OAKLAND — Regardless of objections that the location is probably hazardous and tied up in bureaucratic crimson tape, Metropolis Council voted Tuesday to pursue turning a defunct Military base into much-needed shelter for homeless Oaklanders.
The unanimous vote, which flew within the face of town administrator’s advice, adopted a heated dialogue wherein a number of council members expressed dismay with the shortage of urgency town has proven concerning the homelessness disaster.
“I'm sickened by this,” stated Councilmember Carroll Fife, throughout an impassioned speech wherein she attacked town administrator for dragging his toes. “That is an emergency. Displaced residents in District 3 want a spot to go. They should perceive what is on the market and we want pressing motion taken now.”
The vote comes as authorities are within the technique of dismantling a large West Oakland encampment that stretches alongside Wooden Road and into vacant land owned by Caltrans. Fife initially proposed instantly turning 8 unused acres of land on the close by Military base into an emergency refuge for as much as 300 individuals displaced from that encampment. However after Assistant Metropolis Legal professional Ryan Richardson stated the plan wasn’t legally sound, she settled for a extra long-term answer that may come too late to assist the Wooden Road residents. Council members directed town administrator’s workplace to give you a plan to ascertain a “secure housing answer” on the location — an endeavor that would take greater than a yr.
“Fairly frankly, I've no confidence that something will change,” Fife stated. “But when it is a step…to getting us to maneuver ahead, I’m prepared to take that motion.”
It’s the newest episode in an ongoing controversy surrounding the Wooden Road encampment — one of many largest homeless camps within the Bay Space. The camp has been the topic of lawsuits, a courtroom order and a menace from Gov. Gavin Newsom, and has been the location of quite a few fires that shut down site visitors on the Interstate 880 and 80 overpasses above.
Metropolis Council voted unanimously in Might to look into turning the outdated Military base right into a shelter for no less than 1,000 unhoused individuals, however Metropolis Administrator Edward Reiskin rapidly tried to pour chilly water on the concept. The Military base just isn't a possible place to deal with individuals — even quickly — as a result of it’s floor water and soil are contaminated with unsafe ranges of poisons together with kerosine, arsenic and diesel, he stated. Reiskin additionally took subject with the potential value of the undertaking, which may vary from $18 million per yr to run an RV parking website, to $22.5 million per yr to run a group of tiny houses for 1,000 individuals.
However Fife didn’t wish to take no for a solution.
“Whereas we perceive the restrictions recognized by workers, we're stating that this emergency requires pressing motion and we consider the recognized considerations will not be insurmountable however we have to have the braveness and can to do what is critical,” she wrote in a memo to different council members.
The final rely, carried out in the beginning of this yr, tallied greater than 5,000 homeless individuals residing in Oakland — a rise of almost 1 / 4 from 2019.
Complicating the matter, town lawyer’s workplace introduced up two different points with utilizing the Military base website as a homeless shelter. To start out, Metropolis Council doesn't have the authority to order town administrator to open the property up instantly to unhoused residents, stated Richardson. Moreover, residential use is prohibited on the website, per an settlement between town and the federal authorities, which initially owned the property, he stated.
Shifting ahead possible would require cleansing the toxins from the location and getting waivers from the state that may permit individuals to stay there, metropolis employees stated.
Dozens of native residents and activists known as into Tuesday’s assembly in help of Fife’s decision, together with a number of individuals residing within the Wooden Road encampment. A homeless lady described how, amid the hazards of the road, this encampment is the place she feels secure, and the place she’s discovered a household. An unhoused Military vet stated he’s been kicked out of the realm a number of occasions and informed to go “wherever however right here.”
“We want a spot to go,” stated the vet, Alex, who didn’t give his final identify.
Cee Gould, a UC Berkeley graduate who has volunteered on the Wooden Road homeless camp, described watching Caltrans kick unhoused individuals off the location, dismantle their make-shift dwellings and destroy their property. One man was desperately scrambling to pump up the tires on his RV so he may drive it off the property, however couldn’t discover an air pump in time, she stated. Gould watched Caltrans carry away the RV on a forklift, the bed room door swinging open, sheets and pillows nonetheless on the mattress inside.
“I don’t know the place he’s sleeping proper now,” Gould stated, her voice breaking.
Many individuals have lived on the Wooden Road encampment for years and have constructed unsanctioned tiny houses, group kitchens, showers and different facilities on the property. That features Cob on Wooden, which constructed a number of whimsical cabins and an open-air group heart for unhoused residents, and had hoped to relocate the constructions onto the Military base property.
Caltrans plans to complete clearing the encampment by the start of November. The town intends to construct tiny houses for as much as 100 homeless residents close by, however they gained’t be prepared till the tip of the yr or early subsequent yr.
Although he maintained the Military base just isn't a “common sense” answer, Reiskin defended his division’s work on the homelessness disaster.
“Nobody is performing with out urgency,” he stated. “What we’re confronting is a scale that we’re struggling to deal with.”