As Berkeley looks to address their homeless crisis, the city council is laying down new rules to make it easier to clear homeless encampments.
Advocates for the unsheltered say their criminalizing homelessness but local businesses say something's got to give.
About 100 people are living at a encampment on Eighth and Harrison. It’s one of the hotspots targeted by a newly approved city council resolution. That resolution aims to make it easier to clear encampments determined to be a safety or health risk, even if no alternate shelter is available.
“Where do want them to go? Into neighborhoods? People aren’t going to like that. And the residents here know that. They cant go into parks, they are always telling them, 'you can't be here, you don’t have a right to exist,'” said Andrea Henson, executive director of “Where Do We Go.”
Berkeley say it has roughly 450 unsheltered residents living on the streets currently. Many in a handful of encampments.
Under a new policy, approved last week, city officials will now be able to clear encampments that pose fire or health hazards or are considered a public nuisance, even if the city has no alternate shelter available for those in the encampments. However, the city said it is committed to offering housing when possible.
"That is our intention that we will make shelter options and I continue to stand by descriptions that we are trying to have a balanced, reasonable approach, so that people can walk down the sidewalk,” said Berkeley councilmember Rashi Kesarwani.
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Henson said that some of the individuals in these camps are sick, elderly and struggle with mental health issues. Henson believes the resolution goes against Berkeley’s foundation of inclusivity.
"Instead of finding out what is going on here? what’s going on with people? why are people not being housed and being pushed back out? Berkeley is being gentrified. It's going back to what’s happening in other cities,” she said.
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The new measure comes as a group of businesses, including Boichik Bagels and Fieldwork Brewing filed a lawsuit, demanding Berkeley take action to address encampments near their businesses.
“The goal is to force the city into action. There has been a lot of talk and then, they will say they will clean it up. It kind of tightening up the margins and everything comes right back,” said Emily Winston, CEO and founder of Boichik Bagels.
Winston claims unhoused individuals are responsible for stealing water and power from her building, public drug use and say they’re even defecating on the property.
“To say that you can just plop down anywhere you want, in front of anybody’s property and do whatever you want and defecate wherever you want, is not a sustainable solution,” she said.
The city declined to comment on the lawsuit but claims the city council vote was necessary for safety.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor explained “our policy continues to be a compassionate, housing first approach, and the new regulations are designed to be used sparingly in cases where no other options are viable."
As the city tries to balance the needs of the unhoused and the business community, homeless advocates are calling on people boycott businesses who brought the suit against the city.
The Berkeley city manager will determine a date to clear the encampments. Meanwhile, Berkeley businesses said they are still waiting on a response from the city regarding their lawsuit.
