Acknowledging a determined want for brand new interventions to handle the realm’s homelessness disaster, the Oakland Metropolis Council will think about constructing a brand new shelter for 1,000 unhoused individuals on the positioning of town’s outdated Military base.
The Metropolis Council voted unanimously Tuesday to direct employees to analysis the concept and report again subsequent month on its feasibility and projected value. The 22-acre parcel close to town’s waterfront is without doubt one of the final massive, undeveloped items of publicly owned land within the metropolis, presenting a uncommon alternative to construct a large-scale venture, in response to Councilmember Carroll Fife, who launched the decision.
“I’m uninterested in being advised what can’t occur in the case of addressing a few of my district’s best challenges,” she mentioned in an announcement. “(District three) constituents, housed and unhoused, deserve higher. We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in sustaining individuals dwelling on the streets. A artistic, proactive effort may redirect these dollars if there was the political will to take action.”
Oakland had greater than 3,000 individuals dwelling on its streets as of its final depend in 2019, and one other practically 1,000 individuals sleeping in shelters. The town performed one other census this yr, and the outcomes — that are usually seen as an undercount as a result of it’s simple for volunteer counters to overlook individuals — are anticipated this summer season.
As encampments unfold over Oakland’s streets, sidewalks, open areas and public parks, town has stood up a number of tiny dwelling villages for unhoused individuals, shifting them out of encampments and into small cabins designed to function non permanent shelters whereas the occupants look ahead to inexpensive housing. The town just lately opened a tiny dwelling web site in Fife’s West Oakland district, and one other close to Lake Merritt.
With 1,000 beds, the proposed Military base shelter could be Oakland’s largest. Nevertheless it probably could be non permanent, as town is working to maneuver a California Waste Options recycling plant to the placement. Metropolis employees on Tuesday mentioned they count on permits for the recycling plan to be authorised by early subsequent yr. However Fife desires to maneuver forward with a homeless shelter on the positioning within the meantime.
Metropolis Council first directed employees to look into housing individuals on the Military base web site again in 2020, when it authorised the controversial encampment administration coverage that dictates the place unhoused individuals can and may’t camp. However as an alternative, the positioning has sat vacant since 2012.
Fife urged town to maneuver rapidly to show the positioning into shelter for unhoused residents, calling the parcel a “potential life raft” in an “ocean of non-existent options.”
“We want lodging now,” she mentioned.