Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao issued an executive order on Monday aimed at clearing the city's homeless encampments more thoroughly and with more alacrity.
In a news release and video statement, Thao said that in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision granting cities more power to dismantle homeless camps, she is ordering all city departments "to fully execute the Encampment Management Policy" that the city council approved in 2020.
While citing some recent examples of the city's effort to clear camps and connect inhabitants with homes and services, she said her order directs the city to focus on camps that encroach on safe routes to schools, tot lots, and playgrounds or impede access to small businesses.
Also, prioritized will be camps that block traffic lanes, bike lanes, or sidewalks, impede first responders, create fire hazards by blocking hydrants, burning fires within 30 feet of structures or illegally tapping into electrical wires, pose risks to things like freeway overpasses or BART tracks, contain combustible materials like gasoline and propane or if biological waste from a camp poses an environmental risk to drains and waterways, Thao said.
"Being unhoused is not a crime in Oakland, but it does not give anyone the right to break other laws," she said. "We must return public spaces to the public -- and do so with compassion."
Thao also mentioned that she was homeless and living out of her car with her young son for a time but said she never sought to "pitch a tent" but "sought affordable housing and services, for which I was deeply grateful."
Her order also states that a camp found to pose an imminent risk of serious injury or death, is damaging critical infrastructure, or obstructing traffic and bike lanes can be broken down with less than 12 hours' notice, according to the order.
Camps posing other problems, such as obstructing sidewalks or hosting disease or vermin infestations, can be cleared with a 24-to-72 hour notice.
Camp residents will be offered temporary emergency shelter space but "in no case, will emergency or urgent closures be delayed for shelter unavailability," according to the order.
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"The City of Oakland's encampment management team is already hard at work implementing the Encampment Management Policy adopted by our City Council, and this year alone has already accomplished numerous closures and guided scores of unhoused residents into programs and shelter," Assistant City Administrator Harold Duffey said in a news release. "With Mayor Thao's executive order we have a clear mandate to step up these efforts."
