Caltrans gets OK to clear Oakland's Wood Street homeless encampment

OAKLAND -- A federal judge gave the green light Friday for Caltrans to clear Oakland's Wood Street homeless encampment, the Bay Area's largest.

Judge William Orrick is dissolving the temporary restraining order he issued in July against Caltrans that asked for a plan to shelter residents.

The City of Oakland submitted that plan Thursday evening proposing clearing out the location about 50 people at a time. There are about 300 people that live in the encampment.

Orrick characterized the plan as a "thoughtful proposal based on the resources the City has at present" and said he tried to create the possibility of relocation that is least harmful to the people of Wood Street. Residents and attorneys working with them say it'll simply push them elsewhere.

"The judge's ruling is setting this eviction process and the people living here up for failure," said attorney Bridgette Nicoletti.

Caltrans says the encampment poses a major safety risk, especially with its location near oxygen tanks at an East Bay Municipal Utilities District sewage treatment plant. Authorities say there have been at least 240 fires at the encampment since March 2020, and 12 in just the last month.

One fire in April led to a man's death. Another fire in July forced the shutdown of the MacArthur Maze highway interchange perched above the encampment. 

Last Thursday a letter from Gov. Gavin Newsom's office accused Oakland of "seeking to shirk its responsibility" by claiming Caltrans is responsible for a portion of the encampment. The letter threatened to take away millions of dollars in state funding.

On Friday, Newsom and Mayor Libby Schaaf issued a joint statement following the judge's ruling, saying: "The Court's indication that it will lift the injunction in a week means Caltrans will hopefully be able to proceed to clean up the most dangerous portion of the Wood Street encampment in its efforts to ensure the safety of those living at the encampment and the surrounding community. The City of Oakland will support Caltrans by providing housing outreach and offering available shelter beds to those living at the encampment, and we look forward to our continued collaboration."

The mile-long Wood Street encampment is so large, that it's broken down into different sections. The northern section near the EBMUD plant is the part that worries authorities the most and which will be cleared first.

Caltrans officials say some fires in the northern section of the encampment burned within a few hundred feet of the wastewater plant. EBMUD says an explosion of their large oxygen tanks would be catastrophic and disrupt service to 740,000 people from Oakland to Albany.

Caltrans plans to post eviction notices on September 5. Residents will have at least 48 hours to clear out. Oakland officials say they'll do outreach and provide 40 shelter beds with more available beds in the coming months.

I definitely want housing," said Kimba, an encampment resident. "I've had a Section 8 voucher before. I was in a toxic relationship where it was based on drugs and alcohol and stuff. And when I left him, that's when I became homeless."

Kimba says she's already looking for a job and is optimistic about her future, although she worries for the other 200+ residents, many with mental health and disability issues.

"They say whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger," she said.

The removal will go in phases. If everything goes according to plan, the encampment will be gone at the earliest in seven weeks.