A group of Oakland residents is threatening to sue the city if it doesn’t begin managing homeless encampments.
The Oakland City Council voted on a plan to do so last October, unanimously passing what’s known as the Encampment Management Program. It was set to begin this January, but implementation has been stalled.
"It’s time that the city get to work," said Seneca Scott, who runs a group called Neighbors Together.
They’re trying to push the city to enact the program they voted on, which sought to clear encampments near schools and houses, plus provide hygiene services to the encampments that would be allowed to remain and making sure that displaced residents were directed to alternative shelter.
The intent to make conditions safer for everyone.
"What we’ve seen is a laissez faire approach to encampment management and what that creates is an environment where organized crime is comfortable," Scott said. "Now what you have is a rise in fires and shootings that are a byproduct of people fighting over the turf."
His group has hired attorney Jaime Wright who is planning legal action to motivate the city to keep its promise. "The biggest issue with the encampments is just that they’re not safe," Wright told KCBS Radio.
In response to this story, Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas sent a statement: "The City Council's top priority is improving the dignity of people’s living conditions in encampments and moving people into transitional and permanent housing. We have passed policy, allocated budget, and provided direction to the Administration to use vacant public land and buildings to house unsheltered residents. At our June 1st Council meeting, we will take action to safely move people off our streets with the goal of standing up homelessness interventions in each Council District."
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