A district judge in San Francisco issued a restraining order July 22 blocking an effort by the California Department of Transportation (CalTrans) to clear a homeless encampment on Oakland’s Wood Street, the largest such encampment in the city.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday the ruling will “endanger the public.”
“Our roadways and highways are no place for individuals to live, and this encampment is risking public health and safety. The state provided $4.7 million in grants to the City of Oakland specifically to rehouse individuals at the Wood Street encampment,” Newsom said in a statement.
District Judge William H. Orrick said officials could not clear the encampment unless they had a proper plan to rehouse individuals living in the tents.
But an attorney for CalTrans, Stephen Silver, said the encampments are ”simply a potential catastrophe that cannot be tolerated.”
Orrick’s July 22 order extends one he issued several days earlier. The clearing of some 200 homeless people was scheduled to begin July 20 and finish on Aug. 1 after CalTrans reported fire incidents, with one occurring in July that damaged several vehicles on Interstate 880. In April, a man was killed by a fire in the RV in which he was living.
While Orrick agreed the encampment needs to be cleared, he urged government officials to provide resources for the residents living there. CalTrans, as a transportation agency, is not equipped to provide resources to the homeless.
But Oakland has received a $4.7 million state grant to build temporary housing for the homeless living on Wood Street by June 2024. The city council is expected to vote to accept the grant, which would fund up to 100 beds and shelter roughly 200 people. The temporary housing would be located in a city-owned parking lot on Wood Street.
Despite many homeless advocates over the years battling CalTrans’s efforts to clear encampments across the state, Newsom supports the department.
“It is beyond time to meet this moment and address this challenge,” Newsom’s statement read.
