's inhumane and this policy will and it
will show that it has humane SOPs in it Patricia through the chair miss Brooks
before you begin you do have about a minute and 20 seconds left please
positive council member Brown I think given the
reamble like sedate complexity of this matter I'm I would like to just offer up
five minutes of my own personal time to ensure that this presentation can be
through this process so we can
communicate it to the public
with all their own this.
Thank you so please have five
minutes to the clock.
Thank you through the chair
thank you councilmember Brown.
Thank you.
All righty.
Today I'm presenting a draft
encampment abatement policy
focused on Oakland.
This proposal centers on
balancing compassion with
accountability.
And the goal is simple improve
connecting people to real services.
So you have to understand the accountability
and the context.
Encampment abatement is not just enforcement.
It's about managing a crisis responsibly.
Courts have clarified that cities can act
but must offer humane alternatives.
We do that in the EAP.
This policy is grounded in both legal clarity
and moral responsibility.
Oakland, compared to other cities,
you see right here, these are the highlights
and the articles from all around the state,
but just so you know, Oakland is not alone
in changing their policies, and in fact,
we are somewhat behind.
To touch on this, many jurisdictions
have already taken further actions,
and enforcement is stronger with their policies.
The issue is if we don't act,
we risk becoming a destination
for displacement from other cities,
and that is indeed happening.
Public health and environmental risk.
Encampments create serious health risk,
disease spread, waste buildup, and contamination.
We've already seen outbreaks like,
and I'm not gonna pronounce this right,
but I tried last night several times.
Lestrosophusis, which is nearby.
This is not theoretical, this is happening now.
This actually happened in Berkeley encampment
and that's as of January 14th, 2026,
where they hadn't seen such an outbreak in about 30 years.
And this is fatal in dogs and humans
and oftentimes encampments contain dogs as well.
This is one of the most important slides
that I'd like to bring your attention to.
Aligning with state policy matters
because funding follows compliance.
And I'll say that again, funding follows compliance.
If Oakland isn't aligned,
we risk missing future funding opportunities.
This policy positions us to compete for those resources.
specifically what you're looking at is the hat funding that was awarded to
certain cities and what we're saying here is we want Oakland to be in
alignment for those funds the next time they're offered in this type of bulk we
understand that the governor is demanding that we have accountability.
Protecting communities, fire and crimes, risk of encampments, the infrastructure
and the fire and the crime risk encampments often contain flammable materials near critical infrastructure.
Fires and crime aren't isolated. They impact entire neighborhoods.
This is about protecting both the unhoused individuals and the surrounding communities.
What you're looking at is a fire right below the BART tracks. We actually had an incident about three months ago that also affected BART and
uh... in this policy we do include taking care of rail
also taking care of Caltrans and BART
so we're looking at while we're protecting our
infrastructures and ensuring that face first responders have access
through this encampment abatement
policy we've worked with DOT
we've worked with OPD
we have worked
the state of San Jose. And the
And that was something that
had a good quality of life.
Which means that the goal is
stability not displacement and
many of you know that of
recently in the county they've
built five different well they
have five different projects
online.
Under measure W. to actually
house.
Public spaces are meant for
councilmember Houston was very adamant about this especially for ADA needs. This
policy restores shared spaces and improves the quality of life. We want to
connect people to services. Abatements are not just removals. They are
opportunities for outreach. We connect people to shelter services and long-term
housing pathways. The goal is stability not displacement and we've been working
we will make every reasonable
offer. To offer shelter as part
of our pavement process. We see
this as a multifaceted approach
to share sorry to me interrupt
miss Brooks your time is
expired okay. Do any of
council members colleagues want
to donate any of their time.
Councilmember host and you you
guys have to get to the point.
Houston you you guys have to get to the point
You you you have to get to the substance of the issue
Alright, so I will donate three minutes of my time. Alright, but you guys have to get to the substance of the issue
Okay. Well, I think I talked about the multifaceted approach. I want to bring up that
it may not be known to a lot of people and
I think this is important
California has 30% of the nation's homeless population and about half of the nation's unsheltered population
this is just a situation that's
California itself. So that lets
you know this is not an easy
issue that we're dealing with.
This is just a a map or a graph
on grid of other cities and
ordinances that they're taking.
There was some council member
early on that were concerned
and asked about the model ideas
on RVs and oversize we've
forwarded this information over
efficacy and research matter we have about thirty thousand hours into this policy predicated
on the efficacy in the research that we've done. There's two pages of that if anyone
would like to look that up I think it's important to look at the UCSF Benioff study as that
is the one that was done in twenty twenty three and it's the most current studies and
and it looks at models all over the state of California.
So this work could not have been done
without having a full team behind us to work on this.
So, to the team that has been doing the hard work
to bring this policy to fruition in the city of Oakland,
would like to thank the Encampment Abatement Team,
led by Assistant City Administrator Betsy Lake,
Interim Housing and Homeless Sasha Halswald,
assistant to the administrative Mari Collins
legal guidance and assistance in navigating Cal ICH
senior deputy city attorney Jordan Flanders
subject matter expertise chief of the open fire department
chief Covington, director of transportation
public works Josh Rowan and last but not least
deputy chief Anthony Tedesco.
This couldn't have been done without all of them.
And with that President I'll yield back to you sir.
And council member Houston.
I think he is.
Council member Houston I think
you have two more minutes or
one more minute where.
Thirty eight seconds you wanna
add things up.
Thirty five seconds.
With those thirty five seconds
thank you Patricia Brooks I
appreciate it and if my
colleagues have any questions
about the A. P. if you.
On read it you have any
questions- the floor is open to
you.
And then I would also like to
hear the public I really would.
I don't take the questions but people came out here to speak.
I want to hear from them.
Council Member Brown and then Council Member Fife.
But I'd like to hear from the public first if you mind.
Do you mind?
Well, let's hear from my colleagues.
They've been waiting to ask questions.
Excellent, thank you so much.
I guess through the chair to Council Member Houston and team,
do you all have a slide that helps to outline
the difference between what changes you were able to make
to the policy from the last time you presented to us
I'll let you go in.
Through the chair, Councilmember Brown, we have in the package which shows where we were
and what the markups were that was submitted in the package already.
Can you just for the members of the public can you verbally articulate what are the changes
that you were able to make from the last time this item came before us and to now?
Okay, I can do that certainly.
So we met with the mayor's office, and through that meeting, well, the mayor's office really
ACA Lake on behalf of the mayor's office, and one of the things that she wanted to add
was transportation pickup for those especially who are seniors and especially those who have
disabilities that was accepted by Councilmember Houston.
And so there were technical changes that we made to better align the policy.
We also strengthened how we will notice.
Now you're not going to see that in the policy, because as it is said, you're going to see
that in the SOPs that are forthcoming once and if this policy is adopted.
But that's something else that was actually suggested by AC Lake and her team that we
you know we're looking to see
how we could have some type of
process for how we are
noticing and how we're looking
to see inside the vehicle if
that's has family. I believe it
was council member wonk who
wanted to also lift that up
that if there was family in
there what extra steps would
you take to make sure there was
not trafficking as well. Okay
thank you you're more than
welcome. Council member five.
I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm a president what when we started this meeting you said that we could potentially lose quorum what is the intended in time for this meeting.
Possibly well I don't have an incident in time I know some people have said that there might be some challenges coming up.
meeting. We have not had one opportunity to have a conclusive conversation about what
is a very complicated and in-depth issue, and I feel like we're already rushing. And
I don't think that it does justice to the conversation we're attempting to have if we
are going to rush through a conversation, because to me it implies that decisions have
already been made. I want to understand thoroughly and completely what the presenters are saying
meeting I want to understand thoroughly and completely what
has changed I want to see the presentations I want to see the
data and I want the public to weigh in holistically and I feel
like we're already on the on the wrong track I want to ask myself
second question through the chair to council member Houston
what is your primary objective your primary goal with this
legislation.
And then I'm gonna move on to
the councilmember five.
My primary goal is to give the
the the the d.o.t.
The police and I want to pull
them up a Mari the teams that
are actually doing the work
councilmember five.
Clarity which the EMT does not
give.
And I just had a meeting with
the desk I had a meeting with a
Mari and the it gives them
clarity on how to proceed.
And if that's his job or if it's the police's job how can a person do the job that they're
supposed to do if there's no clarity?
Let me call up Tedesco Pufavore, I was gonna say Pufavore, but yeah.
So you said something very, very important just a minute ago and I took a note about
this.
was just powerful because as a contractor he said give me the proper
tools to do if you ask me to dig a hole give me the proper tools don't ask me to
dig it with my hand give me a shovel and give me the location where to dig the
hole so to guess go can you explain and I'm gonna call up Josh Rowan I'm gonna
call up the individuals, Councilmember Fyfe, that have to do this hard work.
I'm going to call up Amari on how this policy actually makes their job easier and to do
it in a humane way.
Because the way it's happening right now are on how individuals are being pushed here,
pushed there, pushed here, instead of having a location where it are the individuals that
They don't know where to locate them at instead of pushed around the corner and we just heard something about it was a chop shop they didn't even know what to do with the RV that was causing criminal activity not done house because they were confused there's no clarity so to to desk on on share with me how this makes your job easier where you can do it in a
You can do it in a humane way instead of an inhumane way where it brings public health
and safety to our unhoused residents, councilmember Fife, and our housed residents, and our business
owners and everyone else.
This EMP is not working.
This is not perfect, councilmember Fife.
But let me say this to you.
We have to start somewhere.
So Tedesco, I'm going to ask you explain to the public, explain to my colleagues how this
makes clarity for you to actually do the job that you were hired to do.
Through the chair, it's been raised a number of times.
Order in the chamber.
That there aren't enough people to do the job.
And so, in my view, in deploying our resources, our limited resources, we have to be as effective
efficient as possible. Knowing that not every problem is a nail and not every
solution therefore is a hammer, but also knowing that there are situations that
need to be abated, it is critical that our teams know precisely what they can
and cannot do and that they can do it efficiently and they can do it where it
is needed to be done. There are issues in current policy as to who is responsible,
when are they are responsible, and how long it will take to get the job done.
It makes the use of our limited resources more cumbersome and less
effective. Not every situation will need to be abated, but there are some that
will require abatement. This policy brings the clarity in knowing that the
resources that we will deploy from the Police Department can take action that
supported by policy. Thank you, Tedesco. Can I call up Josh Rowan just one second
Patricia. I wanted to call up Mr. Rowan and these are the experts these are the
gentlemen that have to do the job and have the staff that reports to them to
make it safe to make it where is this the police department's job or is this
DOT's job. Mr. Rowan what you shared to me this morning was so powerful can you
share how this actually brings clarity. Yes, through the chair, Joshua on the
Department of the Oakland Department of Transportation. If I could take a step
back from your question and add some context, coming to Oakland this was a
fairly new situation for me. And I hadn't been here long and I had someone
who is now formerly with the city tell me that I was an alternative
law enforcement agency and that my job was to have my people knock on RV doors
and quote tell those MF'ers to get out. That is why I have intentionally
introduced myself from that day forward as an engineer. My name is Joshua and I
am an engineer. I am NOT a police officer. So the Oakland Department of
Transportation was being pulled into this fuzzy middle ground because the
EMP did not address vehicles as encampments and we were being asked to
address vehicles with human beings in them. We are not human being people. We
remove vehicles. We remove cars that have been abandoned and have sat for 72
hours. That is the tow authority DOT has and so what I appreciate in this is
that there's clarity that there there are some very complex situations
involving people and vehicles in the right of way
that I don't believe belong in DOT.
We need to stick with paving streets,
we need to stick with removing abandoned autos,
and doing the things that we do very well,
it's simply far too much risk for our technicians
to be interacting with people on the streets.
I'll wrap up with, my understanding was
when parking enforcement was moved to DOT,
there was a discussion made about
should our folks wear body armor.
And the answer was no because it would give them a false sense
of security and they would go into situations
that they otherwise wouldn't.
From my vantage point two years ago when I got here,
we were sending them into those situations anyways.
I made the policy decision to pull my people out.
I think the one positive, the biggest positive
in this is the clarity and how vehicles are addressed.
Do T will write tickets do T will tow abandoned vehicles the specific ones that have sat stationary for 72 hours
Matters of law enforcement will remain in the police department
Thank You. Mr. Rowan. I like to Amari. Are you around?
Can you come up please and what I'm sharing with the public and what I'm sharing to my colleagues
my colleagues
Is that these are the experts?
I'm not doing the job
I'm a policy and legislative person right and it has to allow them
To do their job
Amari I have a couple of questions for you sir and this young man right here has one of the hardest jobs ever
I don't know how you take a vacation and come back
And I'm gonna say this
Would this policy help the EMT become more?
effective
through the chair
to answer the question
And when it, encampments are reported,
we have a significant backlog of 1,700 plus
reported encampments in City Works, right?
Many of those include vehicles and RVs.
The vehicles and RVs that come to us,
unfortunately, what I've experienced is that
if you deploy OPD with the teams,
the people move their vehicles,
and we're not necessarily towing the vehicles.
backlog and the resource constraint becomes when the EMT has approximately 200 days in
a year to do as many actions to address the 1700 encampments, I then have to communicate
to the general public that, hey, I might not be able to tow this RV or address this because
I have to do a seven-day notice, which typically is 10 to 14 days by general practice.
I have to do outreach and I have to offer them a place to go.
there sometimes it's a chop shop is stolen it's a boom boom room anything you can think of it happens on the street we run into it and it creates a backlog in the resource constraints so by default removing vehicles away from the term encampments will definitely help the income and management team move a little faster thank you sure I got one more I got one more than I have something for Betsy Lake from your perspective Amari.
working on.
Running the EMT.
How would this change the way you complete your operations?
Make it clear.
Say it one more time, sorry.
OK, so how would this change the way
you complete your operations?
You know, everything will pretty much stay the same
as identified in the policy as written.
We already do bag and tag.
the city. We comply with the
out to Poplar or any location in East Oakland or whatever and do a tow action.
What usually happens, right, you got those 20 RVs.
We might end up, if we're lucky, towing five of them, right?
Because when the signs and notices go up, they call their friends, however they move
the vehicles.
The vehicles are operable, they move the vehicles, and the five that we do end up towing, for
example, might be stolen, might be dilapidated, inoperable, or used as street storage.
that's the land I could provide from an EMT perspective. Thank you you guys are
hearing from the experts. I want to yield that question to Betsy I mean thank
you Maury. Patricia can you come up real quick please. I wanted to answer and I
want to yield to the city attorney about answering council member Fife's
question. Yes I thought I did not notice that council member Fife really in
councilmember Brown I didn't notice that ACA Lake was on the dais so if I could
just sort of loop back a little bit through the chair to have ACA Lake come
up and sort of explain all that has been happening I think this may help you
councilmember Fife and certainly will help you ACA Lake can you come up oh
you don't have to come up you can you have a microphone sorry about that on
on the changes that we did with your office
on behalf of the mayor's office,
and I think where we are and also the flow
and how we've been moving.
Thank you, A.C.A. Lake.
Thank you, Patricia.
So the main thing that the administration has done
between the last version and this version
is to work with Councilmember Houston
and the city attorney to ensure
that we have a path for alignment
between the EAP and the mayor and administration-led
homelessness strategic action plan.
That plan has come before committee
and is going to council in May.
So the main things that we worked on with the authors,
and they were open to making the majority of changes
that we asked for, and those changes include
allowing a path for the city administration
to work across departmentally
to draft standard operating procedures,
to guide outreach, engagement, and transparency
to the public, including a specific requirement
for a standard operating procedure around vehicles.
The authors added clarification that individuals
cannot be arrested for re-encampment,
but may be arrested for criminal activity.
We strengthened the outreach section,
including as Patricia mentioned,
coordination on transportation.
The authors also included a provision
allowing the city administrator
in consultation with council members
to update low sensitivity areas.
And then finally in the big picture
of the substantive changes,
we added a provision for,
or the authors added a provision
for the city administrator to communicate this policy
why widely and in a user friendly manner.
Through the chair.
I like to pull up another expert.
And that's Chief Covington.
Chief Covington are you in the audience.
Can you please come up and we know that the fires have stopped
Bart I worked with Bart about distancing and shut down our
transportation and the fires that you have to deal with when
it comes to lives.
When it comes to transportation,
I'm talking about the businesses, the unhoused,
the housed in front of their businesses.
Chief Covington, please share with me
how this makes it clear for you also.
Yeah, good morning.
Damon Covington, Oakland Fire Chief.
Thank you for that.
And in regards to homeless encampments
and RVs throughout our city,
the Oakland Fire Department has been part
the fire department. We've been
We've been working with the
fire department here in the last
couple of years then we have at
any other time in the past RVs
being one of the biggest
challenges- the fire department
only has authority to.
Enforce the encampment plan if
there's an imminent threat.
To human life or in in our city
critical infrastructure we've
we've dealt with that as you saw
And then we've got the other
freeway.
Under the freeways where we've
we've had severe fires could
possibly damage this the
physical structure of the
freeway.
And we've also dealt with it.
At our PG in the substation down
on third street so these are
these are major issues one of
the things we've noticed is that
the RVs are getting larger and
larger.
So when these fires do happen not
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
And I think that's a good thing.
You're hearing from the individuals that actually have to do the work.
Not me. It's not me.
I worked with them side by side.
We did track changes when the chief, when the mayor came down and said about the
time of, of closing down encampments, I said, okay, mayor, I'll do it.
But it has to follow what the police to make them do their job.
I'll do what you say but it's in their hands so if they say this is what they want I'm
going to support them if they see if you say that's what you want to make your job chief
coming to I'm going to do which you're the expert you're putting your life and your employees
on the on the line along with our residents so I'm a yield this to you back to you president
if I didn't my colleagues they want to ask anything else or I really want to hear from
public okay so to my colleagues in transparency if you guys want to
introduce your amendments before or after the public speakers after okay
doctor all right public speakers as I call your name please approach the
podium in any order please state your name for the record please also
indicate if you have time seated to you so we can give you the appropriate
amount of time. If you are participating via Zoom you will be called after the
people in chambers. If you are in one of the overflow rooms you will have time to
make it up to the chambers to give your public comment. Please don't step to the
podium until your name is called as we have 90 speakers and I will be calling
them in groups. Also on Zoom if you did not speak submit a card please do not
raise your hand. Kelsey Hubbard, Jennifer Finley, James Van, Margarita Marin-Parkin,
Derek Barnes, Twon Ah, Petra J. A. Hilton, Maya Zwelling, T.J. Grayson, Henry Simmons, Jake
Sorry if I said it incorrectly.
Charlotte Ione, Ryan John Sears, Laura Billings, Birdy Atwater, Donald Bedford, Alfred Juan,
Jane Esposito, Madeleine Stacy, Amy Astrig, Meg McAdam, Cindy Hart, Michael Pyotok, Mr.
VoteRite, Irina Itzakson, James Birch, David Powell Johnson,
Becca Horn, or Becky Horn, I'm sorry, Tom J. Jensen,
Laura Geist.
In any order, please step to the podium
and begin your comments.
Good afternoon, council members.
My name is Henry Simons, and I'm a government and community
relations representative for BART.
I just want to thank all of you for your partnership
as we work to keep our infrastructure safe
and the communities around our station safe.
On an average weekday last month,
more than 34,000 people got off BART in Oakland for work,
to experience culture, go to great restaurants,
and so much more.
And as has been discussed at Council already,
encampment fires near BART infrastructure
can prevent us from serving not just riders in Oakland,
but the entire Bay Area.
And we'd like to thank Council Member Houston
for adding infrastructure operated by BART
to the list of high sensitive areas
and thank the council members who we met with
who supported this change.
And this update will help protect critical infrastructure
and support the region's access to jobs, schools
and other vital destinations throughout the Bay Area.
And we're proud of the work we've done
with the city administrator, OPD and OFD
to keep open, safe and clean.
And we're thankful for the city resources dedicated
to addressing encampments and look forward
supporting citywide policies that promote a thriving Oakland. Thank you.
Good morning council members. James Van of the Homeless Advocacy Working Group.
Nobody seeks to be homeless. People are homeless because of two things. One,
there's not enough housing they can afford and the rent is too damn high.
Is the real question as to why we're even here today.
This measure should not be on the agenda.
At the December meeting, the council voted four to four.
The mayor did not vote.
The measure failed.
According to Roberts, the issue can only be brought back
by a person who voted on the prevailing side.
That did not happen here.
this is an illegal meeting.
There are many things wrong
with the encampment management policy,
and there are many things wrong,
many more things wrong
with the encampment abatement policy.
Say it like it is.
Encampment.
Thank you, Mr. Van.
Your time is up, unless you have time seated to you.
Good morning.
My name's Wong Gong.
I've been in Oakland most of my life.
I was started out as a social worker,
I'm a housing provider, and I'm a small business owner.
I'm glad that Ken is bringing this up and clarifying it,
because I think people are gaming our system.
Give you examples, this, any time right around here,
there'll be five or six cars that didn't get told
because they claimed to be residents.
They even have little signs as I live here.
They're gaming our system.
There's one car that was out there
we work on as a community.
For five, six months, it was a green Ford Explorer.
They had somebody live there.
We got the run around from the city
to all the different departments,
and I'm not a stranger to the city's infrastructure,
but selective enforcement's the case.
We had a fundraiser for Bonte,
in front of the fire...
Thank you, so your time is up.
It got told.
The principal at Esther Mertz Development Partners,
we own and operate the Prescott Market Food Hall
and R&D campus in West Oakland.
Esther Mertz is in support
of the updated Encampment Management Plan.
However, we are here today to ask the plan be updated
and to include the areas surrounding the Prescott Market,
R&D Campus, Oakland Baller Stadium,
American Steel Studios, and the O2AA Artisans Aggregate,
changing it from low sensitivity to high sensitivity area.
Significant investment has been made
by these organizations over the past five plus years
to create a thriving neighborhood
for local businesses, retail, sports enthusiasts,
artists, and residents.
We are experiencing strong momentum right now
that is bringing more jobs to the neighborhood
and supporting the city's economic development goals.
We've worked hard these past five years
to improve the streetscape surrounding our Prescott campus
by planting trees, building, and cleaning sidewalks.
We've begun to turn the tide on public perceptions
of safety and our food hall, farmer's markets,
the Pacific pipe climbing gym and the baller's games
are bustling and vibrant, attracting a wide array of...
Thank you, ma'am, your time is up.
Good morning, my name is Charlotte.
I'm a District 2 resident.
I wanna answer some of the questions I keep hearing.
this is for you council members
and for anyone who might be wondering.
Why can't we just enforce the law?
RV not registered?
No more RV.
What if I told you that until recently
the Constitution had something to say about that?
Back before the Trump court decided you have fewer rights
and the Eighth Amendment doesn't mean what it says.
How come you never see encampments up in the hills?
What if I told you they hoard wealth in those hills?
That the folks there never miss a mortgage payment
and they have ways of keeping people out?
What if San Francisco and Berkeley kick out
all the homeless people and they come here?
What if I told you that process has a name?
It's called gentrification,
and you don't fight it by punishing the poor.
You fight it by insisting
that everyone has the right to stay.
What if I told you that Oakland's fascist son
knows all this already?
He's happy to talk about Grants Pass in private,
and he knows that campaign checks from Piedmont don't bounce.
Finally, council members,
what if I told you that your constituents
are smarter than you give us credit for?
You can't hide the ball from us.
Bigger picture and-
Thank you, Charlotte.
Your time is up.
Good morning.
My name is Petra Hilton,
and I've been an Oakland resident in District 4
for almost 15 years.
I'm currently a law student at UC Berkeley Law,
and I've been researching local homeless encampment policies
through the Policy Advocacy Clinic.
In my review of the field's existing research,
it has become clear that local enforcement
of encampment sweeps
does not meaningfully reduce homelessness.
Instead, it harms people while draining local resources
that could be spent elsewhere.
If the goal is to reduce homelessness,
An amendment like this that increases sweeps
and further criminalizes unhoused residents
is likely a step in the wrong direction.
First, Oakland's current policy of enclosing encampments
has not resulted in fewer camps.
The current policy ignores the root causes
of homelessness in favor of displacement.
This new version doubles down on that approach
by making it easier for police
to tow vehicles people live in.
To date, the vast majority of encampment interventions
Oakland officials pursue are closures.
Yet since the current EMP start,
homelessness has increased
and encampments have grown by 10 times.
Mary Lee's office, which conducted more sweeps
than her predecessor.
I'm a resident of Councilman Ungar's district.
I'm also a faculty at UC Berkeley.
I see the remainder of my time to my students.
Second, this new proposal puts the city at risk
of increased costly litigation.
Just this month, a federal court found
that Berkeley's encampment policy,
which looks eerily similar to the proposal
before you today, violated unhoused people's
constitutional rights and disability statutes.
A key aspect of Oakland's current proposal,
increased towing of vehicles people live in,
was specifically struck down in Berkeley
after the court found it violated
unhoused people's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Oakland's could face similar litigation,
meaning it may never be implemented
while the city spends thousands
defending the policy in court.
But litigation isn't the sole source of possible expense.
Oakland's current encampment policy
the city to spend significant resources.
Each sweep requires multiple city employees
from different departments, sometimes for multiple days.
For example, city policy requires OPD
to be present at each encampment intervention,
and those officers mostly log that as overtime.
Oakland already budgets $72 million for OPD over time
and pays officers tens of thousands in overtime
for their involvement in encampment activity.
I'm TJ Grayson, a faculty member at the Policy Advocacy Clinic, and I'm ceding a remainder
of my time to Petra.
Expanding the amount of encampment enforcement will increase these costs significantly.
There's little to no transparency on how much encampment interventions cost in total because
recording time used on encampments is voluntary for each department.
It is hard to know how effective our current policy is compared to the alternatives or
whether this proposal would even help without data on its costs. So if Oakland
hopes to use its resources efficiently to address the homelessness crisis then
increasing encampment interventions and enforcement is unlikely to meet those
goals. Thank you very much. My name is Meg McAdam. I'm an Oakland resident, small
business owner, and I'm the founder and president of Human and Pet Initiative. My
team and I are in homeless encampments all the time. I can't believe the fear
mongering I'm hearing here this morning. We wear t-shirts and sneakers and drive
around on a minivan the people you're talking about are human beings help them
without hurting them and for God's sakes don't be afraid of them you
reference the Berkeley outbreak of leptospirosis one dog one person the
media threw that out of proportion my team is currently working with UC Davis
infectious disease veterinarians we were going around to the encampments and
testing a hundred dogs for leptospirosis we show up with the portable ultra sound
I don't know what it looks like to be pro-active to protect our community, not punishing people
for having to live among the rats that spread the disease.
Moving people from RVs to tents is not going to satisfy your constituents.
Let them have their shelters until you provide pathways to humane housing.
Thank you, Ms. McBain.
My name is Jane Esposito.
I'm a retired school teacher, and I volunteer with the Human and Pet Initiative.
I'm here today because we are being asked to accept a solution that does not solve the
problem.
Criminalizing people for living on the street does not create housing.
It does not create safety.
It does not address the root causes that brought people here in the first place.
It simply removes people, disrupts what little stability they have, and makes it harder for
them to access services, care, and support.
We all want safer, healthier communities, but real safety comes from investment, not
from punishment.
It comes from access to housing, mental health care, substance use treatment and basic services.
It comes from meeting people with where they are at with dignity and practical support.
Every day in our outreach work, we see people doing their best to care for themselves, their
families and their animals under extremely difficult circumstances.
When encampments are swept and people are forced to move, it creates trauma.
For people who are already living with trauma,
these disruptions deepen instability.
Thank you, Ms. Esposito, your time is up.
Hello, my name is Becky Haam.
I'm the Oakland political manager
at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network,
and I live in District 5.
I'm here in opposition to the encampment abatement plan.
This plan continues to harm homeless people
and does not solve the root issue.
Moving people from RVs just means
they will be on the streets.
Sweeping the encampments doesn't mean
no longer homeless it just means their belongings are gone. Each solution or
each quote-unquote solution in this ordinance makes life worse for people.
APEN members want to be safe when they are walking outside but decreasing
safety for another community doesn't make anyone safe. Hello my name is Donald
Bedford and I live in Oakland living in Oakland all my life. This kind of got
unfair to us because you only giving us a minute to tell you what we going
through. Now many is not enough to not enough time to tell you how bad we're living. And
Cap'n is kind of hard. It's really messed up our streets. Now they're getting so bad
they get into the neighborhoods of residents. And now you can't get street to come down
and clean the street, the streets. I mean they used to come down twice a month twice
a month but now we can't even come down at all. I'm on 75th Avenue. You know and my street
street have been swept in about two months now because of the homeless in Cap'n. We need
to do something about it instead of just putting up the all these, you know, proposal forward.
We need some actions other than just talk. Thank you.
Hi, my name is Laura Geist. I'm the general manager of the Oakland Ballers. I'm here
to also ask for some clarification on the high sensitivity and low sensitivity areas
and ask that West Oakland, specifically the area around the Prescott, be included in the high
sensitivity area as one of our neighbors within the Prescott market has mentioned. There's been
significant amount of economic development in that area. We are
constantly recruiting for new new fans more fans fans from outside of Oakland
fans from inside of Oakland and you know having having these areas be low
sensitivity sort of blocks our ability to be able to bring more people into
West Oakland and help the economic development that's happened in those
neighborhoods. We are providing jobs and lots of opportunities for Oakland
residents and we want to be able to continue to do that throughout the course
of our tenure lease of the city of Vermont Park.
Thank you.
Hi everybody, my name is Bertie Atwater.
I'm an Oakland resident of 10 years,
medical student and street medic.
The premise of this proposal is tough love,
which is the logic of abuse.
As Ken said, this is about letting his friends
and city services do what they want
for jobs and farmers markets,
not for the people who will die
due to displacement and exposure from this proposal.
And like any abuser's justification
of why their violence is good for you,
it falls apart under minimal scrutiny.
For example, why in the 90 days following enactment are we then
identifying shelter locations?
It's an admission that the alleged support infrastructure
of this proposal does not exist.
We know we have half as many shelter beds as we need.
Mandela House is throwing 70 people out onto the street.
Where will they go?
Low sensitivity areas.
Look at the 1937 redlining map compared
to the one showing low sensitivity areas.
No one wants homelessness and there are two solutions.
You find people housing or you eliminate the people
who need a home.
Ask yourself which of these two outcomes is this proposal
favor and which are you putting your name on?
Good morning, my name is David Johnson. I'm here on behalf of
four neighborhood associations in the Melrose
Coliseum and Hagerberger Corridor Area. We have been working with the council
members and the city staff for the last two and a half years to
address the encampment and debris issues and this policy
is a fair balance between the old encampment
management policy and the encampment abatement policy. Thank you, Councilmember
Houston. It is a difficult process. The dialogue that you heard between the
staff and the councilmember is exactly what we have seen on the street for the
last two and a half years, and this represents a fair compromise. Again, we
urge your support. Thank you very much. Before you begin, I'm going to call some
More names from the next group.
James Birch, Brigitte Nicolletti,
John Brockett, Carol Wyatt, Leona Malika or Molina,
Damien Scott, Emily Wheeler, David Peters,
Marisha Farnsworth, Ms. Cecilia Cunningham,
Zaire, Orzier, Donnie, Avery,
Simba, Mutiato, Anaya, Ananda, Shane, Kanaji, Ms. Angela,
Bailey, Mickey, Allie Katt, Naija, Ifaleo, Nick,
Meyerhoff, Bernard Crystal, Talia Husband-Hakins,
Armando Solazar, joyous morale.
Thank you and good morning council members.
I'm here because I deeply care about the safety
and the future of Oakland.
I am an Oakland resident and a business owner.
I support council member Houston's
and bank encampment abatement policy
because it gives the city stronger tools
to protect public safety and keep areas clean
and address the key conditions before they get worse.
We need action right now.
Please adopt this policy.
We need to be honest.
If Oakland does not get it together
and get more consistent on these issues,
we will continue to attract more and more people
being pushed out of neighboring cities.
And the burden will keep falling on our neighborhoods,
our schools, and our parks.
We cannot be absorbing every neighborhood city's problems
while ignoring the harm in our own community.
Our schools and parks should not be surrounded
by encampments, RVs, trash, drug activity, and blight.
Just to name a few of the city public spaces
that have been taken over, which are Willow Park,
Lafayette Square Park, which is right over here.
Sorry, your time is up.
And can you state your name for me, please?
It's Margarita Marin Parkin.
Thank you.
Good day, council members.
I'm here as a citizen and taxpayer.
And I beg you to vote yes on Mr. Houston's proposed.
Through the chair, we're gonna pause your time.
Can you please state your name before you begin?
Sure, it's Irina Itzixin.
I'm a resident of District One, Mr. Unger.
For too long, Oakland has been treated
like a dumping ground for the entire state's
homeless population.
As a tax-paying citizen, we're forced to deal
with a daily reality of needles, tents, garbage,
and feces on our sidewalks.
This level of degradation has somehow become
business as usual in our city,
while other regions simply push their problems
onto our streets.
What is truly crazy is that it's been normalized
and that we even have to be here to have this discussion.
Previous city council chose not only to tolerate
but encourage this poverty peddling of our city,
and I truly hope you have the courage to reverse that.
This isn't about politics,
It's about common sense.
We need a policy that restores order
and stops Oakland from being the default destination
for everyone else's lack of solutions.
It's time to stop the excuses
and stop allowing our home to be a dumping ground.
Please vote yes, thank you.
Hello, I am Cindy Hart
and I have been an Oakland resident since 1993.
I have watched the city become something very wonderful
and then within the span of a few short years
have become a dumping ground for the rest of the Bay Area.
The status quo is not working.
The perfect solution is not out there at this time.
But what we need to do,
and that I urge the council to vote on,
we need a starting point.
We need to put a line in the sand
and we need to say this is acceptable,
this is not acceptable.
I should not be held to different rules
than someone that lives in an RV.
Meaning that I have to register my dog.
I have to keep the dog on the leash.
If I'm out there throwing drug parties,
I can come and get arrested.
I can't take over the sidewalk with my belongings.
There needs to be the enforcement of law
that is correct for everyone
while we work on that perfect solution.
So I beg you to start and to vote.
Good morning to each and every council member
that's present today.
I am Mrs. Cunningham and I've been living in Oakland
over 67 years and it is ridiculous
the way Oakland is being led today.
We're gonna have to come together as one
and make changes in Oakland.
Now we're here on this encampment, but you know something?
It's a lot involved with this encampment,
because when you move people out,
you're gonna have to replace them,
you're gonna have to place them somewhere where it's safe.
It's not fair for no one here to be homeless.
This is the home of the brave, the free,
and we should all celebrate it and do something about it.
I know that everyone here, the Fire Department,
the Police Department, the EMT, all these apartments.
We cannot do, they can't do nothing by themselves.
It takes everybody, the whole village to see that.
Thank you, Ms. Cunningham, your time is up.
Thank you, Ms. Cunningham, your time is up.
Hello, Madeline Stacey.
Before you begin, you can pull the mic up
so you don't have to.
Madeline Stacey, I cede my time to Nikki.
My name is Jay Glissney and I also received my time.
Hi, I'm Miss Nicky from West Oakland.
I'm the lady who does the art.
I come to you guys clearly mind to tell you in my heart,
I know every one of you guys can do the right thing.
I've been homeless since 2019 on Fifth Mandela.
In 2025, they came to us, Ivan and Zach,
and they said they're gonna have to move us one month.
They came three days later, they said,
oh no, you have two weeks.
I said, okay, we're all willing to move, every one of us.
Give us housing.
I sent them an email, a text message with 19 people's names,
if they were an intent, an RV, if they had cats or their dogs,
if they had medical, if they were a veteran.
I was very detailed, but to my understanding
when I sent that text, I was the only one on that list
that could be placed, because all my documentation,
social security card, everything was already in the placing
and the matching of the housing.
I was the only one on that list.
And guess how many people got howls, you guys?
One girl who sat there and cried because her fifth wheel got pulled away.
One girl, that's it.
It's really sad that I'm sitting here.
My generation of all my ancestors have fallen to this.
You guys have no compassion.
I know who you are, I remember you.
I remember you coming to take pictures of our garbage.
Well, I welcome you guys.
Please, email Tony Cooper, it's tcouper870 at gmail.
And I will send you my pictures of my encampment
that you could have coffee at, okay?
And you could bring your dog and your cat
and we could sit there and talk about,
hey, how wonderful the A's are not here anymore, okay?
But my thing is this, there's too many of us out here
who've been struggling over the same factors
of you guys need to find housing for us.
You guys gotta think about this in a bigger picture.
All I can say is refer to your constitutional rights
because you guys are breaking line every day.
My name is Michael Pyattalk. I've been a resident of Oakland for almost 50 years in District
2 and I'm an architect. You've heard from several speakers now, the main flaw of this
piece of legislation is that there's no alternative presented. It's all about how do you move
people out from where they are, and there's no plan to create 5,000 shelter beds that
are going to be needed to do that. You've got more than 5,000 people on the streets.
where are you going to move them to?
There's a little phrase in there,
reasonable effort has to be made to found alternative shelter.
You can't be reasonable if there's no shelter there.
We closed several hundred shelter beds just
in the last couple of months.
How do you do it?
You need a hundred sites with 50 beds in each
to get to that 5,000 number.
And you're asking staff in three months to find these sites.
Well, that's a glacial pace.
You could do that in 30 days if you worked hand in glove
of the volunteer architects who are willing to work
with city staff to get that to move.
L.U. Harris got 3,000 burned houses rebuilt in a matter
of a few years by setting up city halls
in those neighborhoods so they could quickly process those permits.
And Jerry Brown got 6,000 units built in downtown
for the upper crust.
Thank you for your comments.
Thank you very much.
So to create these 5,000 shelter beds, you need 100 sites
with about 50 in each.
You already have a list of city-owned land,
but you don't know how to test how to fit this properly,
these new kinds of shelters.
Housing and Dignity over the past year
has developed a series of programs
for those who are unsheltered,
to be sheltered in a way that is humane
and helps people prepare to get moved
into permanent supportive housing.
They're willing to volunteer their time
community in order to to work
with city staff to get that 90
day period compress the 30 days
and get those sites in front of
developers of interim housing
so they can get it done, get it
up and running within six
months.
Do the right thing.
Create a collaborative effort
between the public and private
sector to make this thing move
fast.
Thank you.
the city of Washington. The
city of Washington would street
comments in the building first
and foremost stop the sweeps.
Vehicle residency is a symptom
of system failure not preference.
Involuntary displacement is
medically dangerous the
enforcement process is a costly
revolving door that solves
nothing. The court issues the
lack of safe and sanctioned
space effective solutions are
programs that offer dignity
of the people in the world.
People for the city shelter
failure ignores the fact that
people on a fixed income will
remain on house because it's
still not enough money for
Oakland's housing costs.
If you stop the sweeps you can
put that money that we're
spending on all these people
that need easier jobs.
Into long term solutions.
My name is Bridget Nico letty
and I'm an attorney at the east
bay community law center.
and is in direct opposition to the mayor's plan
because it fails to answer the most basic question.
Where can unhoused people go?
This policy poses the greatest harm
to Oakland residents who live in their vehicles.
Right now, the policy would allow the unnoticed towing
of lived-in vehicles,
leaving residents on the street with nothing.
OPD has already started implementing this practice illegally,
indicating that it cannot be allowed to move forward
without some sort of guidance and guardrails.
In the meantime, Oakland has closed RV parking lots
and shelters, kicking people back onto the street,
leaving people with fewer options
and being subject to this terrible policy.
The council should reject this policy outright,
but at the absolute bare minimum,
any policy passed by this council
must protect the rights of people
who live in their vehicles, thank you.
Hi, my name is Marisha Farnsworth,
and I'm here to just speak about an oversight on the map.
Retail across Oakland has marked high sensitivity,
but retail in West Oakland is marked low sensitivity.
I'm asking for this double standard to be fixed
and the map to be revised
so that retail in West Oakland is treated equally
with retail in other neighborhoods.
I don't believe that this is the intention
of the city of Oakland to treat West Oakland
small businesses differently from the businesses
in the Hills, in Temeskal, or in Rockridge.
The map needs greater attention than a broad GIS designation.
These businesses have permits,
so I know the data can be found.
I'm asking that a staff member review the GIS
or reach out to community members
who know where these businesses are
to help ensure that oversight is corrected
and West Oakland gets treated equally.
Thank you.
I'm a poverty scholar, that houseless mom
or that houseless daughter.
People might wonder why you can't see my eyes.
It's because people walk by houseless bodies like mine.
Excuse me.
Please say your name for the record.
My name is Tiny.
Do it.
People walk by houseless bodies like mine
and wish that we would die.
The only thing that Ken Houston clarified today
is that it's a carceral, million-dollar system
that is there to eradicate the bodies
and lives of houseless people.
Excuse me, can you pause the time, please?
Do you have a yellow sheet?
Huh?
Do you have a card?
Did you sign up?
Yeah, we all signed up.
All of us.
Can you show your cards?
I don't have it, because somebody else did it.
Yeah, thank you.
Yeah, they all signed up.
One second.
So all that to say,
I hope that you stop my time right then.
Ken Houston clarified with the police
and with the DPW workers that this is a carceral system meant
to eradicate poor and houseless peoples.
How does that house us?
No matter how many times you jail,
incarcerate, or study me, it doesn't give me a home.
Homelessness is a homeless people's solution to homelessness.
housing 24 youth adults and elders
in permanent rent-free forever housing.
That's a solution.
You could do things with those millions of dollars
instead of continue to incarcerate us.
We are not trash, we are humans.
Stop sweeping us.
Having said that, we have youth scholars
from our liberation school that happens on Homefulness,
and they were all the people that signed up,
so that Zaire and Naja and Donnie and Avery and Simba
and Akiko and Shane.
And so they're going to come up and read the moratorium
that they wrote on sweeps.
Because even children know that this is inhumane.
As through the chair, as you begin,
please state your name if you guys are you all reading
or is one person reading?
OK, so please state your name as you go
so we can give you your time.
I am Simba. We are the Youth Poverty Scholars at Homefulness 4 Magazine Decolonize Academy.
My name is Anaya. Homefulness is a, a, a, a, a, a, homefulness. People's Solutions to
Homef, uh, Hopefulness.
We wrote a monor, rave? Uh, ratorium on sweeps.
Hi, my name is Shara Dela Cruz and we wrote this moratorium because sweeping humans is
The purpose of this moratorium ordinance is to allow poor and houseless residents of
Oakland to access rural housing options and for houseless people-led solutions to be
considered and launched.
Sweeps Kill, I want to remind everybody that Ken Houston is the one who flipped the public
off, flipped the people off, just a reminder of that.
that comes from his hands we don't want any part of. We the people we have
solutions and every time we come with solutions it seems like you guys have a
problem with the solution but um we just uh we're still praying for you guys that
that God touches your hearts and allows you guys to make the right decisions but
we don't want anything coming from this guy. Thank you. My name is Mickey I'm
seating my time. And I'm Deb Oh, I'm also seating my time. Hi, yes. My name is
Ali Cat. I've been living in Oakland all my life. I was born here. When I move,
when I was born here, the hospital was called Merritt Hospital, now a summit. So
I was born in 1974. COVID hit. Everybody lost so much stuff. We are in RVs. How
are we supposed to get them registered if we cannot even get money to get work or
find jobs or it's people that need help with getting documents together they
life is in shambles are you guys doing it's chasing us around this guy here he
acts like he's helping 85th he's not he he knows he's not doing anything but I
think you guys need to give us abandoned vacant buildings like what's the problem
with us moving into those buildings get the people off the street even if they
don't have a documentation help them they need to be somewhere stable if we
We got kids out there, kids, seniors, all kind of people.
You guys keep talking about the drugs, the drugs, the drugs.
Okay, y'all the ones putting them in the, out here?
And y'all know that?
Let's get to the bottom of it, like what's really going on.
Y'all know, y'all be crooked, and doing all kind of stuff.
So, but, so you guys need to start working with the community.
No money, you can't fix your RV, you can't fix your car,
you can't fix your home that you are now living in.
a hundred percent raise, right?
Because rent is six times the rent.
How is anybody going to pay that?
Then y'all want a hundred percent raise.
How y'all get a hundred percent raise?
That is so unfair to us as taxpayers and everything.
You know, people are homeless and still on the street.
They're still outside.
They cannot afford the rent.
You feel you got to make six times the rent.
That is ludicrous that you guys are doing that.
Where do you think they're going?
Y'all going to move us around?
We're coming right back.
We're going to come right back.
no where else to go we rather struggle in our hometown than somebody else's
hometown okay so no matter how much y'all push we still gonna come back of
course if you guys don't get them treatment out and transitional housing
anything just get them off the street you guys have schools churches faking
give us the land we will make sure that we get them off the streets y'all did it
for mother infant programs, it's doable.
It's doable, you guys can do it.
That was one of y'all better program,
the mother infant program, the transition in housing.
That was one of y'all better program.
Re-entry for people getting out of prison.
And mothers are out here with their kids.
They can't get nothing, you can't do nothing
under the table because when you tell your worker,
then now you're getting in trouble.
Now it's fraud, I need money.
I need money, I need to work.
Because the little jobs that you get, that we get, we don't get a hundred percent raise.
How dare us even ask for a hundred percent raise.
Nobody has a hundred percent raise.
Come on.
You guys, Donald Trump, what's going on?
He's the only one doing a hundred percent raise.
You know, come on, let's get this together.
Work with us.
I see him on 85th doing nothing, promising, if you clean that, I'll pay you, and then
he'll get down to $10.
You know, we know.
We know.
We be out there.
We be out.
Thank you Ali Catcher, time is up. Hello my name is Leona Molica I'm a district 2
resident with the Oakland Tenants Union. For the past five years Oakland has
spent millions on a homeless policy center around sweeps and displacement.
The result is what we now see all around us. The very same problem scattered
hither and thither as those directly affected have their lives upturned and
belongings destroyed and the rest of us have paid the tab for this for shuffling
with our tax dollars.
Doubling down on this policy without shelter resources
for more than half of homeless campers,
other than elsewhere on the street,
is like a gambler taking out a loan
just to finance more lotto tickets,
certain it will be the key out of his debt and destitution.
We've heard a lot, by the way,
about other cities making Oakland a dumping ground
for its homeless population.
It's unclear what's on offer from this policy
beyond returning the same ugly favor.
The people of Oakland and broader Bay Area,
housed and unhoused alike, deserve better.
Good morning. My name is Damien Scott. I live in district 3 and lead organizer with East Bay Housing
Organizations and we're here this morning to oppose the encampment abatement policy and I urge the council to vote no on it today
The solution to our housing homelessness crisis in Oakland in California for that matter is more services and more affordable housing
You know
I was told this morning that over eighty percent of East Oaklanders want to see something about the encampments in their neighborhoods
and I agree as someone who lived in East Oakland for over 30 years, but I want to do these
East Oaklanders know that folks can be cited and arrested for re-encampment.
I wonder if they know that the low sensitivity zones are mostly in their neighborhoods and
not in the hills and other areas with resources.
I wonder if they know this policy doesn't require the city to offer adequate shelter
or fund permanent solutions to their housing crisis.
I wonder if they know that.
We need real solutions like the Mayor's Homelessness Strategic Action Plan, the State Affordable
Housing Bond, which I hope everyone calls their legislators to ensure gets on the ballot
that we support, because it will give us $10 billion to fund affordable housing development.
Thank you, Mr. Scratch.
Your time is up.
Thank you.
Hello.
My name's Nick Meyerhoff.
I don't think homelessness should be criminalized, and I'm a housing provider.
I have a schoolteacher living in one of my buildings.
Her e-bike was stolen by someone in the encampment next door.
She can't get to work.
My residents have been tortured living with this encampment for years.
My tenants are teachers, food servers, and other local workforce.
Their rights matter, too.
Who's speaking up for them?
Why are the rights of the people living in encampments more important than my tenants,
one of whom is a teacher?
I don't think homelessness should be criminalized
but I do support the new EMP and I support Ken Houston.
Order in the chamber, last warning.
My name is Tom Jensen, I've filed a certificate.
My first comment is where are the homeless experts?
This hearing has to be continued
so that they have a chance to equally speak.
My second comment is the EMP failed
because the city administrator failed to follow it.
The EMP has problems,
but they are far less than the problems of the EAP.
And one of the things the EAP fails to admit
is that the tents available to the homeless
are wholly inadequate shelter
in our fire hazards that have caused deaths.
Vehicles are far superior shelter.
Thank you, Mr. Jensen, your time is up.
I'm sorry.
Your time is up.
Hello, my name is Ms. Angela
and I came to speak today about the homeless.
I don't believe that homelessness should be criminalized
for a person being homeless.
A part of the American dream is even being homeless
here in the United States.
And a right to live however the person wants to live.
And I wanna address this picture that's put up here
by Ken Houston with the man sleeping on the ground.
Obviously, this man has issues.
So he needs to be placed and helped
with probably mental health issues or being an addict.
So that's something different
with somebody not having a place to stay.
but they sometimes slump into having mental health issues
and being a person that becomes an addict
from being homeless because they're not taught
that even being poor is not a crime,
being homeless is not a crime
and you shouldn't be persecuted for it.
There are resources already there
and it's called Section 8.
Once a state is called a state of emergency for homelessness,
That's the reason why they bring.
Thank you, Miss Angela, your time is up.
My name is Satya, I have these folks ceding time to me.
Please state your name.
Satya.
Or give, not yours, the ceding time.
Or give them to your yellow sheets too.
My name is Eve Valentin,
I've been an Oakland resident for 10 years.
I completely oppose this policy.
I'm ceding my time to Satya.
I'm Connor Barrow.
If you're ceding time, you're just saying your name.
Connor Barrow, ceding time.
And you don't get to, you lose your time.
So just so that's clear, you don't get to use your time.
I see my time, Satya.
More green.
Satya, you can only, there can only be three people to see to you.
That's fine.
Yeah.
Thank you.
My name is Satya and I'm a District 7 resident.
I've realized over the last six months that what the City Council is doing with the EAP
right now is nothing more than political theater.
We all know that Oakland's current approach to homelessness does not work, so if the EAP
was a serious policy, it would do something
significantly different, but it doesn't.
It is essentially the same as the existing EMP,
only with provisions to reduce services,
reduce sanitation, and reduce the city's overall
participation in addressing homelessness solutions.
So unfortunately, it appears that this council
is either unable or unwilling to be serious
about the crisis of homelessness and poverty in our city.
Where does that put us as of today?
I am no longer interested in addressing this council of high chairs, but instead this audience
who is with me today and anyone else who might be listening.
It's up to us now.
We do not have a governing body that's going to take care of us.
I'm tired of the trauma in my community.
I'm tired of the fact that there is trash everywhere.
I'm tired of the fact that there are women right now being trafficked by shelter staff
that Oakland pays for.
I'm tired of the fact that every other damn week I talk to somebody's granny or great
granny who is living in a tent on the street.
I am tired of people dying of overdoses, I'm tired of getting up here every couple of months
and stating the obvious to a bunch of mostly buffoons who take money from billionaires
and white supremacists like Peter Thiel and Philip Dreyfuss and then turn around and act
like they're still a part of our community.
Ha!
And you know what?
I'm not interested in beefing with any of my neighbors.
I don't want to argue with my neighbor who owns their home and pays property taxes and
is just tired of dealing with rats and stepping in human feces because you're right.
You should not be dealing with rats and you should not have to step in human feces.
You're right.
It's insane that I even have to say that.
And it all clicked for me when I realized that this council is not incentivized to solve
the problem.
Because if they solved homelessness, they wouldn't have a hot button platform to run
on the next time they want to get reelected.
They wouldn't have a convenient, undesirable population that they can promise to clean
up once and for all.
And yes, take a second to consider what that reminds you of.
My friends and neighbors, I'm gonna leave you with this.
It doesn't matter what the outcome of today's vote is.
It doesn't.
This is not a serious government.
This is a high school theater class.
We have got to get serious about our own communities.
We have got to take care of our own people,
and that means we work hard.
We clean our own sidewalks.
We fill our own damn potholes.
we feed each other's children,
we stand with our sisters against domestic abuse,
we make sure our cousins on the street
have some place to shower.
That is how my parents raised me to show up in my community.
But it's different now.
We can't just act this way out of the goodness of our hearts.
We need to do it on a large scale and fast
because now we know that we have been politically abandoned.
So if you're doing this work right now
in your communities, neighborhoods around Oakland,
Join me in East Oakland.
Tap in with me after this meeting.
We're gonna get together and do something real
after listening to all this bullshit.
Thank you.
Wooo!
My name, my name is Amy Astrol
and I yield my time to the individual behind me.
She's my type.
My name is Bernard Crystal
and I'm also seceding my time.
My name is Juniper Lu, I am seeding my time.
My name is Jazz.
Our hands build homes.
Our fires share food.
Our backs share clothes.
Our skills fix RVs, trailers and cars.
Our ribs help re-entry for our loved ones locked behind bars.
Our commitment move homes on wheels
before OPD can swipe them.
Our arms replace tents that got thrown in a dumpster.
Our cars move people into shelter programs
and medical respites, move people into housing
and get each other to our never ending medical,
legal, case worker, job and therapy appointments.
Our persistence reunifies families.
Our hearts banned to escape from DV situations.
Our lungs exhale harm reduction and rehabilitation.
Our hips throw rent relief fundraisers
and carve space for celebration.
Our fingers stack motel funds.
Our palms hold together community cleanups.
Our stomachs drumroll community cookouts.
Our community has always and will always do this
and more for each other.
CRC does this.
Love and Justice in the Streets does this.
Wood Street Commons does this.
Homelessness does this.
Everybody out in these streets does this.
We do this because inhumane policies
like the EMP and the EAP force us to
in order to keep each other alive
and to build a world all our children can thrive in,
where we aren't afraid that our back
or our loved one's back will be the next one
weighed out on the concrete crack.
Homelessness bill a home on a poem
and is still building more planting seeds in the loam.
Wood Street Commons sent diagrams and demands
for permanent supportive housing plans.
yet somehow the city is still pushing money laundering scams.
Three shelters closed down in a matter of weeks
and the city's response is more police and more sweeps.
Every day mamas and their babies are put out on the streets
and the city says, Eureka, I've got it, the EAP.
We don't have money to put a roof over your head
but we have money to sweep you to death.
Homelessness heals while the EAP steals.
Wood Street Commons builds while the EAP kills.
The EAP wants to criminalize the community
that is getting organized.
The EAP wants to squash every solution
that is sprouting out of a poor people-led revolution.
Politrixters will vote what they vote,
they'll lie and they'll cheat,
but real solutions come from all of us
in and beyond these seats.
So if you don't want to see any more people
have to sleep in the streets,
come get down with the people who've been through the shit
because we don't bite and we don't quit.
And as for the city putting their bit in,
they'll either have to get with it or miss it.
Before you begin, I'm going to read the remaining names.
Nita B Patricia Tuscano Alex from Just Cities Renee Hayes
Al from St. Mary's Center Sheila Gay
Kawemi from St. Mary's
Aranato Fred Nicole Dean Chris McKay
Miss, I'm sorry, Dominique DiMeo,
Miss, maybe Fowles from Civic Action Coalition,
Caleb, Chante McLaughlin, St. Tran.
I'm a resident of Oakland District 2.
I just want to say that it's kind of insulting
that someone like Ken Houston is currently being allowed
to help dictate the city of Oakland's approach
to the housing crisis.
Under his watch, he felt comfortable running an organization
paid him $195 an hour while he paid the unhoused residents it employed a mere
$17.19 an hour in the Bay Area which is just insulting. Clearly any policy that
he helps dictate does not have the best interest of residents at heart. Any
policy crafted by him should be opposed by the city of Oakland. Thank you. My name
is Father Dominic DeMeo. I'm a Catholic priest serving in the city of Oakland
and working with unhoused residents. So I'd like to speak plainly that this
policy will cause harm. For many this is a matter of life and death and in good
faith the members of this council have sworn an oath to be of service to the
residents of this city and that includes all of our residents whether they're
housed or unhoused and they've been given funding to provide services for
the residents of this city. In working with the unhoused in this city I've come
across many who have disabilities. I'd like to underline that because I
haven't heard it discussed today. The vast majority of those I encounter on
the streets of Oakland have disabilities. For instance, a woman who is an amputee
from the foot down went hurt and she lives in a van. That van is her safety,
her security, and her shelter. If it is towed, she loses everything. So I'd
like to urge you to make sure that safeguards are in place so that there is
There's no displacement without safe alternatives, which we'll- clearly it is a very controversial
policy and so I thought I'd write a pro and oppose position to the council and I'd like
to just share what I wrote to you guys.
So on the one hand Oakland's encampment policy is failing and we're not getting the results
the city needs and encampments continue to grow and we are not moving people indoor fast
enough.
state is giving out billions of dollars for the homeless housing assistance and
prevention program but they're increasingly demanding to the cities to
show results and cities that move faster on interim housing and encampment
reduction or securing funding but Oakland is falling behind so we really
need to show results show urgency and we need a change on the other hand I think
There's also an argument for keeping the status quo vote today to keep tents and RVs
Oakland should grow or tent cities and pile our RVs with more trash raw sewage dumped on sidewalks foster much beat
Thank you. Your time is up
Hello
Billionaires landlords tech and finance oligarchs Christmas your time before you begin. Please state your name Armando billionaires
Landlords, Tech, and Finance oligarchs, Chris Moore,
Ronald Nahas, Christian Larson, Massie Victor,
Justin Douglas-Wallway, Isaac Abid, and Philip Dreyfus
funded the recalls and supported the council members
who now support this legislation.
Through shadowy campaign finance networks,
funneling money through front group cutouts
like Foundational Oakland Unites, Revitalize East Bay,
Better Bay Area, Empower Oakland, et cetera,
their agenda is displacement of the poor and working class
so they can keep raising the rents
and the value of their assets.
They have caused the crisis by making housing unaffordable.
This legislation is class warfare.
It's state violence directed to anyone
these oligarchs can't control and profit off of.
They're exploiting renters by keeping us desperate
and trying to redirect our anger towards the unhoused,
even as they're making more and more of us unhoused.
There are two to three times more empty housing units
than there are unhoused people.
There wouldn't be a need for all these debates
if we just seized the housing directly.
Joyous morality, I cede my time.
My name is Nina B. with the Village in Oakland.
The EAP wants to literally disappear the unhoused,
a move in direct opposition to the mayor
and the new Office of Homeless Solution
that states in their new strategic plan
that sweeps are costly, ineffective,
solve nothing and cause irreparable harm,
including increased mortality rates.
Decades of research and experience
show that police enforcement-based homelessness policies
are an exorbitant waste of money
that only make the problem worse and increase death rates amongst the unhoused.
Recent reports from the city of Oakland show that a significant amount of police overtime is spent on encampment sweeps and tows.
According to an internal audit of the city of Oakland, the city spends more than $1,500 an hour on sweeps and tows.
We believe those funds can and must be redirected to real solutions that do not harm Oakland's unhoused.
The city has never properly managed unhoused encampments or followed its current encampment management policy,
which is why people are living in inhumane conditions.
I know that something must be done about the homeless crisis, but the EAP is not that what needs to be done.
It is inhumane, it is costly, and it solves nothing.
It follows this national trend to be aligned with Trump.
Nothing in the current EMP stops the police from intervening in criminal behavior activity.
The police just choose to not intervene.
The village is a part of the Housing and Dignity Project.
Since June of last year, we have been collectively working with Wood Street Commons in consultation with the East Oakland Collective, Love and Justice in the Streets, Oakland Revealed,
Just Cities Institute, Michael Pyotac, Cardia Health, and the triangle leaders from Allen Temple Baptist Church and Brotherhood Elders Network to advance this solution.
Standing on volumes of documented best practices, public health approaches, and lived experience and wisdom.
We offer an alternative to the EAP, a pipeline to intergenerational permanent housing from the streets to stability.
The housing and dignity project and the steering committee of HOG have met with several council members who like the housing and dignity proposal.
It is in line with the office of homeless solutions strategic action plan.
It is in line with the United Nations recommendations for adequate shelter and declarations and that housing is the human right.
I have submitted the proposal and I've submitted the HOG recommendations and I have submitted to other alternatives.
Thank you, Ms. Bee, your time is up.
My name is Alex Penegas and I'm a district four resident here yet again on behalf of
Just Cities and the Housing and Dignity Project to oppose the EAP.
To date it has never come before the Life Enrichment Committee where issues of homelessness
are typically heard and not one public analysis has been conducted to understand its impacts.
I'm submitting a list of analyses we have previously requested.
Why are we here?
Again, considering this policy when, since it was introduced last July,
not one city or independent body has publicly weighed in on its efficacy.
Where is the staff report?
If the council members feel they must pass the EAP, it must, at minimum, be amended.
I'm also submitting amendments that address our core concerns.
In particular, the clause removing inhabited vehicles from provisions governing encampments will do nothing.
for Oakland's residents, housed or unhoused,
and in fact will only lead to more people
living on sidewalks and streets.
I respectfully request that the EAP be amended
to remove this provision and others.
Thank you.
Good morning.
Caleb O will concede his minute to me.
Caleb, are you in the chamber?
He's on Zoom.
Caleb, please raise your hand.
And what's your name?
My name's Patricia Tuscano,
and I'd like for Council Member Ken Houston
I think it's time to sit.
Hold on one second.
Caleb?
Order in the chambers.
Please open the director's comments towards me.
Good morning.
So as I'm sitting here listening,
I'm thinking everyone's talked about everything
except for 225 children that I met during the holidays.
During the holidays, I sponsored a toy drive in DP Stokland
held it for unhoused children in District 7.
And it was invitation only.
Those children came from OUSD.
They came from local hospitals, clinics, social workers,
and programs that work with unhoused community members.
Those children, along with their families,
represented 83 families, a total of 308 unhoused people.
Now, I was looking at the point in time, from 2024,
and it states that there were 699 unhoused families
and children that represented 237 families
throughout the entire Alameda County.
So, I'm thinking, hmm, that's a lot of numbers.
That's probably closer to 50%, a little over 40%.
So, that leads me to believe that, obviously,
the data is flawed somewhere.
We have all of these unhoused children
that are being underrepresented.
Councilmember Houston serves a district,
and also yourself, Councilmember Jenkins,
serve the district that has the highest disparities
in education, incarceration, housing, economic disparities,
yet you all are pushing to criminalize families.
These are children we're talking about.
I met with every single one of these families
and personally talked to them.
I housed several of them over the holidays in hotels.
If you guys would like the receipts,
I'm happy to give them to you because it was raining.
All of you will go home.
You spent your holidays with your families.
You spent your holidays in your warm house.
While these children...
Your minute was given to you, your time is up.
What's your name?
I think you have a card for Ash Wagner.
One second, Mr. Scannell.
Please turn your yellow sheet into my staff at the front.
If you're seating time, I don't have a card for you.
One second.
Okay, is there somebody else that could seat behind?
Mr. Scannell, do you have anything else to say?
Thank you.
I made over 100 telephone calls during the holidays
to try to get people in a shelter.
Many of the shelters do not allow families
These children are not
invisible.
Go out here, find these
children.
The data does not represent
these children that are
unhoused.
I have a lot of money and I
have a lot of people that are
involved and I have a lot of
money.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I want to make money for
children.
I have numbers to show you if if you can't if you don't have anywhere to place them
Then where are they supposed to go? They're gonna end up on the streets
We're gonna continue to walk over over feces over god knows what every day. This is not the right proposal
Yes, there is a problem and we need to deal with it, but this is not it
Councilmember Houston your district has the highest unhoused population of children
Your time is up.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning council members.
My name is Kaye Wine and I cede my time.
Good morning.
My name is Renee Hayes.
I'm a senior advocate for the Hope and Justice Program and a member of the Council of Elders
at St. Mary's Center.
I get to hold the mic today to share my lived experience in real time with you because I'm
currently living in transitional housing at St. Mary's. Next month will be two
years. So that's two years of waitlist and lotteries to get on waitlist. I
believe that housing is a human right and that everyone deserves a home they
can afford. I strongly believe that the proposed encampment abatement plan is
cruel and causes unnecessary harm to the people who live there. Evan has shows
that encampment abatement or sweeps that's what they really do that's what
they are they do nothing to solve homelessness the fact that they have to
be repeated over and over again suggests that that's ineffective but what I what
it does is destroys people's much-needed personal property medications medical
equipment and then this necessary documents needed to apply for affordable
housing, you're causing a health crisis and increasing instability for people
when they are already vulnerable. This encampment abatement policy is just
more forced displacement. Imagine after having already been displaced with no
safety net and forced to live on the streets or in your vehicle or RV
because you can't afford the rent because the rent is too damn high.
And that's what's criminal.
And we're, and you're somehow managing to survive here in the streets, and the best
of the city of Oakland, with Ken Houston's encampment abatement policy, which I view
as pure spectacle, is willing to offer you, all they're willing to offer you is more trauma
and criminalization, criminalizing you for not being able to afford to live inside.
county council members I'm
very excited to be with you
today so they're saying to the
on house. Thank you your time
is up. My name is Sheila gay
and I'm relinquishing my one
minute to my cold heart out.
Good morning council members my
name is out I work with hope
and justice at St Mary's center
as a senior advocate this
policy directly impacts me
policies like this cause just
as much fear and harm for many
that this policy is denied.
Thank you.
Good morning, Council members.
This is Oma Wally-Fowls.
I want to say thank you so much
for your leadership and for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
Thank you so much for your support.
I'm currently the housing director at telegraph community ministry center in district one
oakland.
I'm also the former public health commissioner for the city of berkeley and I'm also a member
of the elder council and the elephant council for home fullness the homeless people solution
for homelessness.
I wanted to point out four cases that are expensive because the city of oakland has
has exposed itself using the MP and the AP to litigation.
San Francisco just paid a $2.8 million settlement
for violation of people's rights in 2022.
Sanchez versus Caltrans is a now ongoing lawsuit
because of alleged unconstitutional seizure
and destruction of property,
including medical and phone and documents.
the state of the state of the
to respond more quickly to urgent health and safety conditions for our business corridors including Chinatown this is not just a safety issue it directly impacts whether businesses can keep their doors open businesses are dealing with block sidewalks that limit customer access
fire hazards near storefronts and buildings and ongoing concerns that reduce foot traffic and revenue many of our businesses are small and immigrant owned they do not have the ability to absorb this level of destruction
And so we need to be able to
make sure that we don't stop
from the day after day this
policy provides important tools
that but businesses need
consistency and follow through
not just one time action we
must acknowledge the reality
that we do not have enough
shelter beds and we are just a
city to pair this policy with
real humane investments in
housing coordinated outreach
and long term strategy our
businesses need safe accessible
corridors and our community
by honoring my friend Courtney Beal who passed away on Easter Sunday, second
woman in her family to die homeless in Oakland in the last 10 years. I remember
when the encampment management policy passed. The political forces that later
became Empower Oakland and foundational Oakland Unites heralded it as this big
turning point in Oakland's homelessness policy and it wasn't. And this won't be
either. This couldn't pass committee because there's really serious problems
with this policy for all the reasons that I've already been stated today. Every
Every time you guys pass a policy that promises things that it cannot deliver, your constituents
lose a lot more faith in government.
I will say that the thousands of residents that C4C has doorknocked are really concerned
about how the EAP will affect 911 response times, traffic safety infrastructure and other
basic city services.
Sixty percent of unsheltered Oaklanders live in vehicles.
Most people we've talked to think that pushing them out of their vehicles onto the streets
will make neighborhood issues worse.
Action needs to be taken.
It's been an emergency.
and it's a lot of stuff we've
been doing is not been working.
But this policy does not
represent a meaningful change
from what the city has been
doing for the path.
Thank you Miss Dean if your name
was called and you're in
chambers and you wish to address
the council please step to the
podium.
Last call for in chamber
speakers and I'm moving to the
zoom speakers.
James B. can you just one second
one second.
Please approach the podium.
How'd your name in the first
second so if everybody's been
called can we please clear.
David Boatwright, this is not a complete solution to the homeless issue but it at
least can provide steady progress. I recommend the city consider purchasing
3d houses. A single unit can be fabricated in one day for less than
fifty thousand dollars with a pad and utility connections installed for another
maybe fifty thousand dollars. All the city has to do is add small plots of
land around the city. 3D units for multiple persons can be constructed by
joining single units. Multiple companies in California offer different designs.
The cost of the option will more than reduce the cost of repeated cleanup
operations. This recommendation is much quicker to implement and cost much less
than million the million dollar unit projects authorized for over 160 units
by the Council just over a year ago and on which no physical progress is.
Thank you Mr. Boatwright. Again if your name was called and you're in chambers and you
wish to speak this time we'll be moving to the Zoom speakers. Mr. Burt, I'm sorry
James if you could just tell me your last name. James Burt, B-U-R-C-H. Thank you.
Please begin your comments. Thank you. I feel for the business owners who have
been given the EAP as a policy solution you have been misled what this policy
does is give the city authority to tow more than 2,000 people's vehicles without
giving the city anywhere to put them the city has just a few hundred safe
parking sites for more than 2,000 vehicle residents this policy does not
create more it does not create shelter it does not create housing it creates
towing authority and when you tow a family's RV without a placement that
family ends up on the sidewalk you have not solved the problem you have moved it
to the curve.
This is not a framework for solving homelessness.
This is a framework for relocating it.
And study after study shows what relocation
without placement purposes.
Families who stop seeking medical care
because they fear losing a vehicle,
children who lose school stability,
lost documents that block access to housing,
and a cycle through emergency rooms
and child welfare systems that cost the city more
than where we started.
Over 2,000 vehicles, less than 200 spaces.
This policy does not close that gap.
It just aside.
Thank you for your comments, Mr. Burch, Sanford Forte.
You are next after Sanford Carmen Joval.
I'm Sanford Forte, co-chair of the West Oakland Neighbors.
Speaking of witness to hundreds of neighbors
and many business owners
with whom I've interacted with over years,
among these major concerns, uncontrolled, inhumane,
and dangerously unhealthy homeless camps and RVs
that degrade the social fabric
and frustrate the public's reasonable expectations.
For basic civil order in the public commons,
mostly in east and west Oakland.
We must balance legitimate concerns
about the unfortunately unhoused,
but not forget the real racial injustice
averting the most racially diverse
economically challenged districts in Oakland
with the problem that the EAP is designed to correct.
Please pass the EAP with a firm determination
that insists on maintenance of civil order
and obedience to laws designed to protect
the public commons as first principles with no exceptions.
for all who reside in Oakland, including unhoused persons.
Thank you.
Carmen, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
Hello, my name is Carmen Jovila.
I'm a resident of District 3
and the housing deputy director
of the East Bay Community Law Center.
I'm speaking in strong opposition
to the anti-homeless encampment abatement policy.
Abatement by definition is ending,
reduction, or lessening of something.
Humans cannot be lessened, reduced, or ended.
That is murder.
That is not humane.
It is not humane to waste millions of dollars
and bulldoze tents, impound lived in vehicles
and continue to push out and banish thousands
of unhoused people from their homes without investing
in sustainable solutions.
That is irresponsible.
The constant displacement makes keeping track
of life-saving medicine, personal belongings
and necessary documents for permanent housing
nearly impossible.
The proposed EAP criminalized black and brown
unhoused community members who are already over-policed.
Our unhoused community neighbors are not foreign
or domestic terrorists like they've been referred to.
They are members of our community.
many long time Oakland residents who have been evicted
facing housing insecurity and are now fighting
to remain in their communities.
Public space or public, you should not mean
pretending that our unhoused neighbors do not have a right.
Thank you for your comments.
Well, Khan, can you please tell me
the name your card is under?
My name is David Peters.
I'm sorry, say that one more time.
My name is David.
My name is David Peters.
Thank you, please begin your comments.
Go ahead, Mr. Peters.
Yes, go ahead.
Can you hear me?
Yes.
I've heard a lot of comments here today.
Not many of them have talked about our mamas,
our grandkids, our nephews and our extended families.
And I have faith that our city council,
so many of which folks have grown up in Oakland
and who understand what our communities look like
and the relationships that we have with our families
of why this is so important.
This is for our mamas.
How many of you have lived with homeless neighbors
on your block for the last 10 years?
by extended West Oakland family has.
You've lived on the same block
across Chief and Hoover School since 1950.
Are there RV encampments in Montclair,
College Avenue or Lakeshore?
No.
Why does the city policy and practice
allow them to be contained
and maintain historically Black communities?
Perhaps more importantly, why do so many of our neighbors
who've moved here in the last 30 years
who live in other neighborhoods
advocate for the maintaining of this redlining policy
They contain these encampments in our neighborhoods.
The five closest parks to me are locked.
Kids can't play.
Thank you, Mr. Peters, Juan.
Kanham, you are next after Juan is Talia.
Go ahead, Mr. Kanham.
Hi, I'm Juan.
I'm a D4 resident.
I'm embarrassed by the council right now.
Not only is this a cruel, useless, inexpensive policy,
but you're sneaking it through at 9 a.m.
because you know it is.
This will waste millions giving police union
top brass an excuse to rack up even more over time by sweeping people around
keeping them on the streets longer. Police can claim that this gives them
clarity but we know from their body cams they don't care if we live or die so
giving them more power means they will kill more of us either deliberately or
through negligence. We have real community-led solutions that are under
resourced but instead of focusing on housing people we're wasting time on
this again how many could be fully funded with sergeant dolan's nine
hundred thousand dollars in overtime unlike unhoused neighbors the
landlords business owners and cops speaking in favor largely don't live in
Oakland they are the ones gaming our system not paying their taxes keeping
their properties vacant to keep rents high and abusing the fact thank you for
your comments Talia you are next please unmute yourself begin your comment my
My name is Talia, and I must love injustice in the streets.
I urge you to vote no on the EAP,
which will cause massive harm to many vulnerable members
of our community.
Targeting vehicle dwellers and impounding people's only shelter
is cruel and ineffective at solving homelessness.
RVs and cars provide a locking door and more security
than a tent.
When vehicles are impounded, people
are left in more dangerous conditions,
leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather as well
as violence.
In the midst of a budget crisis
when the city is defunding shelters,
the EAP would spend millions of public funds
with zero housing solutions.
Housed and unhoused Oakland residents want real solutions,
not more costly and ineffective sweeps.
I urge you to vote no on the EAP
and work with community members on real solutions
that uplift human rights and make Oakland safer for all.
Thank you.
Thank you for your comments, Jeff Levin, you are next.
Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.
Thank you, good morning, Jeff Levin
with East Bay Housing Organizations.
We did send you email comments earlier this morning,
which I hope you've had a chance to read.
No one thinks it's a good thing
that we have a growing number of un-housed people
living on the streets.
There's no excuse for a society as wealthy as ours
being unable to house all its residents.
but this policy doesn't address that problem.
It doesn't address the underlying causes of homelessness
and it does nothing to prevent or reduce homelessness.
Even the proponents have described it
as making encampment abatement more efficient
as if creating a better band-aid
is the solution to a deeper problem.
This plan doesn't provide more housing
and it doesn't provide for designated encampment spaces
with sanitation and social services developed
in collaboration with unhoused residents themselves.
This policy does nothing to address those issues.
You're not solving a problem,
you're just moving people around.
You're putting the cart before the horse.
You have a comprehensive homelessness strategic act.
Thank you, Ms. Sullivan.
Maria, please state the name that you submitted a card.
I do not have a card for you.
Thank you, my name is Maria.
And I just want to comment.
Maria, I don't have a card for you.
At this time all names have been called.
Thank you to everybody who took the time to come in person
and comment whether for or in opposition
to the encampment abatement policy.
Thank you to everybody who spoke online.
I know there are a wealth of amendments
and I'm gonna get everyone in the queue.
So I'll get Unger, Wong, Brown, Fife,
and then myself, if anybody else.
Guido, you have amendments?
or do you want to comment first?
Do you have amendments or do you want to comment first?
Yeah, you comment first.
One second, can we turn?
Can we turn this microphone on, please?
We'll get you, don't worry.
Justin Montu, there we go.
Thank you.
Let me first thank all of you
for being here this evening,
and certainly when it comes to the homeless management
encampment policy, I was part of that development.
And certainly, I've been on the council now for 12 years,
but we've been on the street every day,
cleaning the neighborhood, dealing with encampments,
and certainly showing appreciation,
not just sitting here at council,
talking, doing more policies.
We need to get to work down on the street,
and that's one of the challenges
we've had from the very beginning.
Whether it's law enforcement,
it's transportation, you know, the administration,
They're not delivering on the quality of the program
that we're asking for them to do, that we're paying to do.
All right, so I have Preston Turner here with me,
his daily job, he's one of my employees.
He does this daily working with homeless and campus.
Not only to provide information,
but to be directly involved,
to make sure that we're serving our neighborhood,
because the reality is this, not just in Oakland,
California, by the United States of America,
the cost of living has risen tremendously.
When it comes to rental,
when it comes to buying your food items,
when it comes now even to buying your gasoline for your car,
everything is going up and up and up
that in many areas like in my district five,
we do have some apartment units, but you know what?
There's five, six people living in the apartment.
because that's all we can afford
and that's all that's available.
So the reality here in the city of Oakland,
we need to stay unified because Oakland is in Alameda County.
And Alameda County receives a good amount of money
to deal with homelessness,
but the biggest challenge is here in Oakland.
I mean, I just heard the numbers about here in Oakland.
What do we have?
Currently, we have what?
How many do we have?
For those of you that are here in administration,
how many homeless at the county report
that we had here in Oakland?
How many, 6,000?
I heard the number 6,000 before our committee.
6,000?
But out of that 6,000, 70% is African American.
And here, I'm doing a lot of talk
about taking care of those that are in need
and servicing our community.
and we need to be serious about that and invest
and be able to deliver a service
because housing right now is a challenge here
and a priority, but this city council
and this administration,
as opposed to hiring more administrators,
we need to invest in the community.
And Preston can tell you that.
And I'll just leave you with my last comment
because I went from being at City Hall daily,
But now five of my employees are in the neighborhood
cleaning it up Monday through Sunday.
Monday through Sunday, it's six in the morning.
So when you go out driving,
you don't see the activity on the streets.
Six in the morning to 11, 12, huh, Preston?
And I join them Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays
and do the cleanups as well.
But not just at the street level,
but I also work directly with our homeless encampment
and that's where I know need to be this year.
I mean, we first met the very first one that popped up in our district.
And I appreciate the fact that she has leadership where those in the encampment help keep it
clean, keep it safe, keep it engaged, and because many times we have to, you know, call
grandma from out of the state to come and deal with the children that were living in
certain areas.
But I just want to thank you for the work you do.
I'm not in support of this policy, but I am in support of making sure administration
does the job that they were paid to do, and don't go around making excuses from transportation,
the police department, because we're out there, I'm out there, and I make the cost, but nobody
shows up.
So the reality is, this city council, we need to deal with what we have in place, but be
able to deliver a service.
And one of the reasons that kind of motivated me even more, we just got through celebrating
Easter Sunday and all those holidays that Jesus said, take care of the needy.
Take care of the poor.
Jesus wasn't out there in a church in a cathedral worth $10 million, he was out on the hillsides.
But so I'm reaching out to the churches to allow perhaps their parking lots to become
places where we can drive and park temporarily.
as well as Oakland Unified School District because now they have many
facilities and buildings that are empty including Alameda County that are
completely empty for years but we need to make sure that we take care of the
needy our families and children here in the city of Oakland so I appreciate your
your advice and your support and let's take care of our families here and
we have a lot of people here and
we're here in Oakland.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
I'm going to council members.
I'm going to go to councilmember
Unger, you have some amendments,
then councilmember Wong, then
councilmember Brown, then five,
then myself.
All right.
Thank you, council president.
You know, as this...
Excuse me.
Can we, if anyone, please clear
the walkways, including over
If you want to record, please record from the back.
All right.
Thank you.
Thank you all.
So, you know, as this policy and the mayor's plan have been floating around out there in
the ether over these past months, I've been struck by how what we're trying to do on homelessness
is simultaneously too big and too small, which is both a problem and an opportunity.
It's too small because whatever you think of these amendments, they are going to address
only a very limited portion of our challenge.
And the mayor's plan, which I admire, is large and attempts to address the full system,
including encampment management.
But the mayor's plan, in order to solve half of homelessness, requires $1.4 billion, which
is about $1.4 billion more than we have.
So the amount of guidance that it gives us to actually decide what to do today is very
limited.
And I had hoped that we as a city could come together around a more comprehensive and strategic
vision for addressing homelessness that included encampment management that reflected a shared
vision between council and the mayor's office and the administration that really reflected
the urgency of the issue.
We haven't quite achieved that unity, but it has heartened me to hear so many of my
colleagues acknowledge that what we are discussing today, this encampment management, is a small
but necessary, unfortunately, piece of the puzzle.
I'm committed to working with everyone involved in addressing this issue.
we are welcoming our new Homeless Services Chief,
Cupid Alexander, to the fold today.
I wish I could have done that over a meal,
but here we are.
So welcome to Cupid Alexander.
The other reaction that I had
to reading the first iteration of the plan,
the first iteration of the plan,
which came to us a few months ago,
was that there were a few red lines in that first iteration
that made that plan unacceptable to me.
First, I am absolutely unwilling to criminalize
and arrest people for the simple act of being homeless.
Second, in non-emergency situations,
in non-emergency situations,
I believe it's critical that we make reasonable offers
of shelter before we move people from their encampments.
And I want to thank the city attorney and my colleagues
for working to present us today with a version
that does not cross either of those red lines.
And I think it's really important to repeat that.
The part about criminalizing people for being homeless
has been removed.
It is not in the policy that we are considering today.
And this policy does require reasonable offers of shelter
before we clear any encampment.
So I think those are real improvements to this
and I wanna thank everyone for doing that.
On the other hand, living with no fixed address
does not confer the right to engage
in dangerous or illegal behavior.
That needs to be dealt with just as if somebody is living
in a home that they rent or own.
So moving on with the work in front of us,
I want to offer a couple of amendments,
and my goal is to sort of try to provide some direction
in the development of these policies.
I don't know, K-Top, if you have my amendments.
Look at that, you guys are good.
So, first, understanding that employees
of different departments have different
resources and skill sets,
my amendment to 3B requires that prior to towing
an inhabited vehicle,
OPD has to contact the Homelessness Division
in order to coordinate resources and offers of shelter.
Second, we have to recognize that even if we change
our policy, our actual resources on the ground
are gonna be limited, so it's key to set our priorities
for those limited resources.
So my amendment to 3B requires that OPD
first prioritize vehicles that pose an imminent hazard.
This is vehicles leaking gas, blocking a fire hydrant,
or whether it is illegal activity going on of any type.
In addition, OPD has to prioritize vehicles located
in the highest priority locations
in line with the mayor's plan,
such as schools, parks where kids play entrances
to residences and retail businesses.
Beyond that, OPD will follow the priorities
regarding high-sensitivity areas
and low-sensitivity laid out in the mayor's plan, 2A and 2B.
So to support these amendments,
I want to require that the city administrator
and team OPD, every other necessary stakeholder,
work on standard operating procedures.
That's what this next year is gonna be about,
is these SOPs, right?
So I wanna provide some guidance around those SOPs.
And those SOPs have to ensure that inhabited vehicles
that are subject to tow receive adequate prior notice
to towing, adequate prior notice,
and that the prioritization of tows are again in line
with the mayor's plan to reduce homelessness.
And finally, recognizing that citywide problems
have citywide solutions, I put in here
in a couple of different places amendments stating
that the city administrator shall endeavor
to find low sensitivity areas
in every single council district across the city.
This is a shared problem and there's shared responsibility
in every council district across the city.
So I also wanna note that as part of these amendments,
the plan now refers directly
to the mayor's homelessness strategic action plan,
which deals with some of my earlier concerns
about coordination.
And finally, I wanna make the obvious point
that we are constrained by lack of resources.
we are almost certainly going to find that passing this policy is going to be
less impactful than people hope and or fear right we still only have three or
four people in the encampment team so we can write all of these policies but we
are constrained by what we can actually do and so what I'm trying to do today is
focus those limited resources on the most truly problematic encampments right
the ones causing significant chaos in the neighborhood where they're located
There are plenty of people living in vehicles who are good neighbors, and we are not trying
to go after those folks.
Prioritizing the most dangerous and those engaged in illegal activities highest, we'll
probably find that we don't have the resources to dip below that highest priority level.
Nobody wants to chase people from corner to corner, right?
That's like trying to pick up sand with a fork.
That's not what we're doing here.
We are focusing our attentions with my amendments on the highest priority, highest severity.
But when it comes to situations that are truly dangerous or lawless, we can't tie our own
hands.
So I don't want any of us to be under the impression that what we're doing here today,
discussing encampments and how we manage them is a stand-in for any kind of true or lasting
solution.
No matter how we vote today, we're going to need to come back tomorrow, develop these
so P's and actually keep working as a team on that full system and I am committed to doing that no matter what happens today and
I know everyone else up here on the dais is committed to that too. This is this is a first step
It is a small step and we have a heck of a lot more work to do
So I would like to present the amendments and I'll defer to the parliamentarian about how we want to take up all these
So we'll introduce all the amendments, but thank you for your sensible reasonable amendments to this policy
Councilmember Wong, please proceed
Thanks through the chair. So
Just before I get to the amendments, I want to say some high-level remarks, which I would say it a
utopia where we had a different federal administration that was providing
Resources instead of on war but instead on actually
Addressing homelessness we would be in a very different picture
But I would say right now for the city of Oakland where we not only have the highest poverty rate in the region
Our resources are incredibly constrained.
For us to consistently be the region's social safety net is just not fair and it's not sustainable.
For me, I do support this, but this is about providing relief to the neighborhoods who
have had their encampments in their backyard.
I don't know how many of the folks who came against the encampment, have you had an encampment
right in your backyard?
That's what I need folks to grapple with, right?
So furthermore, these encampments have disproportionately been in the poorest, most working class areas
in Oakland.
And so what I see this as is this is giving our enforcement staff the authority to make
people move along.
living in vehicles and cars will be subject to a notice. It doesn't happen without warning
before towing happens. At the same time, I don't see that this policy is at odds with
providing people with shelter. I do think as a council, we really do need to work up
to stand a real plan to stand up shelter. There's cuts happening at the federal level.
The Measure W money happening at the county level is absolutely not enough. When you look
at it. It's about $153 million per year for the county. We have to come up with something
better in terms of a shelter plan. However, there is some urgency around, in my opinion,
around ensuring that I have tents popping up in just areas that are just not appropriate
to be popping up and RVs and areas that I just I need to have these areas cleaned. But
I do want to see some important amendments in order to have this policy passed.
First thing is, if K-Top can put it on the screen, for the first amendment, this is around
the SOPs.
I do want to see, as part of the SOPs that are promulgated, addressing families that
are living in vehicles subject, I'll just read it out loud.
Furthermore, the SOP shall include addressing families
living in vehicles subject to tow,
and shall avoid towing vehicles where children are living,
absent imminent risks to health or safety.
I do think that it is important,
we know that there are, for example,
it's a classic case, a single mom with her children
that are living in a vehicle.
It's disruptive for children to have to re-enroll
in different school systems.
This is why I think it's important to have special care
given for families with children and vehicles.
The next amendment.
This is about the cleaning interventions.
I do wanna ensure that as it reads,
Oakland Public Works is authorized to conduct
debris removal and sanitation services
around encampment sites as needed, excuse me,
who follows the city's SOPs
and collective bargaining agreements.
There's been too many situations
where I have had a 311 complaint from the constituent.
I've given it to 311.
I need trash adjacent to an encampment to be cleaned up
and I get told, that's not possible.
We have to wait to coordinate with the EMAT team,
which as been noted by my colleague,
there's only three people on that.
It's just not a wise use of resources
in an extremely constrained city.
That trash can be picked up and I'm pretty sure folks who,
even if the unhoused person does not want that food waste,
that human waste to be next to them either.
Next amendment.
The next amendment is just around when,
I'll just read it, it allowed it,
adds a provision that says when shelter is available,
unavailable despite such efforts,
the city shall allow an individual
to move to a low sensitivity area.
And here's where my amendment kicks in
and provide information and resources
that include safe parking lot sites
and available services, shelter and supports
in Alameda County.
I just think it's important that we include
the county's resources in our encampment abatement plans.
And this final provision,
when shelter is not available at the time of closure,
the EMAC shall establish a method to locate
and contact displaced individuals
to offer them shelter as soon as it becomes available.
participation in this tracking in the subsequent acceptance
of shelter remain strictly voluntary.
All that to say that if shelter is not available
and an encampment is closed down,
what this amendment establishes is after the fact
that those individuals can still get access to shelter
and the city will establish processes
to ensure that that can happen.
Okay, those are my amendments.
Thank you for your reasonable and sensible amendments.
Council Member Wong.
Council Member Brown.
Excellent, thank you so much.
Thank you Council Member Unger, Council Member Wong
for those amendments.
I just wanna first start off by genuinely thanking
all of the members of the public
that have consistently shown up for this conversation.
I think at this point, I'm not sure
if this is our third or fourth engagement on this topic
over the course of the last six to eight months.
And so just the commitment of community members
as well as various stakeholders,
whether in the business community, neighborhood groups,
action coalitions, thank you for your commitment
and showing up.
One of the things over the last six to eight months
I've been working on is ensuring that I met myself
and my team, we've had the ability to meet with a handful
that the advocates that have showed up consistently to talk about just some of
the details of this policy as with some of the areas of opportunity. In addition
I've also connected with the East Bay Community Law Center and they provided
us a hand might be myself and my team a handful of just feedback on the policy
and momentarily you will see some of those amendments.
So if KTOP, if you can pull up the amendments
that I'm offering, and then I'll just walk through those
very quickly since I gave most of my time
to Council Member Houston.
No, no, no, no, no.
Please proceed, I think.
Council Member Fife made a really good point.
This is a meaty policy.
Let's ensure that we are taking our time going through this.
Excellent, thank you so much.
So for the First Amendment that's presented on the screen,
you can find the text on page one, section one,
second to the last paragraph, last sentence.
And so for this amendment,
it says upon adoption of this policy,
the city administrator in coordination
with the Office of Homelessness Solutions
shall within the 90 days provide the city council
with an analysis of the city-owned properties
evaluated for interim shelter, safe parking,
and options for vehicle storage
for individuals accepting shelter.
Some of the feedback that myself and the team received
is that one of the barriers for,
you know, unhoused community members accepting shelter
is the fear of losing their vehicle and or their possessions
and so I did indeed think that this was a priority
and including that piece of information into the amendment.
I know momentarily Council Member Fyfe
will be offering up an amendment
kind of along these same lines
and I'm supportive of the be part of your amendment.
So the public will see that shortly.
Next slide.
And then the next slide showcases
the equity considerations
because we've heard consistently, you know, easily,
since the first adoption
of the encampment management plan around the data.
What is the data telling us, and how are we tracking that?
And so, and then in addition, we know that our mayor
established the Office of Homelessness Solutions.
We recently just had two reports
around an anti-displacement plan,
as well as our Homelessness Strategic Plan.
And similar to Councilmember Unger,
couldn't help but think hey how how is this interacting with our EAP. And so for
these amendments it just kind of states calling for this annual impact and
equity analysis also leaning on the support of our Department of Race and
Equity as well as our Human Services Department which is a very it's very
crucial that they are part of the conversation given so many of the
resources that are made available through that department as well as the
the ongoing efforts of this newly established
Office of Homelessness Solutions.
And I think that all of these entities
should be working together to move us
in a more positive direction.
And so numbers one through six simply
offer up the operating standards of what we want
to be included into this analysis.
The number of encampments addressed, closed,
you're going to see and you're
going to see a number of
people.
We're going to have to stabilize
numbers of residents numbers of
locations repeated closures.
You know there's the saying
around like if you keep doing
the same thing over and over
expecting a different.
Expecting a different result you
know you're just going to get
the same thing and so we really
I really think that it's
important that we begin to
capture this information as well
as we know that there's a lot
while we are there engaging with the unhoused neighbors
to also be capturing this data as well.
And so that's kind of the details.
Also around tracking the hours and times
that we're spending on these efforts.
All right, next amendment.
And then similar to, I believe it was,
I think it's Council Member Wong's amendment
For offers of shelter, you can find this on page 11,
first page of section three.
Just the sentence around the city will make reasonable
efforts to address and accommodate disability needs
that are made known to the city prior to
or at the start of an operation.
Also outlining some clear examples.
Examples of reasonable requests may include
providing a referral to a specific shelter if available,
extensions of time for individuals with disabilities
to move out of a specific work zone,
or allowing volunteers to help move the longings
at the beginning of an operation,
provided that any accommodations do not delay or halt
the EMAT operations.
And then lastly, also putting a provision here
to ensure that we are performing any of the deep cleanings,
and so some of these amendments I was able to work with,
of course, the Office of the Administration
as well as the Office of the City Attorney,
I would say well over a month ago.
So thank you all for your partnership and collaboration.
Thank you for your amendments.
Council Member Fyfe.
Yeah, first I wanna thank everyone who showed up today,
even people with opposing perspectives,
because that, I believe, is how you sharpen
the analysis on what's happening.
I believe, for the most part, people are well-intended.
There's some folks that are a part of this process
that are always stirring up shit, but for the most part,
I think residents of Oakland really want answers
and solutions to homelessness,
And I completely believe that the encampment management
policy or plan hasn't worked, because it wasn't a plan that
addressed homelessness to begin with.
Because the answer to homelessness are our homes.
And until we address that very fundamental issue,
we are going to consistently have challenges with housing.
From the day that this item came up when councilmember Houston was talking to me about it every time councilmember Houston
What did I say?
Where are people gonna go and I know you've worked?
To
Identify places in your district. I've worked to identify places in my district
I actually was one of two I was there were two council members
years ago who actually identified
locations for
interventions low barrier interventions in our districts when no other council member did and
We learned a lot of lessons from those interventions and sometimes things don't work according to plan
But we got to keep trying to figure out where are people going to go?
And when the entire city is a high sensitivity zone, it means that we are outlawing homelessness in Oakland
and I just think that's a fallacy.
I think it's a fallacy.
I also don't believe that we can have
the economic development that I'm advocating for
in West Oakland that has been so disinvested in historically
because of race that what I'm attempting to do,
we need economic revitalization.
And when we have our fees and different locations set up
where businesses can't get into their driveways,
or where low income children are attending
Defirmary Park and Pool and can't walk around certain blocks
to get into the pool, that's also not acceptable.
But we can't come to any real solutions
if we can't even talk to each other.
And that is what I'm experiencing.
I'm experiencing cynical people
that are just trying to argue and fight,
not because they're right,
just because their emotions
don't allow conversation to occur.
So I wanted to give a shout out to Nicole Dean
for mentioning Courtney Beale.
I knew the Beale family.
I know that Paula also died,
both of these black women died homeless.
And the majority of people dying on the streets homeless
are black people, and that is not by accident.
This is the history and legacy of a racist country.
And I can't support legislation that's
going to perpetuate racist policies that impact my people
more than anybody.
Um, so I believe that there, I believe
that some amendments that have been made are good amendments,
but I believe that if we're not starting from a place
on from where do people go,
then there's not really much to amend.
I do have amendments if K-Top can put those on the screen.
I think you have those.
While they're doing that,
I will say that I'm a commissioner
on the Association of Bay Area Governments
and we just had a presentation last Friday
showing that incomes in the Bay Area at $500,000 or more
are rising.
Middle incomes of $147,000 a year or less
and low income jobs of $25,000 or less are shrinking.
So for everyone that's advocating for stricter penalties
around what we do with poor people,
because this is about poor people,
find out where you are in that spectrum of incomes.
Because this is coming for us all, right?
Because the rents are too damn high
and people are too damn poor.
And in America, that is our formula, and it's wrong.
So we're never gonna get out of it,
because in an empire where predatory capitalism
is the name of the game,
then homelessness is a byproduct.
And we're not addressing those root causes,
but I will get off that.
The amendments that I'm gonna take them out of order
and start with the third bolded paragraph,
paragraph three, Offers of Shelter, pages 14 and 15.
In connection with a partial closure,
closure of an encampment,
The EMAT will make every reasonable effort to offer services, support, and shelter to
each individual residing within noticed areas including those living in vehicles prior to
removing that individual's belongings.
The EMAT will attempt to coordinate transportation for individuals to relocate prior to or during
an EMAT operation particularly for individuals with disabilities.
The addition is the city will make reasonable efforts to address and or accommodate disability
needs that are made known to the city prior to or at the start of the operation examples
include examples of reasonable request may include providing a referral to a specific
shelter if available extension of time for individuals with disabilities to move out
of a work zone or allowing volunteers to help move belongings at the beginning of an operation
provided that any such accommodations don't delay or halt emat operations and this is
because the majority of individuals that I've come across
in a lot that I've heard of
are in encampments with disabilities.
We heard of one of our fathers here
talking about an amputee in an encampment
and I've seen far too often people in wheelchairs,
people on walkers or people
that are literally disabled seniors who need assistance
and I think this amendment addresses that.
The EMAT intervention, I want to add the following to the EMAT intervention section of the policy,
where any closure or partial closure occurs, the following shall be documented.
And this is addressing the data needs in these closures.
Clear findings regarding urgency resources used for closure, resources offered to residents
of the encampment or shelter offer, in cases where no shelter options are available but
But due to urgency findings of closure occurs, there should be clear documentation that will
allow the city to determine if individuals are migrating to different blocks or neighborhoods.
Because what I've experienced is for every closure, people migrate from one block to
another block.
And so we are spending inordinate resources on just shifting people from one place to
another, which is why we need a designated space where folks understand they can live
not live, they can survive, because that's what people are attempting to do.
And the pattern of migration should be identified in order to fully understand and capture the
multitude of costs of these closures without alternatives.
And the last point I want to make is the effective date.
The policy currently states that within 90 days of encampment, the city administration
and shall provide to City Council a written report
identifying city properties that could be converted
to shelter, low sensitivity areas and or safe parking sites.
And my district, because I've been looking at this for,
I feel like a decade now, in District Three,
there are two city-owned properties.
Two, that are far too small
to be used for any type of intervention.
There are Caltrans and OUSD properties and other things,
but there are no city properties.
So my proposed amendment states that the EAP
shall become effective the sooner of A,
90 days from adoption, or B, the date
that the city administrator's presentation
of a written report to city council,
identifying city product properties
that could be converted to shelter low sensitivity areas
and or safe parking sites.
The report should include the funding sources
to support shelter options along with necessary services.
And prior to the EAP's effective date,
there should also be a report
that includes a full assessment of all city encampments
and communities of vehicle residences
to identify the number of unhoused individuals,
the characteristics of encampments,
the health and safety conditions
for the residents of encampments,
as well as for the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses
and all prior deployment of the city's public safety agencies
to address crime or emergencies
and any associated enforcement actions taken.
And this is because we don't actually
have a real-time understanding of the costs associated
with these clearances.
And I believe that in order to have these emergency closures,
to avoid additional impacts to the mental health of people
already impacted by mental health situations,
that we need to identify the space.
We need to know where people are going to go.
Otherwise, again, what I've seen is,
what I've heard is my constituents calling,
saying, hey, this new encampment
just popped up in front of my house.
What's going on?
It needs to be cleared.
Oh yeah, there was a clearance over in East Oakland
or Middle Oakland or wherever, or in District 3.
So encampment closures migrate without dedicated spaces
that's going to continue without the Oakland Police Department
having additional resources they will not be able to enforce.
I know they stated that they want this policy on the record and I just want it to be noted
that beyond anything else, what I want is designated places for people to be.
We are getting poorer as a nation, we are getting older as a city, and if these policies
can continue, we may all be facing an issue of homelessness where we wish someone would
of going to work so I think
it would have been more
considerate thank you.
Thank you counsel member five
for the reasonable and sensible
amendments K. top can you bring
up my reasonable and sensible
amendment.
So the first one thank council
member Houston for embarking on
this journey I know it's not
easy you have a flip of a coin
is.
With the policy some people are
going to think it's going to
councilmember for the
state of the county.
That is- I've had the pleasure
of within the last week- going
into councilmember Houston's
district.
Where he's looking for safe RV
parking spots where the mayor
is there- the county supervisor
is there and he's advocating
for funding for safe RV parks
I'm not really the actions of
the fascists.
But actions of somebody who
There's no perfect policy, I had the pleasure of having dinner with Arnold Perkins the other
day and he said Kevin don't call them unsheltered residents, call them unsheltered relatives.
And when you're referring to people who have relatives we're going to treat them in a more
humane way.
So I deeply appreciate everybody who came out here today to advocate on behalf of this
policy and against this policy.
and I think that's one of the
things that I've been seeing
is that it shows that you truly
care about our on shelter
relatives. I want to channel
that energy right and making
sure that we're going to the
county board of supervisors to
make sure they are standing up
treatment centers. To make sure
they're standing up mental
health centers San Francisco
county has done amazing jobs
setting up. Systems setting up
kind.
Right.
And I think we in Oakland have a deep care about this, but I'm challenged if people see
this as an Oakland problem versus like this is a regional humane problem.
Right.
And so I'm going to continue working on our board of supervisors to make sure that we
have the adequate amount of funding and measure W is not enough.
Let's be clear.
Measure W is not enough.
Your budget is where your values are.
I think that's what we're
going to be doing.
And there needs to be more of a
general fund allocation.
So councilmember Houston and I
have been looking for.
Say parking spots in district
six district seven.
Because people as councilmember
five has consistently said.
Where people going to go and we
will continue to look for
places will continue to work
with Caltrans we will continue
to work with our neighbors
throughout Alameda County.
we need to do a lot of work
and we need to set the words
dumping human beings in Oakland
and this is not uncommon.
I know of other cities in
Alameda County that their
solution to homelessness is
dumping human beings in Oakland
and those words should never be
put together but it shows you
where we are and this is going
to take a regional solution.
city and county and state and
support of the city the county
the state and most likely the
federal government.
So k top if you can bring up my
reasonable sensible amendment.
So this is a priorities on
designation so the city
administrator in consultation
with the council member
representing the affected
district shall have the
authority to reclassify
specific geographic areas as
high priority zones for the
purpose of enforcement and
the city's priority. The city's
I'm looking for a second.
May I say one thing?
I'm noticing that there may be some inconsistencies
that I would like to recommend a reconciliation over,
if that's okay.
Please do.
So with respect to the Fife and Brown amendments,
I was going to recommend that, well, two things.
I was gonna recommend that Fife's language,
the EAP shall become effective the sooner of 90 days
from adoption or the date the city administrator's
presentation of a written report to the city council.
And then use Brown's language
about what that report actually is.
So there's not inconsistencies in two reports.
I'll accept that amendment in my motion.
And then finally, I was just gonna note
that the report about the full assessment
that we do not have the staffing or availability to do that.
If you think about our pit count,
do you have a motion to do that
as we take five hundred
volunteers to even just do the
count much less collect this
kind of information so I just
wanted the council to be aware
that we would not be able to do
that so it's a shit not shall
but I will remove that from my
motion- do you accept those
amendments.
Yes sir all right now clerk.
On the item six point one move
with the correct language made by assistant city administrator Lake
councilmember Brown aye councilmember five abstain councilmember Houston I'm
sorry councilmember Gallo no councilmember Houston aye councilmember
Ramachandran is absent count I'm sorry excuse councilmember Unger aye
Also remember Wong I
And share Jenkins
Leave you have a tie
No, that's all right
I'm sorry. I didn't mark you down ocean passes with a boat of five eyes one abstention one. No one excused
Thank you. Let's go to open for
As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order if you're on zone, please raise your hand
So I can easily identify you you have one minute for open forum to address the council
James van Jennifer Finley
David boat right
Josephine Guzman
Who Iman Wong
Meenakuchi
John marks Hillary Chen
David Newton
Rashida think or Rehina Deborah Walker
From Green Queen in any order, please approach the podium or raise your hand if you are on zoom
James van. Thank you for this opportunity. I
Just want to comment on
The process that has been in place leading up to this
Which has been one unlike I've noticed there were before
this kind of bullying of the council the
illegal meetings behind closed doors. This has not been a prideful type of
development that has gone on regarding this particular action and I hope that
to Council will well I hope that this type of bullying and exercising taking
of powers that don't exist doing things that shouldn't be done that this won't
be the standard operating practice of this Council and whoever is behind these
kind of thank you mr. van your time is up that they will stop the media I'm the
owner of Green Cleanest Scene. I was the first 100% black woman on biohazard cleanup here
in the Bay Area. My comment is in reference to the EAP policy is that something has to
be done. I do homeless and cabinet cleanup from L.A. to the Bay. And a lot of times when
advocates come and ask if you are, you know, if we would like to offer you housing, a lot
of them turn it down. So what is the policy going to be implemented when they turn it
down and they refuse the housing? I live in Castro Valley. My office is located in Oakland.
Abode Housing, just a few weeks ago last week, went down in a creek and they had housing
available for it the for the transient and they refused it so what do we do put
it on the ballot put it on the ballot thank you ma'am your time is up David
boat right we need to quit writing reports and start looking at how we can
increase the number of houses that are built that can be occupied by the people
on the street, that hasn't been done yet.
We keep looking at million dollar housing units
just because that's what the builders tell us
is what it costs.
And there are other alternatives.
We don't have to rely on the builders for everything.
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Mina Kuchi, I live in district six.
I've been in the city for 10 years.
I'm a homeowner, a former business owner and a mother.
I oppose the EAP policy.
Across from where I live in district six,
there is an end total area that's completely open.
I wanna know how are we using this space?
It's on the other side of the 580 below Oakland Zoo.
I think it's a district seven.
And I wanna know how this space is being used.
Why has it been sitting there empty for development
for as long as it's been since I've lived there
and for four years?
and I oppose this policy, and Ken Houston,
you're an abomination.
Hi, my name is Hillary.
I'm a member, a resident of District 3.
I just wanted to point out something
that nobody has before, which is that this,
my comment is about the EAP.
This policy was being rushed to a vote
after key council members repeatedly
violated transparency laws.
I also wanted to point out, like many others have,
how unequivocally toned up it is to threaten to arrest people
for returning to a swept encampment.
Oakland has only 1,300 shelter spots
for 5,500 unhoused residents.
Many others have already spoken about how sweeps
destroy homes, support networks, and livelihoods,
making it harder for people to find permanent housing.
And I feel like the EAP is just a band-aid solution.
We talk about crime and drug use,
about, you're not talking about what is forcing these people to turn those to those things
to cope, which is homelessness, property, and systematic racism and ableism. We urge
you to address the shelter shortfall and use the one...
Thank you. Your time is up.
Oakland's EAP is not a balanced public policy.
Will Pause your time? Can you state your name, please?
It's a removal policy dressed up as management with recent federal rulings limiting how cities
can treat us, the homeless.
In a Berkeley Homeless Union versus the city of Berkeley, the Northern District made clear
that the city can't invoke abatement while ignoring due process, disability accommodations,
and protections against arbitrary seizure of property.
court rejected Berkeley's three by three rule and required disability related
safeguards even where enforcement was allowed if Oakland continues clearing us
without meaningful notice without protecting our survival gear and our
personal belongings and without real ADA compliance this policy is not just
harmful it's legally exposed under 42 USC in 1983 due process principles and
the same body of law as Martin v Boise and Prado versus Berkeley the council
doesn't need persuasion about its position but the record should be clear
Oakland is choosing thank you mr. Marks your time is up if your name was
calling you're in chambers now you wish to address the council please step to
the podium at this time we'll be moving to the zoom speaker Ms. Guzman please
unmute yourself and begin your comments good morning council members my name is
Joseph Igusman, public policy manager
at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.
Just to, for context, the Chamber has lots of been
an advocate for equitable solutions to homelessness
and has actively supported community cabins initiative
and safe parking zones,
both of which provide low barrier practical housing options.
And we have fundraise in support of these programs
and remain committed to continue that work
alongside the city.
We look forward to seeing the 2025
and Kevin Veyman policy move into implementation
and appreciate the amendments and thoughtful review.
As the implementation begins,
we hope that ongoing engagement with stakeholders
will be essential for strong execution
and help identify areas that need continued attention.
And we remain committed to collaborating with the city
and supporting any way and capacity that we can.
Thank you for your comments.
All names have been called.
That was the last speaker.
Any announcements or comments from the council members?
We'll go Houston, then we will go five.
Most people would be happy with, with.
Out of order, out of order.
Most people would be happy about something that passed.
This is a very, very difficult policy to move.
It's not perfect, but it's a starting point.
And I like to appreciate, I like to just thank
all my council members even abstaining and saying no,
because that's what it's about.
We have to come together and have a starting point.
It was very difficult, it's very difficult for me right now.
Most people would be happy that their policy passed.
I'm not happy.
But we have to do something to make things happen, right?
So this is a starting point and I appreciate the people
that was against it or the people that just opposed it.
I appreciate your words, your effort.
This is what this country is about.
So thank you so much, I appreciate everyone.
Thank you Councilman McPherson.
Councilman Pappai, this meeting is adjourned.