Gov. Gavin Newsom is backing Caltrans' efforts to remove unhoused people from a sprawling encampment along Interstate 80, while lawyers are now asking a federal court to extend an injunction that has allowed residents to remain there.
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Newsom said in a Thursday statement that a lawsuit filed on behalf of people living at the Ashby-Shellmound encampment on a Caltrans right-of-way along the Easthsore Freeway has "significantly slowed our progress … to revitalize California's streets."
Lawyers representing encampment residents are now asking a U.S. District Court to extend an injunction that allowed people to stay at the camp along the Berkeley-Emeryville border until March 23. Newsom said allowing people to continue living there "is not only hazardous but inhumane."
"Those who argue that the status quo is acceptable leave folks languishing on our roadways to face uncertain, unsafe and overall dire conditions," Newsom, who backs Caltrans' efforts to place residents in supportive housing, said in the statement. "As a state, we’ve invested unprecedented billions in local governments to provide housing and implement bold, transformative solutions to move people off our streets and into urgently needed services."
KCBS Radio first reported in November on the encampment's trash and debris posing traffic hazards, which prompted Caltrans to say it would work to clean up the site. As of Friday, five days before the injunction was set to end, dozens – if not hundreds – of people still lived at the encampment.
Dave Mike, who visits the nearby Berkeley Aquatic Park, told KCBS Radio it's clear the encampment doesn't offer a long-term solution.
"I think there's definitely a better way," he said, adding that the camp was not "conducive for humans."
Advocates suing the state have said the residents should be allowed to stay right where they are. Michael Dezelle told KCBS Radio he lived in his car at the encampment for more than a year, adding that many of his former neighbors don't have a lot of alternative housing options.
"To be quite frank, the houseless outreach services, they've been overrun for a long time," Dezelle said.
This month, the California Department of Housing and Community revised the Statewide Housing Plan, saying the state needs to build at least 2.5 million homes – 1 million of which must be affordable to low-income households – by 2030. In the state's previous eight-year planning period, California built fewer than half of the targeted 1.2 million homes needed.
Dezelle said he hopes the state doesn't begin clearing people with mental illness.
"If your only interaction with authorities is from them sweeping you up, you're never gonna like authorities," he added.
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