Inside Oakland’s encampment management strategy

The city has signaled that it plans to increase encampment sweeps, but unhoused people warn that the current strategy is cruel and lacks accountability.

The posting says we have about 48 hours (about two days). Two days, to relocate about 20 people, all their belongings, and around 10 RVs… and nowhere to go. 

This isn’t the usual procedure, per our city’s Encampment Management policy. The usual get down looks more like two weeks’ notice, a handful of DPW workers, insincere outreach workers, and a slew of overzealous police officers with a particular hatred for the unhoused. What we’re looking at now is much worse. 

In less than a year, we have faced upwards of 10 evictions from the places we have tried to settle after being violently displaced from our curbside home at 1707 Wood Street. We were already the focus of cops that hated us and a city that had turned its back on us. Then Governor Newsom’s Executive Order was declared—the one that directed California cities to sweep its encampments in the wake of the Grants Pass ruling. 

In less than a month’s time, the sweeps that plagued our communities went from useless, annoying, and traumatic to violent, sudden, and criminal. In the short time since the executive order has been in place, more people have been senselessly arrested for little more than merely existing than have been housed. This order will only further destabilize my community, which is already reeling from the years-long sweep of our home on Wood Street. 

Here’s an example. Just two nights before the most recent notice to relocate was posted, we experienced another gut punch of a loss: the murder of our friend and community member, Will Schwerma, by an outsider.

Will was killed suddenly on a Monday evening in August by an unknown person who was not from our community. This unprovoked act of violence was something that never would’ve happened when we were together. We were aware of our surroundings, and we looked out for one another. We knew when someone was there who shouldn’t have been. 

Ultimately, the city postponed this sweep indefinitely after a team of lawyers rushed to file a temporary restraining order on our behalf. But why must the legal system stand in for the service providers that are paid to advocate for the health and safety of those who are living unsheltered? To hear it from the powers that be, we are all criminals. But if you look a little deeper, you’ll find that the powers that be are committing criminal acts. 

We’ll start with the service providers. Organizations like Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS). These organizations receive millions of dollars each year to provide “homeless services.” According to the city, the community cabin lot on Wood Street was developed using an $8.3 million grant from the State of California and is being run by the Oakland-based homeless services provider, BOSS. According to the grant proposal the city wrote to obtain these funds, the money was meant to be used for services like employment readiness, mental health, and housing navigation. However, in the short time I was a participant, before I was violently attacked by a male staff member and wrongfully exited, the only rapid turnover we saw was that of the staff. The “rapid rehousing” we were promised by BOSS staff when we moved in (90 days max) became an empty promise, a cruel joke.

(The City of Oakland and Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency did not respond to Street Spirit’s requests for comment. We will update the online version of this story if they do.)

Additionally, our stay in these “tiny tombs” as they became known, was no picnic. We were continuously told “don’t get comfortable,” “you won’t be here long,” or “don’t make this your home.” Basic needs like drinking water and toilet paper were routinely rationed, if available at all. The ADA accessible bathroom was almost always either broken, locked, or made to be off-limits by staff who felt we were not disabled enough to justify its use. And all the programs that the grant proposal listed as the reason for all that money? In my time there, I never saw one of them implemented.

You would think that this would be the anomaly. Quite the contrary. In fact, it’s more common than not. If you ask around the unhoused community, you can almost certainly find at least 10 people for each service provider that will provide an 

anecdote about their negative experience with said provider. 

With all these complaints, it would make sense that the local government would catch wind of this. After all, if the City of Oakland is providing the funding for these programs, wouldn’t they want to know their success rate? 

Oakland District 3 representative Carroll Fife requested a report on the subject for the first time back in February after complaints from the residents began pouring in. This report was initially supposed to be presented to the Life Enrichment Committee (LEC) later that month. The author of this report was the acting Homeless Administrator of that time, LaTonda Simmons. 

And what did the report say? We still don’t know. Officially, it has yet to be complete. For six months, the presenters of this report have repeatedly showed up to the LEC meeting with an incomplete report, requesting more time. During the most recent occurrence in July, the portion of the “report” that was presented was simply the same grant request that the city used to apply for the funds from the state. But of all the programs the proposal listed, promised programs like housing navigation, job placement support, and case management were never actually implemented—at least not in good faith. If we asked for help preparing a resume, or procuring clothing for a job interview, we were told “that’s not our job.” The computer lab that was supposed to help us find work never materialized. And residents who were trying to obtain the necessary documents to move into housing were stonewalled by BOSS staff, and often had to seek case management support from outside advocacy organizations.

This pattern of no accountability continues all the way to the Governor’s mansion. Since 2019, the State of California has effectively flushed over $20 billion down the commode in “homeless services.” These so-called services are things like encampment sweeps, emergency housing (“tiny tombs”), and CARE courts, which give judges the power to commit unhoused people to involuntary treatment plans. With the passing of Prop 1—which authorizes $6.38 billion in bonds to end homelessness, drug addiction, and mental illness in one fell swoop, none of which are one-stop-shop issues—and Newsom’s recent order to sweep encampments (also known as Executive Order N-1-24), the further criminalization of the most vulnerable continues into the rabbit hole of demonization. While billions are being spent on putting the unhoused in jails and assigning them to involuntary committments, vacant lots sit peppered throughout California collecting dust.

These are not solutions. If the Governor wants real solutions, he should employ the expertise of those directly impacted. Organizations led by people who are directly impacted by homelessness, like Oakland’s Wood Street Commons and Homefullness as well as POOR magazine, and Sacramento’s Camp Resolution, are examples of poor people-led solutions. Despite continuing barriers thrown up by the city, the state, and those who were supposed to be helping us, we have continued to build our communities, and to serve these communities, as we know we are the ones who protect each other. 

We have accomplished feats that those who are against us thought we’d never accomplish. We are continuing to thrive, to heal each other, and to stand together against these fascist forces that would love little more than to see us disappear. If we can achieve the things we’ve achieved under such harsh circumstances, I know we can stand strong in the impending storm. 

Governor Newsom’s order was a gut punch, the full results of which we have yet to see. But regardless of these obstacles, we will continue to fight. More than anything, this order has deepened our resolve to stand in unity, to fight back, and to not give up. 

So, thank you, Gov. Newsom. If nothing else, you just strengthened our bond.