Good morning and welcome to the special city council meeting of Tuesday, April 14.

Before I call roll, I will give speaker card instructions.

If you like to speak on any well, the one item on this agenda, you must fill out a speaker's card before the item is called for discussion.

If you're looking to turn on, if you were looking to submit an online speaker card, those cards were due twenty-four hours before the start of this meeting.

If you're looking to turn in a meeting today, you can go to one of the clerk representatives at the front and turn your card in.

As once the item is called, we will not be accepting any more cards for this item.

So that time will be eleven thirty-two AM, or before the item is called for discussion.

Council Member Gaio.

Councilmember Ramachandron.

Excused.

Councilmember Unger.

Here.

Councilmember Wong.

Present.

And Chair Jenkins.

Present.

Good morning.

Showing six members present, one excused.

I'm sorry, seven members present, one excused Ramachandran.

Before we begin, Mr.

Chair, do you have any announcements?

Yes, two announcements.

6.1 is an action item, not a consent item.

Again, that's 6.1 as an action item, not a consent item.

Also, because of potential quorum issues, speaker time will be one minute as opposed to two minutes.

Thank you.

Going to item three modifications to the agenda.

So on this item, we will move item 6.1 from consent to non consent.

Any objections?

That's a motion.

Can I have a second?

Jenkins Guyo.

On the motion.

On the motion to move this.

On the motion to move this item from consent to non-consent moved by Council President Jenkins.

Seconded by Councilmember Guyo.

Councilmember Brown.

Aye.

Council Member Fife.

Aye.

Councilmember Gaio.

Aye.

Councilmember Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran is excused.

Councilmember Unger.

Aye.

Councilmember Wong.

I and Chair Jenkins.

Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of seven eyes when excused, noting that this item is now on cons.

Excuse me, non-consent, uh, which does allow proceeding of time.

Going to item 6.1, adopt a resolution amending resolution number 88341 to repeal the 2020 encampment management policy and replaced with a 2025 encampment abatement policy that A defines encampment to exclude vehicles and authorizes citation and towing of inhabited vehicles by city departments pursuance of the California Vehicle Code and Oakland Vehicle Code and B continues to require reasonable efforts to make shelter offers and seven-day notice prior to non-urgent encampment closures and clarifies emergency and urgent health and safety conditions that authorize immediate 24 hour or 72-hour notice for encampment closures, including encampments blocking sidewalks.

At this time, you do have 80 speakers on this item.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Houston, please put seven minutes on the clock for Council Member Houston.

We limited the public, so we have to limit you as well.

Seven minutes.

Order in the chambers.

Order in the chambers.

Since 2016.

When I say everyone, I'm talking about the city attorney, the fire, the city, the police, the OPD, city administrator, and if I leave anybody out, Patricia, can you help me out?

Um and my staff.

Lid it, Trinity, Nelly.

I really like to pre uh appreciate it.

And the thousands, the thousands of of businesses and residents that reached out to say they support this.

And I even like to thank the individuals that are uh against it, because I know that and I believe that they're coming from a good place.

I believe that.

In 2016, really in 2014, I declared this issue before I was council member.

A public health and safety issue, and a state of an emergency.

Um, K Chop, can you share that video?

Right, dear others and a 2014 Oakland Mayoral candidate launched operation stabilized all the strike.

He's been eating, sleeping, and spending time with the homeless people in a number of encampments all around East Oakland.

He says you will do this until the city of Oakland or Alameda County actually declares the homeless crisis a state of emergency.

And joining us this morning from the encampment there at Avenue is the man himself.

Ken Morning to you.

Good morning, good morning.

Where are you guys at?

Alex is out here.

I want you guys to feel this and touch this.

I'm good.

I'm good.

Tell me, do you think that Oakland is becoming kind of a destination for homeless these days?

It is and it has been.

It's known.

It's known that it's a destination for homeless for all over the trailers, the people that live in the cars, it's just it's just getting bigger and bigger, and no one really understands it, but yes, it is.

It's a destination, it sure is.

So what do you want the city to do?

What would the homeless emergency declaring and how it helped solve the problem?

So in 2016, I purposely, I purposely walked with the unhouse to understand the magnitude of the situation.

I purposely did that.

Um now that I'm a council member, I understand clearly what it feels like.

Um let me share something with you.

Do we have a Mike K-top, a mic that I can hand hell?

Because I should have got that.

Can you get that for me?

This right over here.

This right here, and I'm gonna show my council members, then I'm gonna show the audience.

This was a hundred and fourth and MacArthur.

This before and after picture.

Now, this lady, what we did was we helped her get a RV, moved her to 66th Avenue, and cleaned up the area for the businesses and the community.

I'm gonna send this, I'm gonna show the council members this first.

Do you see this?

Do you see this, council members?

I'm gonna show this to the audience.

Do you see that?

Looks like a pile of trash, does it?

Looks like a pile of trash.

But it's not.

But it's not someone is living in this.

Is that humane or is that inhumane?

It's inhumane for anyone to live like this.

Council members.

You see the foot.

This encampment abatement policy is not gonna fix everything.

It's not, but the encampment managed policy did not work.

It worked for that time, it's not working right now.

Patricia Brooks, can you come up, please?

I'd like you to present what testing the EAP is planned to do, and how we collaborated with DOT, the police department, the police fire.

So present what the encampment abatement policy is truly going to do, not what this false narrative is that is inhumane.

Because let me share this with you before you start, Patricia.

It's inhumane for anyone to think that it's okay to let individuals live out in the street like that.

That's inhumane.

And this policy will and it will show that it has humane SOPs in it.

Patricia.

Through the chair, Miss Bricks, before you begin, you do have about a minute and 20 seconds left.

Please pause the time.

Councilmember Brown.

Um I think given the um complexity, complexity of this matter.

Um I would like to just offer up five minutes of my own personal time to ensure that this presentation can be communicated to the public with all thoroughness.

Thank you.

So please add five minutes to the clock.

Thank you through the chair.

Thank you, Councilmember Brown.

All righty.

Ah, there we are.

Thank you.

All righty.

Today I am presenting a draft encampment abatement policy focused on Oakland.

This proposal centers on balancing compassion with accountability.

And the goal is simple improve public health and safety while connecting people to real services.

So you have to understand the accountability and the context.

Courts have clarified that cities can act, but must offer humane alternatives.

We do that in the EAP.

This policy is grounded in both legal clarity and moral responsibility.

Oakland compared to other cities.

You see right here, this these are the highlights and the articles from all around the state.

But just so you know, Oakland is not alone in changing their policies, and in fact, we are somewhat behind.

To touch on this, many jurisdictions have already taken further actions, and enforcement is stronger with their policies.

The issue is if we don't act, we risk becoming a destination for displacement from other cities.

And that is indeed happening.

Public health and environmental risk.

Encampments create serious health risk, disease spread, waste buildup, and contamination.

We've already seen outbreaks like, and I'm not going to pronounce this right, but I tried last night several times.

Let's operate, which is nearby.

This is not theoretical, this is happening now.

This actually happened in Berkeley encampment, and that's as of January 14th, 2026, where they hadn't seen such an outbreak in about 30 years.

And this is fatal in dogs and humans, and oftentimes encampments contain dogs as well.

This is one of the most important slides that I'd like to bring your attention to.

Aligning with state policy matters because funding follows compliance.

And I'll say that again, funding follows compliance.

If Oakland isn't aligned, we risk missing future funding opportunities.

And what we're saying here is we want Oakland to be in alignment for those funds the next time they're offered in this type of bulk.

We understand that the governor is demanding that we have accountability.

This is about protecting both the unhoused individuals and the surrounding communities.

What you're looking at is a fire right below the BART tracks.

We actually had an incident about three months ago that also affected BART.

And in this policy, we do include taking care of rail, also taking care of Caltrans and BART.

So we're looking at while we're protecting our infrastructures and ensuring that face first responders have access through this encampment abatement policy.

We've worked with DOT, we've worked with OPD, we have worked with OFD and getting their opinions on what they need to see in this policy.

One of the things I will note is of recently, Mayor Mayhem of San Jose made the statement very loud and clear that San Jose will not be dumping ground for other cities in unhoused residents because they're feeling it as well.

Part of the purpose of this is that we are reclaiming public space for community use.

And that means restoring accessibility and enhancing neighborhood quality of life, which means that the goal is stability, not displacement.

And many of you know that of recently in the county, they've built five different well, they have five different projects online under Measure W to actually house.

Public spaces are meant for everyone.

Sidewalks, parks, and bike paths must remain accessible, especially, and council member Houston was very adamant about this, especially for ADA needs.

This policy restores shared spaces and improves the quality of life.

We want to connect people to services.

Abatements are not just removals, they are opportunities for outreach.

We connect people to shelter services and long-term housing pathways.

The goal is stability, not displacement.

And we've been working very hard with ACA Lake and her team to ensure that that's baked into this legislation.

We will make every reasonable offer to offer shelter as part of our abatement process.

We see this as a multifaceted approach.

Through the chair, sorry to interrupt Miss Brooks.

Your time has expired.

Okay.

Do any of council members' colleagues want to donate any of their time?

Councilmember Houston, you you guys have to get to the point.

You get you you have to get to the substance of the issue.

All right.

So I will donate three minutes of my time.

But you guys have to get to the substance of the issue.

Okay, well, I think I talked about the multifaceted approach.

I want to bring up that um it may not be known to a lot of people, and I think this is important.

California has 30% of the nation's homeless population and about half of the nation's unsheltered population.

That's California itself.

So that lets you know this is not an easy issue that we're dealing with.

This is just a map or a graft or grid of other cities and ordinances that they're taking.

There were some council members early on that were concerned and asked about the model ideas on RVs and oversize.

We've forwarded this information over to ACA Lake and her team is looking at these programs and models.

Efficacy and research matter.

We have about third 30,000 hours into this policy, predicated on the efficacy and the research that we've done.

There's two pages of that.

If anyone would like to look that up, I think it's important to look at the UCSF Bennyoff study, as that is the one that was done in 2023, and it's the most current studies, and it looks at models all over the state of California.

So this work could not have been done without having a full team behind us to work on this.

So to the team that has been doing the hard work to bring this policy to fruition in the city of Oakland, would like to thank the encampment abatement team led by assistant city administrator Betsy Lake, interim housing and homeless Sasha Halswalt, assistant to the administrator Amari Collins, legal guidance and assistance in navigating Cal ICH, senior deputy city attorney Jordan Flanders, subject matter expertise, chief of the Oakland Fire Department, Chief Covington, Director of Transportation and Public Works, Josh Rowan, and last but not least, Deputy Chief Anthony Tedesco.

This couldn't have been done without all of them.

And with that, President, I'll yield back to you, sir.

And Councilmember Houston.

Councilmember Houston, I think you have two more minutes or one more minute, Clerk.

38 seconds.

You want to wrap things up?

35 seconds.

With those 35 seconds, thank you, Patricia Brooks.

I appreciate it.

And if my colleagues have any questions about the EAP, if you um read it and you have any questions, um, the floor is open to you.

And then I would also like to hear the public.

I really would.

So I'm in agreement with you.

We'll take the questions, but people came out here to speak.

I want to hear from them.

Uh Councilmember Brown and then Councilmember Fife.

But I'd like to hear the from the public first, if you mind.

Do you mind?

Well, let's let's hear from my colleagues that have been wanting to ask questions.

Excellent.

Um, thank you so much.

Um, I guess through the chair to council member Houston and team.

Uh, do you all have a slide that um helps to outline the difference between uh what changes you were able to make to the policy from the last time you presented to us as a body and now to now?

Um I'll let you go ahead, Patricia.

Through the chair councilmember Brown, we have in the package which shows where we were and what the markups were that was submitted in the package already.

Can you can you just for the members of the public?

Can you verbally articulate what are the changes that you were able to make from the last time this item came before us and to now?

Okay, um, I can do that certainly.

So we met with the mayor's office, and through that meeting, well, the mayor's office, really ACA Lake on behalf of the mayor's office, and one of the things that she wanted to add was transportation pickup for those, especially who are seniors and especially those who have disabilities.

Um, that was accepted by council member Houston.

Um also um there were technical changes that we made to better align the policy.

Um we also strengthen how we will notice.

Now, you're not gonna see that in the policy because as it is said, you're gonna see that in the SOPs that are forthcoming once and if this policy is adopted, but that's something else that was actually um suggested by AC Lake and her team that we would have some type of process for how we are noticing and how we're looking to see inside the vehicle if that's has family.

I believe it was Councilmember Wong who wanted to also lift that up that if there was family in there, what extra steps would you take to make sure there was not trafficking as well?

Okay, thank you.

You're more than welcome.

Councilmember Fife.

Two questions.

Um, to you, Council President, what when we started this meeting, you said that we could potentially lose quorum.

What is the intended end time for this meeting?

Possibly.

Well, I I don't have an intended end time.

I know some people have said that it might be some challenges coming up.

And the reason I asked is connected to the reason why I felt that this should be a special meeting.

We have not had one opportunity to have a conclusive conversation about what is a very complicated and in-depth issue, and I feel like we're already rushing.

And I don't think that it does justice to the conversation we're attempting to have if we are going to rush through a conversation, because to me it implies that decisions have already been made.

I want to understand thoroughly and completely what the presenters are saying.

I want to understand thoroughly and completely what has changed.

I want to see the presentations, I want to see the data, and I want the public to weigh in holistically.

And I feel like we're already on the on the wrong track.

I want to ask myself second question through the chair to council member Houston.

What is your primary objective, your primary goal with this legislation?

My primary goal is to give the the the DOT, the police, and I want to pull them up.

Amari, the teams that are actually doing the work, Councilmember Fife.

Clarity, which the EMT does not give.

And I just had a meeting with Tedesco, I had a meeting with Amari, and the it gives them clarity on how to proceed.

Because the the police, they don't know if DOT, I just talked to Josh Rowan, if it's his job, or if it's the police's job.

How can a person do the job that they're supposed to do if there's no clarity?

Um, let me call up um Tedesco Puff of War.

I was gonna say Puff of Or, but yeah.

So you said something very important just a minute ago, and I took a note about this.

It was just powerful because as a contractor, he said, give me the proper tools to do.

If you ask me to dig a hole, give me the proper tools, don't ask me to dig it with my hand, give me a shovel, and give me the location where to dig the hole.

So to guess go, can you explain?

And I'm gonna call up Josh Rowan.

I'm gonna call up the individuals, Captain Member Fife, that have to do this hard work.

I'm gonna call up Amari on how this policy actually makes their job easier and to do it in a in in a humane way, because the way it's happening right now are on house individuals are being pushed here, pushed there, pushed here instead of having a location where if our individuals that do the services, they'll know where to locate them at instead of pushed around a corner.

And we just heard something about it was uh a chop shop, they didn't even know what to do with the RV that was causing criminal activity, not Dunhouse, because they were confused, there's no clarity.

So to Tedesco and I share with me how this makes your job easier, where you can do it in a humane way instead of an inhumane way, where it brings what public health and safety to our unhoused residents, council member Fife, and our house residents, and our business owners and everyone else.

This EMP is not working.

This is not perfect, Councilmember Fife.

But let me say this to you, we have to start somewhere.

So Tedesco, I'm gonna ask you, explain to the public, explain to my colleagues how this makes clarity for you to actually do the job that you were hired to do through the chair.

Uh it's been raised a number of times order in the chamber that there aren't enough people to do the job.

And so, in my view, in deploying our resources, our limited resources, we have to be as effective, as efficient as possible.

Knowing that not every problem is a nail and not every solution, therefore, is a hammer, but also knowing that there are situations that need to be abated, it is critical that our teams know precisely what they can and cannot do, and that they can do it efficiently, and they can do it where it is needed to be done.

There are issues in current policy as to who is responsible, when are they responsible, and how long it will take to get the job done?

It makes the use of our limited resources more cumbersome and less effective.

Not every situation will need to be abated, but there are some that will require abatement.

This policy brings the clarity in knowing that the resources that we will deploy from the police department can take action that is supported by policy.

Thank you, Tedesco.

Can I call up Josh Rowan?

Just one second, Patricia.

I wanted to call up Mr.

Rowan.

And these are the experts, these are the gentlemen that have to do the job and have the staff that reports to them to make it safe, to make it where is this the police department's job or is this DOT's job?

Mr.

Rowan, what you shared to me this morning was so powerful.

Can you share how this actually brings clarity?

Yes, through the chair, uh Josh Rowan, the department of the Oakland Department of Transportation.

If I could take a step back from your question and add some context.

Coming to Oakland, this was a fairly new situation for me.

And I hadn't been here long, and I had someone who is was who's now formerly with the city, tell me that I was an alternative law enforcement agency, and that my job was to have my people knock on RV doors and quote, tell those MFers to get out.

That is why I have intentionally introduced myself from that day forward as an engineer.

My name is Josh Rowan, I am an engineer.

I am not a police officer.

So the Oakland Department of Transportation was being pulled into this fuzzy middle ground because the EMP did not address vehicles as encampments.

And we were being asked to address vehicles with human beings in them.

We are not human being people.

We remove vehicles, we remove cars that have been abandoned and have sat for 72 hours.

That is the tow authority DOT has.

When we do a tow action across the city, let's say there's 20 RVs and we want to go out to Poplar or any old location in East Oakland or wherever and do a tow action.

What usually happens, right?

You got those 20 RVs, we might end up, if we're lucky, towing five of them, right?

Because when the signs and notices go up, they call their friends, however, they move the vehicles.

The vehicles are operable, they move the vehicles, and the five that we do end up towing, for example, might be stolen, might be dilapidated, inoperable, or use this street storage.

So that's the lands I could provide from an EMT perspective.

Thank you.

You guys are hearing from the experts.

I want to yield that question to Betsy.

I mean, um thank you, Maury.

Um, Patricia, can you come up real quick, please?

I wanted to answer, um, and I want to yield to the city attorney about answering council member Fife's question.

Yes, I thought um I did not notice that um Councilmember Fife really and Councilmember Brown.

Um I didn't notice that ACA Lake was on the dais.

So if I could just sort of loop back a little bit um through the chair to um have ACA Lay come up and sort of explain all that has been happening.

I think this may um help you, Councilmember Fife, and certainly will help you.

ACA Lake, can you come up?

Oh no, you don't have to come up.

You can you have a microphone.

Sorry about that.

On the changes that we did with your office on behalf of the mayor's office, and I think where we are and also the flow and how we've been moving.

Thank you, ACA Lake.

Thank you, Patricia.

Um, so the main thing that the administration done has done between the last version and this version is to work with council member Houston and the city attorney to ensure that we have a path for alignment between uh the EAP and the mayor and administration-led homelessness strategic action plan.

That plan has come before committee and is going to council in uh in May.

So the main things that um we worked on with the authors, uh, and they were open to making the majority of changes that we asked for.

And those changes include uh allowing a path for the city administration to work cross-departmentally to draft standard operating procedures to guide outreach engagement and transparency to the public, including a specific requirement for a standard operating procedure around vehicles.

Um the authors added clarification that individuals cannot be re-ar cannot be arrested for re-encampment, but may be arrested for criminal activity.

Uh we strengthened the outreach section, um, including, as Patricia mentioned, uh coordination on transportation.

The authors also included a provision allowing the city administrator in consultation with council members to update low sensitivity areas.

And then finally, in the big picture of the substantive changes, um, we added a provision for or the authors added a provision for the city administrator to communicate this policy wide widely and in a user-friendly manner.

Thank you.

Um the chair, I'd like to pull up another expert, and that's Chief Covington.

Um, Chief Coventin, are you in the audience?

Can you please come up and we know that the fires have stopped BART?

I worked with BART about distancing and shut down our transportation and the fires that you have to deal with when it comes to lives, when it comes to transportation.

I'm talking about the businesses, the unhoused, the house in front of their businesses.

Chief Covington, please share with me how this makes it clear for you also.

Yeah, good morning.

Uh Damon Covington Oakland Fire Chief.

Uh thank you for that.

Uh in regards to homeless encampments and RVs throughout our city, um, the Oakland Fire Department has been part of the encampment team process more this year in the last couple of years than we have at any other time in the past, RVs being one of the biggest challenges.

Um the fire department only has authority to enforce the encampment plan if there's an imminent threat to human life or in in our city critical infrastructure.

We've uh we've dealt with that as you saw on the slideshow uh under the BART tracks.

Um and we've also dealt with it um at our PGE substation down on Third Street.

So these are these are major issues.

One of the things we've noticed is that the RVs are getting larger and larger.

So when these fires do happen, not only are they threatening our critical infrastructure for the city, they're putting our firefighters in a lot more danger.

A couple of our firefighters have been um had to go to the hospital due to these RV fires.

They were so large and they burned so intently.

Um it damaged a rig once, and it sent one of our firefighters to the hospital.

So it certainly is a major problem within our city.

Chief Covented, thank you.

I appreciate that.

And I just want to share this with the public is that you're hearing from the experts.

You're hearing from the individuals that actually have to do the work.

Not me.

It's not me.

I worked with them side by side.

We did track changes when the chief, when the mayor came down and said about the time of closing down encampments.

I said, okay, mayor, I'll do it, but it has to follow what the police to make them do their job.

I'll do what you say, but it's in their hands.

So if they say this is what they want, I'm gonna support them.

If they if you say that's what you want to make your job, Chief Covenant, I'm gonna do what you you're the expert.

You're putting your life and your employees on the job on the line, along with our our residents.

So I'm gonna yield this to you back to you, uh, President.

And for any of my colleagues that want to ask anything else, or I really want to hear from the public.

Whoa.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

Thank you to all the experts.

Councilmember Five does that completely.

Okay, so to my colleagues uh in transparency, if you guys want to introduce your amendments before or after the public speakers, after.

Okay.

Go after.

All right.

Public speakers.

As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.

Please state your name for the record.

Please also indicate if you have time ceded to you so we can give you the appropriate amount of time.

If you are participating via Zoom, you will be called after the people in chambers.

If you are in one of the overflow rooms, you will have time to make it up to the chambers to give your public comment.

Please don't step to the podium until your name is called.

As we have 90 speakers, and I will be calling them in groups.

Also on Zoom, if you did not speak, submit a card, please do not raise your hand.

Kelsey Hubbard, Jennifer Finley, James Van, Margarita Marin Parkin, Derek Barnes, Tuan, Petra J.A.

Hilton, Maya Zwelling, TJ Grayson, Henry Simmons, Jake Glacedin.

Sorry if I said it incorrectly, Charlotte Ion, Ryan John Sears, Laura Billings, Bertie Atwater, Donald Bedford, Alfred Wann, Jane Esposito, Madeline Stacy, Amy Astrid, Meg McAdon, Adam, sorry, Cindy Hart, Michael Pyatak, Mr.

Boatwright, Irina Itsexon, James Birch, David Powell Johnson, Becca Horn, or Becky Horn, I'm sorry, Tom J.

Jensen, Laura Geist.

In any order, please step to the podium and begin your comments.

Good afternoon, Council members.

My name is Henry Simons, and I'm a government and community relations representative for BART.

I just want to thank all of you for your partnership as we work to keep our infrastructure safe and the communities around our stations safe.

You know, on an average weekday last month, more than 34,000 people got off BART in Oakland for work to experience culture, go to great restaurants and so much more.

Um and as has been discussed at council already, encampment fires near BART infrastructure can prevent us from serving not just riders in Oakland but the entire Bay Area.

And we'd like to thank Council Member Houston for adding infrastructure operated Bright BART to the list of high sensitivity areas and thank the council members who we met with uh who supported this change.

And this update will help protect critical infrastructure and support the region's access to jobs, schools, and other vital destinations throughout the Bay Area, and we're proud of the work we've done with the city administrator, OPD, and OFD to keep Oakland safe and clean, and we're thankful for the city resources dedicated to addressing encampments and look forward to supporting citywide policies that promote a thriving Oakland.

Thank you.

Good morning, Council members.

James Van of the Homeless Advocacy Working Group.

Nobody seeks to be homeless.

People are homeless because of two things.

One, there's not enough housing.

And the rent is too damn high.

This measure should not be on the agenda.

At the December meeting, the council voted four to four.

The mayor did not vote.

The measure failed.

According to Roberts, the issue can only be brought back by a person who voted on the prevailing side.

That did not happen here.

This is an illegal meeting.

There are many things wrong with the encampment management policy, and there are many things wrong.

Many more things wrong with the encampment abatement policy.

Say it like it is.

Thank you, Mr.

Van.

Your time is up, unless you have time seated to you.

My name is Wong Gong.

I've been in Oakland most of my life.

I was started out as a social worker.

I'm a housing provider, and I'm a small business owner.

I'm glad that Ken is bringing this up and clarifying it.

Because I think people are gaming our system.

Give you examples.

They even have little signs that says, I live here.

The gaming our system.

There's one car that was out there we work on as a community for five, six months.

It was a green Ford Explorer.

They said somebody lived there.

We did we get we got put the runaround from the city to all the different departments, and I'm no stranger to the city's uh infrastructure.

But selective enforcement is the case.

We had a fundraise of a Bonte in front of the in front of uh the fire fire.

Thank you, sir.

Your time is up.

It got told.

I'm a principal at Esther Mertz Development Partners.

We own and operate the Prescott Market, Food Hall, and RD campus in West Oakland.

SRMERT is in support of the updated encampment management plan.

However, we are here today to ask the plan be updated and to include the areas surrounding the Prescott Market, RD campus, Oakland Baller Stadium, American Steel Studios, and the O2AA Artisans Aggregate, changing it from low sensitivity to high sensitivity area.

Significant investment has been made by these organizations over the past five plus years to create a thriving neighborhood for local businesses, retail, sports enthusiasts, artists, and residents.

We are experiencing strong momentum right now that is bringing more jobs to the neighborhood and supporting the city's economic development goals.

We've worked hard these past five years to improve the streetscape surrounding our Prescott campus by planting trees, building and cleaning sidewalks.

We've begun to turn the tide on public perceptions of safety and our food hall, farmers' markets, the Pacific Pipe Climbing Gym, and the ballers games are bustling and vibrant, attracting a wide array of the city.

Thank you, ma'am.

Your time is up.

Good morning.

My name is Charlotte.

I'm a district two resident.

I want to answer some of the questions I keep hearing.

This is for you, Council members, and for anyone who might be wondering.

Why can't we just enforce the law?

RV not registered, no more RV.

What if I told you that until recently, the Constitution had something to say about that?

Back before the Trump Court decided you have fewer rights, and the Eighth Amendment doesn't mean what it says.

How come you never see encampments up in the hills?

What if I told you they hoard wealth in those hills?

That the folks there never miss a mortgage payment and they have ways of keeping people out.

What if San Francisco and Berkeley kick out all the homeless people and they come here?

What if I told you that process has a name?

It's called gentrification, and you don't fight it by punishing the poor.

You fight it by insisting that everyone has the right to stay.

What if I told you that Oakland's fascist son knows all this already?

He's happy to talk about grants pass in private, and he knows that campaign checks from Piedmont don't bounce.

Finally, Council members, what if I told you that your constituents are smarter than you give us credit for?

You can't hide the ball from us.

We can see the bigger picture and thank you, Charlotte.

Your time is up.

Good morning.

My name is Petra Hilton, and I've been an Oakland resident in District 4 for almost 15 years.

I'm currently a law student at UC Berkeley Law and have been researching local homeless encampment policies through the policy advocacy clinic.

And my review of the field's existing research is become clear that local enforcement of encampment sweeps does not meaningfully reduce homelessness.

Instead, it harms people while draining local resources that could be spent elsewhere.

If the goal is to reduce homelessness, an amendment like this that increases sweeps and further criminalizes unhoused residents is likely a step in the wrong direction.

First, Oakland's current policy of enclosing encampments has not resulted in fewer camps.

The current policy ignores the root causes of homelessness in favor of displacement.

This new version doubles down on that approach by making it easier for police to tow vehicles people live in.

To date, the vast majority of encampment interventions Oakland officials pursue are closures.

Yet, since this current EMP start, homelessness has increased and campaign encampments have grown by ten times.

Mary Lee's office, which conducted more sweeps than her predecessor.

Bye.

Hi, my name is Maya Burling.

I'm a resident of Councilman Ungar's district.

I'm also a faculty at UC Berkeley.

I see the remainder of my time to my student.

Second, this pro new proposal puts the city at risk of increased costly litigation.

Just this month, a federal court found that Berkeley's encampment policy, which looks eerily similar to the proposal before you today, violated unhoused people's constitutional rights and disability statutes.

A key aspect of Oakland's current proposal, increased towing of vehicles people live in, was specifically struck down in Berkeley after the court found it violated unhoused people's fourth and fourteenth amendment rights.

Oaklands could face similar litigation, meaning it may never be implemented while the city spends thousands defending the policy in court.

But litigation isn't the sole source of possible expense.

Oakland's current encampment policy already requires the city to spend significant resources.

Each sweep requires multiple city employees from different departments, sometimes for multiple days.

For example, city policy requires OPD to be present at each encampment intervention, and those officers mostly logged out as overtime.

Oakland already budgets $72 million for OPD overtime and pays officers tens of thousands in overtime for their involvement in encampment activity.

I'm TJ Grayson, uh faculty member at the policy advocacy clinic, and I'm ceding uh remainder of my time to Petra.

Expanding the amount of encampment enforcement will increase these costs significantly.

There's little to no transparency on how much encampment interventions cost in total because recording time used on encampments is voluntary for each department.

It is hard to know how effective our current policy is compared to the alternatives, or whether this proposal would even help without data on its costs.

So if Oakland hopes to use its resources efficiently to address the homelessness crisis, then increasing encampment interventions and enforcement is unlikely to meet those goals.

Thank you very much.

We wear t shirts and sneakers and drive around in a minivan.

The people you're talking about are human beings.

Help them without hurting them.

And for God's sakes, don't be afraid of them.

You referenced the Berkeley outbreak of leptosporosis.

One dog, one person.

The media threw that out of proportion.

My team is currently working with UC Davis, infectious disease veterinarians.

We are going around to the encampments and testing a hundred dogs for leptosporosis.

We show up with a portable ultrasound machine wearing scrubs, not armor.

That's for proactive, what it looks like to be proactive, protect our community, not punishing people for having to live among the rats that spread the disease.

Move people, moving people from RVs to tents is not going to satisfy your constituents.

Let them have their shelters until you provide pathways to humane housing.

Thank you, Ms.

McGowan.

My name is Jane Esposito.

I'm a retired stool school teacher, and I volunteer with the Human and Pet Initiative.

I'm here today because we are being asked to accept a solution that does not solve the problem.

Criminalizing people for living on the street does not create housing.

It does not create safety.

It does not address the root causes that brought people here in the there in the first place.

It simply removes people, disrupts what little stability they have, and makes it harder for them to access services, care, and support.

We all want safer, healthier communities, but real safety comes from investment, not from punishment.

It comes from access to housing, mental health care, substance use treatment, and basic services.

It comes from meeting people with where they're at with dignity and practical support.

Every day in our outreach work, we see people doing their best to care for themselves, their families, and their animals under extremely difficult circumstances.

When encampments are swept and people are forced to move, it creates trauma.

For people who are already living with trauma, these disruptions deepen in the city.

Hello, my name is Becky Hom.

I'm the Oakland political manager at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and I live in District 5.

Um I'm here in opposition to the encampment abatement plan.

This plan continues to harm homeless people and does not solve the root issue.

Moving people from RVs just means they will be on the streets.

Sweeping the encampments doesn't mean they are no longer homeless.

It just means their belongings are gone.

Each solution or each quote unquote solution in this ordinance makes life worse for people.

APEN members want to be safe when they are walking outside, but decreasing safety for another community doesn't make anyone safe.

Hello, my name is Donald Bedford, and I live in Oakland.

I live in Oakland all my life.

This uh kind of unfair to us because you only give us a minute to tell you what we're going through.

A minute is not enough to not enough time to tell you how bad we're we live in.

Encampment is kind of hard.

It's bleeds messed up our streets.

Now they're getting so bad they get into the neighborhood of residents, and now you can't get street to come down and clean the street, the streets.

I mean, they used to come down twice a month twice a month, but now we can't get them come down at all.

I'm on 75th Avenue.

You know, and my street street have been swept in about two months now because of the homeless encampment.

We need you to do something about it instead of just putting up the all these, you know, proposal forward.

We need some actions other than just talk.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Laura Geist.

I'm the general manager of the Oakland Ballers.

Um, I'm here to also ask for some clarification on the high sensitivity and low sensitivity areas and ask that West Oakland, specifically the area around the Prescott, be included in a high sensitivity area, as uh one of our neighbors within the Prescott Market has mentioned.

There's been a significant amount of economic development in that area.

Um we are uh constantly recruiting for new uh new fans, more fans, fans from outside of Oakland, fans from inside of Oakland.

And um, you know, having uh having these areas be low sensitivity sort of uh blocks our ability to be able to bring more people into West Oakland and help the economic development that's happened in those neighborhoods.

Um we are providing jobs and lots of opportunities for Oakland residents, and we want to be able to continue to do that throughout the course of our tenure lease at the city of Vermonty Park.

Thank you.

Okay.

Hi, everybody.

Uh my name is Bertie Atwater.

I'm an Oakland resident of 10 years, uh medical student in Street Medic.

The premise of this proposal is tough love, which is the logic of abuse.

As Ken said, this is about letting his friends and city services do what they want for jobs and farmers' markets, not for the people who will die due to displacement and exposure from this proposal.

And like any abuser justification of why their violence is good for you, it falls apart under minimal scrutiny.

For example, why in the 90 days following enactment are we then identifying shelter locations?

It's an admission that the alleged support infrastructure of this proposal does not exist.

We know we have half as many shelter beds as we need.

Mandela House is throwing 70 people out onto the street.

Where will they go?

Low sensitivity areas.

Look at the 1937 redlining map compared to the one showing low sensitivity areas.

No one wants homelessness, and there are two solutions.

You find people housing or you eliminate the people who need a home.

Ask yourself which of these two outcomes is this proposal favor, and which are you putting your name on?

Good morning.

My name is David Johnson.

I'm here on behalf of four neighborhood associations in the Melrose Coliseum and Hagerburg Corridor area.

We have been working with the council members and the city staff for the last two and a half years to address the encampment and debris issues.

And this policy is a fair balance between the old encampment management policy and the encampment abatement policy.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

It is a difficult process.

The dialogue that you heard between the staff and the council member is exactly what we have seen on the street for the last two and a half years.

And this represents a fair compromise.

Again, we urge your support.

Thank you very much.

Before you begin, I'm going to call some more names from the next group.

James Birch, Bridget Nicoletti, John Brockett, Carol Wyatt, Leona, Malika or Molina, Damian Scott, Emily Wheeler, David Peters, Marie, Marisha Farmsworth, Miss Cecilia Cunningham, Zaire, Razir, Donnie, Avery, Simba, Moziato, Anaya, Ananda, Shane, Kanaji, Miss Angela, Bailey, Mickey, Ally Cat, Nija, Ifaleo, Nick, Meyerhoff, Bernard Crystal, Taya Husbands Hakins, Armando, Solazar, Joyus Morale.

Thank you.

And good morning, Council members.

I'm here because I deeply care about the safety and the future of Oakland.

I am an Oakland resident and a business owner.

I support Councilmember Houston's embankment abatement policy because it gives the city stronger tools to protect public safety and keep areas clean and address the key's conditions before they get worse.

We need action right now.

Please adopt this policy.

We need to be honest.

If Oakland does not get it together and get more consistent on these issues, we will continue to attract more and more people being pushed out of neighboring cities.

And the burden will keep falling on our neighborhoods, our schools, and our parks.

We cannot, we cannot be absorbing every neighborhood city's problems while ignoring the harm in our own community.

Our schools and parks should not be surrounded by encampments, RVs, trash, drug activity, and blight.

Just to name a few of the city public spaces that have been taken over, which are Willow Park, Lafayette Square Park, which is right over here.

Your time is up.

And can you state your name for me, please?

It's Margarita Marin Parkin.

Thank you.

Good day, Council members.

I'm here as a citizen and taxpayer, and I beg you to vote yes on Mr.

Houston's proposed through the chair.

We're gonna pause your time.

Can you please state your name before you begin?

Irena Itsexon.

I'm a resident of District One, Mr.

Unger.

For too long, Oakland has been treated like a dumping ground for the entire state's homeless population.

As a tax-paying citizen, we're forced to deal with a daily reality of needles, tents, garbage, and feces on our sidewalks.

This level of degradation has somehow become business as usual in our city, while other regions simply push their problems onto our streets.

What is truly crazy is that it's been normalized and that we even have to be here to have this discussion.

Previous city council chose not only to tolerate but encourage this poverty peddling of our city.

And I truly hope you have the courage to reverse that.

This isn't about politics, it's about common sense.

We need a policy that restores order and stops Oakland from being the default destination for everyone else's lack of solutions.

It's time to stop the excuses and stop allowing our home to be a dumping ground.

Please vote yes.

Thank you.

Hello, I am Cindy Hart, um, and I have been an Oakland resident since 1993.

I have watched the city become something very wonderful, and then within the span of a few short years, have become a dumping ground for the rest of the Bay area.

The status quo is not working.

The pop, the perfect solution is not out there at this time.

But what we need to do, and that I urge the council to vote on, we need a starting point.

We need to put a line in the sand, and we need to say this is acceptable, this is not acceptable.

I should not be held to different rules than someone that lives in an RV, meaning that I have to register my dog.

I have to keep the dog on the leash.

If I'm out there throwing drug parties, I can get arrested.

I can't take over the sidewalk with my belongings.

There needs to be the enforcement of law that is correct for everyone while we work on that perfect solution.

So I beg you to start and to put and to vote for each and every um council member that's present today.

I am Mrs.

Cunningham, and I've been living in Oakland over 67 years, and it is ridiculous the way Oakland is being led today.

We're gonna have to come together as one and make changes in Oakland.

Now we are here on this encampment, but you know something?

It's a lot involved with this encampment.

Because when you move people out, you have to replace them.

You gotta place them somewhere where it's safe.

It's not fair for no one here to be homeless.

This is the home of the brave, the free, and we should all celebrate it and do something about it.

I know that everyone here, the fire department, the police department, the EMT, all these apartments.

We cannot do, they can't do nothing by themselves.

It takes everybody, the whole village to see that changes on that.

Thank you, Miss Cunningham.

Your time is up.

Thank you, Miss Cunningham.

Your time is up.

Hello, Madeline, before you begin, you can pull the mic up so you don't have to.

Madeline Stacy, I see my time to Nikki.

My name is Drake Leslie, and I also cede my time.

Hi, I'm Miss Miss Nikki from West Oakland.

I'm the lady who does the art.

I come to you guys clearly mind to tell you in my heart.

I know everyone of you guys can do the right thing.

I've been homeless since 2019 on Fifth Mandela.

In 2025, they came to us, Ivan and Zach, and they said they're gonna have to move us one month.

They came three days later, they said, Oh no, you have two weeks.

I said, okay, we're all willing to move.

Every one of us give us housing.

I sent them an email, a text message with 19 people's names, if they were in a tent, an RV, if they had cats, if they're dogs, if they had medical, if they were a veteran.

I was very detailed.

But to my understanding, when I sent that text, I was the only one on that list that could be placed because all my documentation, social security card, everything was already in the placing and the matching of the housing.

I was the only one on that list.

And guess how many people got housed, you guys?

One girl who sat there and cried because her fifth wheel got pulled away.

One girl.

That's it.

It's really sad that I'm sitting here.

My generations of all my ancestors have fallen to this.

You guys have no compassion.

I know who you are.

I remember you.

I remember you coming to take pictures of our garbage.

Well, I welcome you guys.

Please email Tony Cooper.

It's T Cooper870 at Gmail, and I will send you my pictures of my encampment that you could have coffee at, okay?

And you could bring your dog and your cat, and we can sit there and talk about hey, how wonderful the A's are not here anymore, okay?

But my thing is this there's too many of us out here who've been struggling over the same factors of you guys need to find housing for us.

You guys gotta think about this in the bigger picture.

All I can say is refer to your constitutional rights because you guys are breaking line every day.

My name is Michael Pyatok.

I've been a resident of Oakland for almost 50 years in District 2, and I'm an architect.

You've heard from several speakers now.

The main flaw of this piece of legislation is that there's no alternative presented.

It's all about how do you move people out from where they are, and there's no plan to create 5,000 shelter beds that are going to be needed to do that.

You've got more than 5,000 people on the streets.

Where are you going to move them to?

There's a little phrase in there reasonable effort has to be made to found alternative shelter.

You can't be reasonable if there's no shelter there.

We closed several hundred shelter beds just in the last couple of months.

How do you do it?

You need a hundred sites with 50 beds in each to get to that 5,000 number.

And you you're asking staff in three months to find these sites.

Well, that's a glacial pace.

You could do that in 30 days if you worked hand in glove with a volunteer architects who are willing to work with city staff to get that to move.

LU Harris got 3,000 burned houses rebuilt in a matter of a few years by setting up city halls in those neighborhoods so they could quickly process those permits.

And Jerry Brown got 6,000 units built in downtown for the upper crust.

Thank you for your comments.

What's your name?

Thank you very much.

So to create these 5,000 shelter beds.

With about 50 in each.

Vehicle residency is a symptom of system failure, not preference.

Involuntary displacement is medically dangerous.

The enforcement process is a costly revolving door that solves nothing.

The core issue is the lack of safe and sanctioned space.

Effective solutions are programs that offer dignity, stability, and a clear path to permanent supportive housing.

Punishing people for the city shelter failure ignores the fact that people on a fixed income will remain unhoused because it's still not enough money for Oakland's housing cost.

If you stop the sweeps, you can put that money that we're spending on all these people that need easier jobs into long-term solutions.

My name is Bridget Nicoletti, and I'm an attorney at the East Bay Community Law Center.

The EAP as it stands will cause immense harm to unhoused Oaklanders and is in direct opposition to the mayor's plan because it fails to answer the most basic question.

Where can unhoused people go?

This policy poses the greatest harm to Oakland residents who live in their vehicles.

Right now, the policy would allow the unnoticed towing of lived in vehicles, leaving residents on the street with nothing.

OPD has already started implementing this practice illegally, indicating that it cannot be allowed to move forward without some sort of guidance and guardrails.

In the meantime, Oakland has closed RV parking lots and shelters, kicking people back onto the street, leaving people with fewer options, and being being subject to this terrible policy.

The council should reject this policy outright, but at the absolute bare minimum, any policy passed by this council must protect the rights of people who live in their vehicles.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Marisha Farnsworth, and um I'm here to just speak about an oversight on the map.

Retail across Oakland is marked high sensitivity, but retail in West Oakland is marked low sensitivity.

I'm asking for this double standard to be fixed and the map to be revised so that retail in West Oakland is treated equally with retail in other neighborhoods.

I don't believe that this is the intention of the city of Oakland to treat West Oakland small businesses differently from the businesses in the hills in Temascal or in Rockridge.

The map needs greater attention than a broad GIS designation.

These businesses have permits, so I know the data can be found.

I'm asking that a staff member review the GIS or reach out to community members who know where these businesses are to help ensure the oversight is corrected, and West Oakland gets treated equally.

Thank you.

I'm a poverty scholar, that houseless mom with that houseless daughter.

People might wonder why you can't see my eyes.

It's because people die houseless bodies like mine.

Excuse me.

Please take your own.

People walk by houseless bodies my mine and wish that we would die.

The only thing that Ken Houston clarified today is that it's a carceral million dollar system that is there to eradicate the bodies and lives of houseless people.

Excuse me, can you pause the time, please?

Do you have a yellow sheet?

Huh?

Do you have a card?

Did you say that?

Yeah, we all signed up.

All of us.

Can you show your cards so that you can do that?

I don't have it because somebody else did it.

Yeah, thank you.

Yeah, they all signed up.

So all that to say, I hope that you stop my time right then.

Um Ken Houston clarified with the police and with the DPW workers that this is a carceral system meant to eradicate poor and houseless peoples.

How does that house us?

No matter how many times you jail, incarcerate, or study me, it doesn't give me a home.

Homefulness is a homeless people's solution to homelessness.

Housing 24 youth adults and elders in permanent rent-free forever housing.

That's a solution.

You could do things with those millions of dollars instead of continue to incarcerate us.

We are not trash, we are humans.

Stop sweeping us.

Having said that, we have youth scholars from our liberation school that happens on homefulness, and they were all the people that signed up so that Zaire and Niger and Donnie and Avery and Simba and Akiko and Shane.

And so they're gonna come up and read the moratorium that they wrote on sweeps, because even children know that this is inhumane.

As through the chair, as you begin, please state your name.

If you guys are, are you all reading or is one person reading?

Okay, so please state your name as you go so we can give you your time.

I am Simba.

We are the youth poverty scholars at homefulness poor magazine decolonize academy.

My name is Homefulness is homeful uh homefulness, people's solutions to home uh hopefulness.

We wrote a monitoring.

Uh rhetorium on sweeps.

Hi, my name is Sherry Delicruz, and we wrote this moratorium because sweeping humans is inhumane.

The purpose of this moratorium ordinance is to allow poor and houseless residents of Oakland to access real housing options and for houseless people-led solutions to be considered and launched.

Sweeps queue.

Um, I want to remind everybody that uh Cam Houston Ken Houston is the one who flipped uh the public off, flipped the people off.

Just uh reminder of that.

Anything that comes from his hands, we don't want any part of.

We the people uh we have solutions, and every time we come with solutions, it seems like you guys have a problem with the solution.

But um, we just uh we're still praying for you guys that that uh God touches your hearts and uh allows you guys to make the right decisions, but we don't want anything coming from this guy.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh, mommy.

My name is Mickey, I'm seeding my time.

Um, and I'm Deb O.

I'm also seeding my time.

Hi, yes.

My name is Ally Cat.

I've been living in Oakland all my life.

I was born here.

When I moved when I was born here, the hospital was called Merit Hospital.

Now it's summit.

So I was born in 1974.

COVID hit, everybody lost so much stuff.

You we are in RVs.

How are we supposed to get them registered if we cannot even get money to get work or find jobs or it's people that need help with getting documents together?

They life is in shambles.

All you guys doing is chasing us around.

This guy here, he acts like he's helping 85th.

He's not.

He he knows he's not doing anything.

But I think you guys need to give us abandoned vacant buildings.

Like, what's the problem with us moving into those buildings?

Get the people off the street, even if they don't have their documentation, help them.

They need to be somewhere stable.

We got kids out there, kids, seniors, all kind of people.

You guys keep talking about the drugs, the drugs, the drugs.

Okay, y'all the ones putting them in the out here.

And y'all know that.

Let's get to the bottom of it.

Like what's really going on.

Y'all know y'all be crooked and doing all kind of stuff.

So, but so you guys need to start working with the community.

No money, you can't fix your RV.

You can't fix your car.

You can't fix your home that you are now living in because rent is six times the rent.

How's anybody gonna pay that?

Then y'all want to 100% race.

How y'all get 100% race?

That is so unfair to us as taxpayers and everything.

You know, people are homeless and still on the street.

They still outside.

They cannot afford the rent.

You feel you gotta make six times the rent.

That is ludicrous that you guys are doing that.

Where you think they're going?

Y'all gonna move us around?

We're coming right back.

We're gonna come right back.

It's it's evident.

We're gonna we don't have nowhere else to go.

We rather struggle in our hometown than somebody else's hometown.

Okay.

So no matter how much y'all push, we still gonna come back.

Of course, if you guys don't get them treatment help and transitional housing, anything, just get them off the street.

You guys have schools, churches, vacant.

Give us the land.

We will make sure that we get them off the streets.

Y'all did it for mother infant programs is doable.

It's doable.

You guys can do it.

That was one of y'all better programs, the mother infant program, the transitioning housing.

That was one of y'all better programs.

Re-entry for people getting out of prison.

And mothers are out here with their kids.

They can't get nothing.

You can't do nothing under the table because when you tell your worker, then now you're getting in trouble.

Now it's fraud.

I need money.

I need money.

I need to work.

Because the little jobs that you get that we get, we don't get 100% race.

We how dare us even ask for 100% race.

Nobody has 100% race.

Come on.

You guys Donald Trump, what's going on?

He's the only one doing 100% race.

You know, come on.

Let's let's get this together.

Work with us.

You I see him on 85th doing that, then promising, if you clean up, I'll pay you.

And then it gets down to $10.

You know, we know.

We know we be out there.

We be out there.

Thank you, Ally Catch.

Your time is up.

Hello.

Uh, my name is Leon Amalica.

I'm a district two resident with the Oakland Tenants Union.

For the past five years, Oakland has spent millions on a homeless policy centered around sweeps and displacement.

The result is what we now see all around us.

The very same problem, scattered hither and thither as those directly affected, have their lives upturned, belongings destroyed.

And the rest of us have paid the tab for this reshuffling with our tax dollars.

Doubling down on this policy without shelter resources for more than half of homeless campers, other than elsewhere on the street, is like a gambler taking out a loan just to finance more lotter tickets.

Certain it will be the key out of his debt and destitution.

We've heard a lot, by the way, about other cities making Oakland a dumping ground for its homeless population.

It's unclear what's on offer from this policy beyond returning the same ugly favor.

The people of Oakland and Broader Bay Area, housed and unhoused alike, deserve better.

My name is Damian Scott.

I live in District 3 and lead organizer with East Bay Housing Organizations, and we're here this morning to oppose the encampment abatement policy, and I urge the council to vote no on it today.

The solution to our housing homelessness crisis in Oakland in California for that matter is more services and more affordable housing.

You know, I was told this morning that over 80% of East Oaklanders want to see something about the encampments in their neighborhoods, and I agree as someone lived in East Oakland for over 30 years.

But I wonder do these East Oaklanders know that folks can be cited and arrested for re-encampment.

Or do they know that the low sensitivity low sensitivity zones are mostly in their neighborhoods and not in the hills and other areas with resources?

I wonder if they know this policy doesn't require the city to offer adequate shelter or fund permanent solutions to their housing crisis.

I wonder if they know that.

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Nick Meyerhoff.

I don't think homelessness should be criminalized.

And I'm a housing provider.

I have a school teacher living in one of my buildings.

Her e-bike was stolen by someone in the encampment next door.

She can't get to work.

My residents have been tortured living with this encampment for years.

My tenants are teachers, food servers, and other local works workforce.

Their rights matter too.

Who's speaking up for them?

Why are the rights of the people living in encampments more important than my tenants, one of whom's a teacher?

I don't think homelessness should be criminalized, but I do support the new EMP and I support Ken Houston.

Order in the chamber, last warning.

I've filed a certificate.

This hearing has to be continued so that they have a chance to equally speak.

Vehicles are far superior to shelter.

Thank you, Mr.

Jensen.

Your time is up.

I'm sorry.

Your time is up.

Hello, my name is Miss Angela, and I came to speak today about the homeless.

And a right to live however the person wants to live.

And I want to address this picture that's put up here by Ken Houston with the man sleeping on the ground.

Obviously, this man has issues, so he needs to be placed and helped with probably mental health issues or being an addict.

So that's something different with somebody uh not having a place to stay.

But they sometimes slump into having mental health issues and being uh a person uh that becomes an addict from being homeless because they're not taught that even being poor is not a crime, being homeless is not a crime, and you shouldn't be persecuted for there there are resources, there are resources already there, and it's called Section A.

Once uh uh state is called uh a state of emergency for homelessness, that's the reason why they bring thank you, Miss Angela.

Your time is up.

My name is Satya, I have these folks seeding time to me.

Please state your name.

Satya, not sure as the seeding time, or give them to your yellow sheets.

My name is Eve Valentine.

I've been an Oakland resident for 10 years.

I completely oppose this policy.

I'm seeding my time to Satya.

I'm Connor Barrow.

If you're seeding time, you're just saying your name.

Connor Barrow.

Seeing time.

And you don't get to you lose your time.

So just so that's clear, you don't get to use your time.

I cede my time to uh so green.

Satya, you can only there can only be three people to cede to you.

That's fine.

Yeah.

Thank you.

My name is Satya, and I'm a district seven resident.

I've realized over the last six months that what the city council is doing with the EAP right now is nothing more than political theater.

We all know that Oakland's current approach to homelessness does not work.

So if the EAP was a serious policy, it would do something significantly different, but it doesn't.

It is essentially the same as the existing EMP, only with provisions to reduce services, reduce sanitation, and reduce the city's overall participation in addressing homelessness solutions.

So unfortunately, it appears that this council is either unable or unwilling to be serious about the crisis of homelessness and poverty in our city.

Where does that put us as of today?

I am no longer interested in addressing this council of high chairs, but instead this audience who is with me today and anyone else who might be listening.

It's up to us now.

We do not have a governing body that's gonna take care of us.

I'm tired of the trauma in my community.

I'm tired of the fact that there is trash everywhere.

I'm tired of the fact that there are women right now being trafficked by shelter staff that Oakland pays for.

I'm tired of the fact that every other damn week I talk to somebody's granny or great-granny who is living in a tent on the street.

I am tired of people dying of overdoses.

I'm tired of getting up here every couple of months and stating the obvious to a bunch of mostly buffoons who take money from billionaires and white supremacists like Peter Thiel and Philip Dreyfus and then turn around and act like they're still a part of our community.

Ha!

And you know what?

I'm not interested in beefing with any of my neighbors.

I don't want to argue with my neighbor who owns their home and pays property taxes and is just tired of dealing with rats and stepping in human feces because you're right.

You should not be dealing with rats and you should not have to step in human feces.

You're right.

It's insane that I even have to say that.

And it all clicked for me when I realized that this council is not incentivized to solve the problem.

Because if they solved homelessness, they wouldn't have a hot button platform to run on the next time they want to get re-elected.

They wouldn't have a convenient, undesirable population that they can promise to clean up once and for all.

And yes, take a second to consider what that reminds you of.

My friends and neighbors, I'm gonna leave you with this.

It doesn't matter what the outcome of today's vote is.

It doesn't.

This is not a serious government.

This is a high school theater class.

We have got to get serious about our own communities.

We have got to take care of our own people, and that means we work hard.

We clean our own sidewalks, we fill our own damn potholes, we feed each other's children, we stand with our sisters against domestic abuse.

We make sure our cousins on the street have someplace to shower.

That is how my parents raise me to show up in my community.

But it's different now.

We can't just act this way out of the goodness of our hearts.

We need to do it on a large scale and fast because now we know that we have been politically abandoned.

So if you're doing this work right now in your communities, neighborhoods around Oakland, join me in East Oakland.

Tap in with me after this meeting.

We're gonna get together and do something real after listening to all this bullshit.

Thank you.

My name My name is Amy Astral, and I yield my time to the individual behind me.

My name is Bernard Crystal, and I'm also seceding my time.

My name is Juniper Wu.

I am ceding my time.

My name is Jazz.

Our hands build homes.

Our fires share food.

Our backs share clothes.

Our skills fix RVs, trailers, and cars.

Our ribs help re-entry for our loved ones locked behind bars.

Our commitment move homes on wheels before OPD can swipe them.

Our arms replace tents that got thrown in a dumpster.

Our cars move people into shelter programs and medical respites, move people into housing and get each other to our never-ending medical, legal, case worker, job and therapy appointments.

Our persistence reunifies families, our hearts ban to escape from DV situations.

Our lungs exhale harm reduction and rehabilitation.

Our hips throw rent relief fundraisers and carve space for celebration.

Our fingers stack motel funds.

Our palms hold together community cleanups.

Our stomachs drum roll community cookouts.

Our community has always and will always do this and more for each other.

CRC does this.

Love and justice in the streets does this.

Wood Street Commons does this.

Homefulness does this.

Everybody out in these streets does this.

We do this because inhumane policies like the EMP and the EAP force us to, in order to keep each other alive and to build a world all our children can thrive in, where we aren't afraid that our back or our loved ones back will be the next one laid out on the concrete crack.

Homefulness built a home on a poem and is still building more, planting seeds in the loam.

Wood Street Commons sent diagrams and demands for permanent supportive housing plans.

Yet somehow the city is still pushing money laundering scams.

Three shelters closed down in a matter of weeks, and the city's response is more police and more sweeps.

Every day, mamas and their babies are put out on the streets, and the city says, Eureka, I've got it.

The EAP.

We don't have money to put a roof over your head, but we have money to sweep you to death.

Homefulness heals while the EAP steals.

Wood Street Commons builds while the EAP kills.

The EAP wants to criminalize the community that is getting organized.

The EAP wants to squash every solution that is sprouting out of a poor people-led revolution.

Politricksters will vote what they vote, they'll lie and they'll cheat.

But resolutions, real solutions come from all of us in and beyond these seats.

So if you don't want to see any more people have to sleep in the streets, come get down with the people who've been through the shit.

Because we don't bite and we don't quit.

And as for the city putting their bid in, they'll either have to get with it or miss it.

Before you begin, I'm going to before you begin, I'm going to read the remaining names.

Nita B, Patricia Toscano, Alex from Jess Cities, Renee Hayes, Al from St.

Mary's Center, Sheila Gay, Kawimi from St.

Mary's, Arenato, Fred, Nicole Dean, Chris McKay.

Miss Dominic DeMayo.

Miss from Civic Action Coalition.

Caleb.

Shantae McLaughlin, St.

Trin.

I'm a resident of Oakland District 2.

I just want to say that it's kind of insulting that someone like Hen Houston is currently being allowed to help dictate the city of Oakland's Oakland's approach to the housing crisis.

Under his watch, he felt comfortable running an organization that paid him 195 dollars an hour while he paid the unhoused residents employed a mere $17.19 cents an hour in the Bay Area, which is just insulting.

Clearly, any policy that he helps dictate does not have the best interests of residents at heart.

Any policy crafted by him should be opposed by the city of Oakland.

Thank you.

My name is Father Dominic DeMeo.

I'm a Catholic priest serving in the city of Oakland and working with unhoused residents.

So I'd like to speak plainly that this policy will cause harm.

For many, this is a matter of life and death.

And in good faith, the members of this council have sworn an oath to be of service to the residents of the city.

And that includes all of our residents, whether they're housed or unhoused.

In working with the unhoused in this city, I've come across many who are have disabilities.

I'd like to underline that because I haven't heard it discussed today.

The vast majority of those I encounter on the streets of Oakland have disabilities.

For instance, a woman who is an amputee from the foot down when hurt and she lives in a van.

That van is her safety, her security, and her shelter.

If it is towed, she loses loses everything.

So I'd like to urge you to make sure that safeguards are in place so that there is no displacement without safe alternatives, which will clearly it is a very uh controversial policy.

And so I thought I write a pro and oppose uh position to the council, and I like to just share what I wrote to you guys.

So, on the one hand, Oakland's encampment policy is failing, and we're not getting the results the city needs, and encampments continue to grow, and we are not moving people indoor fast enough.

The state is giving out billions of dollars to the homeless housing assistance and prevention uh program, but they're increasingly demanding to uh sh the cities to show results and cities that move faster on interim housing and encampment reduction or securing funding, but Oakland is falling behind.

So we really need to show results, show urgency, and we need a change.

On the other hand, I think there's also an argument for keeping the status quo.

Vote today to keep tents and RBs.

Oakland should grow or ten cities and pile our RBs with more trash.

Raw sewage dumped on sidewalks, foster much neat office.

Thank you.

Your time is up.

Hello.

Billion or billionaires, landlords, tech and finance oligarchs.

Armando.

Billionaires, landlords, tech and finance oligarchs.

Chris Moore, Ronald Nahas, Christian Larson, Massie Victor, Justin Douglas Walway, Isaac Abid, and Philip Dreyfus funded the recalls and supported the council members who now support this legislation through shadowy campaign finance networks, funneling money through front group cutouts like Foundational Oakland United, Revitalize East Bay, Better Bay Area, Empower Oakland, etc.

Their agenda is displacement of the poor and working class, so they can keep raising the rents and the value of their assets.

They have caused the crisis by making housing unaffordable.

This legislation is class warfare.

It's state violence directed to anyone these oligarchs can't control and profit off of.

They're exploiting renters by keeping us desperate and trying to redirect our anger towards the unhoused, even as they're making more and more of us unhoused.

There are two to three times more empty housing units than there are unhoused people.

Uh Joyus Morale, I seed my time.

My name is Nina B with the village in Oakland.

The EAP wants to literally disappear the unhoused, a move in direct opposition to the mayor and the new Office of the Homeless Solution that states in their new strategic plan that sweeps are costly, ineffective, solve nothing, and caused irreparable harm, including increased mortality rates.

Decades of research and experience show that police enforcement-based homeless policies are an exorbit waste of money that only make the problem worse and increased death rates amongst the unhoused.

Recent reports from the city of Oakland show that a significant amount of police overtime is spent on encampment sweeps and toes.

According to an internal audit of the city of Oakland, the city spends more than $1,500 an hour on sweeps and toes.

We believe those funds can and must be redirected to real solutions that do not harm Oakland's unhoused.

The city has never properly managed unhoused encampments or followed its current encampment management policy, which is why people are living in inhumane conditions.

We know that something must be done about the homeless crisis, but the EAP is not that what needs to be done.

It is you inhumane.

It is costly and it solves nothing.

It follows this national trend to be aligned with Trump.

Nothing in the current EMP stops the police from intervening in uh criminal behavior activity.

The police just choose to not intervene.

The village is a part of the housing and dignity project.

And since June of last year, we have been collectively working with Wood Street Commons in consultation with the East Oakland Collective, Love and Justice in the Streets, Oakland Revealed, Just Cities Institute, Michael Pyatec, Cardia Health, and the Triangle Leaders from Allen Temple Baptist Church and Brotherhood Elders Network to advance this solution, standing on volumes of documented best practices, public health approaches, and lived experience and wisdom.

We offer an alternative to the EAP, a pipeline to intergenerational permanent housing from the streets to stability.

The Housing Indignity Project and the Steering Committee of Hog have met with several council members who like the housing and dignity proposal.

It is in line with the Office of the Homeless Solutions Strategic Action Plan.

It is in line with the United Nations recommendations for adequate shelter and declarations, and that housing is a human right.

We I've submitted the proposal and I've submitted the hog recommendations and I submitted to alternative other alternatives.

Thank you, Ms.

B.

Your time is up.

My name is Alex Pinegas, and I'm a district four resident here yet again on behalf of Just Cities and the Housing and Dignity Project to oppose the EAP.

To date, it has never come before the Life Enrichment Committee, where issues of homelessness are typically heard.

And not one public analysis has been conducted to understand its impacts.

I'm submitting a list of analyses we have previously requested.

Why are we here?

Again, considering this policy when since it was introduced last July, not one city or independence body has publicly weighed in on its efficacy.

Where is the staff report?

If the council members feel they must pass the EAP, it must at minimum be amended.

I'm also submitting amendments that address our core concerns.

In particular, the clause removing inhabited vehicles from provisions governing encampments will do nothing for Oakland's residents, housed or unhoused, and in fact will only lead to more people living on sidewalks and streets.

Thank you.

Good morning.

Caleb O will um concede his minute to me.

Caleb, are you in the chamber?

Um Zoom.

Kayla, please raise your hand.

And what's your name?

My name's Patricia Toscano, and I'd like for Councilmember Ken Houston to sit and listen to the code.

Order in the chambers.

Please don't direct your covers towards me.

Okay, thank you.

Good morning.

So as I'm sitting here listening, I'm thinking everyone's talked about everything except for 225 children that I met during the holidays.

During the holidays, I sponsored a toy drive in DP Stokeland and specifically held it for unhoused children in District 7.

And it was invitation only.

Those children came from OUSD, they came from local hospitals, clinics, social workers, and programs that work with unhoused community members.

Those children, along with their families, represented 83 families, a total of 308 unhoused people.

Now I was looking at the point in time from 2024, and it states that there were 699 unhoused families and children that represented 237 families throughout the entire Alameda County.

So I'm thinking, hmm, that's a lot of numbers.

That's probably a closer to 50%, a little over 40%.

So that leads me to believe that obviously the data is flawed somewhere.

We have all of these unhoused children that are not that are being underrepresented.

Council Council Member Houston serves uh a district and also yourself council member Jenkins serve the district that has the highest disparities in education, incarceration, housing, economic disparities, yet you all are pushing for to criminalize families.

These are children we're talking about.

I had a child I met with every single one of these families and personally talked to them.

I housed several of them over the holidays in hotels.

If you guys would like the receipts, I'm happy to give them to you.

Um because it was raining.

All of you will go home.

You spent your holidays in your warm housing while these children.

Your minute was given to you, your time is up.

What's your name?

Do you have a card for Ash Wagner?

One second, Ms.

Tescano.

Please turn your yellow sheet into my staff at the front if you're seating time.

I don't have a card for you.

One second.

Okay.

Is there somebody else that could see the eye?

Mr.

Sconnell, do you have anything else to say?

Thank you.

I made over a hundred telephone calls during the holidays to try to get people in a shelter.

Many of the shelters do not allow families with male children over 10 years old.

Council Member Wang prides herself on human trafficking.

Many of the young ladies that I met during the holidays are involved in human trafficking because they need a place to stay.

They need to make money for hotels every night.

All of you sit here and you act like these children are invisible.

These children are not invisible.

Go out here, find these children.

The data does not ref represent these children that are unhoused.

I have numbers to show you.

If you don't have anywhere to place them, then where are they supposed to go?

They're going to end up on the streets.

We're going to continue to walk over feces over God knows what every day.

This is not the right proposal.

Yes, there is a problem, and we need to deal with it, but this is not it.

Council Member Houston, your district has the highest unhoused population of children.

Ms.

Toscano, your time is up.

Thank you, Ms.

Toscano.

Thank you, Mr.

Scottel.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Kay Wine.

You're not seeing my time.

Good morning.

My name is Renee Hayes.

I'm a senior advocate for the Hope and Justice Program and a member of the Council of Elders at St.

Mary's Center.

I get to hold the mic today to share my lived experience in real time with you because I'm currently living in transitional housing at St.

Mary's.

Next month will be two years.

So that's two years of wait list and lotteries to get on wait list.

Evidence shows that encampment abatement or sweeps, that's what they really do.

That's what they are.

They do nothing to solve homelessness.

The fact that they have to be repeated over and over again suggests that that's ineffective.

But what I what it does is destroys people's much needed personal property, medications, medical equipment, and the necessary documents needed to apply for affordable housing.

You're causing a health crisis and increasing instability for people when they are already vulnerable.

This encampment abatement policy is just more forced displacement.

Imagine after having already been displaced with no safety net and forced to live on the streets or in your vehicle or RV because you can't afford the rent because the rent is too damn high.

That's what's criminal.

And we're, and you're somehow managing to survive here in the streets, and the best the city of Oakland with Ken Houston's encampment abatement policy, which I view as pure spectacle, is willing to offer you all they're willing to offer you is more trauma and criminalization.

Criminalizing you for not being able to afford to live inside.

So they're saying to the unhoused Thank you, your time is up.

My name is Sheila Gay, and I'm relinquishing my one minute to my cohort, Al.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Al.

I work with Hope and Justice at St.

Mary's Center as a senior advocate.

This policy directly impacts me.

Policies like this cause just as much fear and harm for many seniors at St.

Mary's Center as ICE does for people all across America.

Homelessness is on the rise for many of us seniors.

We are not statistics.

We have worked, raised families, and contributed to the city.

Encampment sweeps cause many losses and such confusion.

The sweeps destabilize many who are in dire need of stability.

We seniors need help, not punishment.

At St.

Mary's Center, we are hoping that this policy is denied.

Thank you.

San Francisco just paid a $2.8 million settlement for violation of people's rights in 2022.

Sanchez versus Caltrans is a now ongoing lawsuit because of alleged unconstitutional seizure and destruction of property, including medical and phone and documents.

Berkeley City lawsuit has been allowed to c go forward as a class action suit because of their violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the force.

And Vallejo Injunction 220 2025.

Thank you for your time.

Next speaker.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Stephanie Tran, President of the Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce.

We support the intent of the encampment abatement policy, particularly the ability to respond more quickly to urgent health and safety conditions.

For our business corridors, including Chinatown, this is not just a safety issue.

It directly impacts whether businesses can keep their doors open.

Businesses are dealing with blocked sidewalks that limit customer access, fire hazards near storefronts and buildings, and ongoing concerns that reduce foot traffic and revenue.

Many of our businesses are small and immigrant-owned.

They do not have the ability to absorb this level of disruption day after day.

But businesses need consistency and follow-through, not just one-time action.

We must acknowledge the reality that we do not have enough shelter beds, and we urge the city to pair this policy with real humane investments in housing, coordinated outreach, and long-term strategy.

Our businesses need safe, accessible corridors, and our community needs real solutions.

Thank you.

Nicole Dean.

And this won't be either.

This couldn't pass committee because there's really serious problems with this policy for all the reasons that have already been stated today.

Every time you guys pass a policy that promises things that it cannot deliver, your constituents lose a lot more faith in government.

I will say that the thousands of residents that C4C has door knocked are really concerned about how the EAP will affect 911 response times, traffic safety infrastructure, and other basic civ city services.

60% of unsheltered Oaklanders live in vehicles.

Most people we've talked to think that pushing them out of their vehicles onto the streets will make neighborhood issues worse.

Action needs to be taken.

It's been an emergency.

What we've been doing has not been working, but this policy does not represent a meaningful change from what the city has been doing for the past.

Thank you, Ms.

Dean.

If your name was called and you were in chambers and you wish to address the council, please step to the podium.

Last call for in-chamber speakers.

Now moving to the Zoom speakers.

James B, can you just one second, one second?

Please approach the podium.

So if everybody's been called, can we please clear clear the walls, please?

David Boatwright.

This is not a complete solution to the homeless issue, but it at least can provide steady progress.

I recommend the city consider purchasing 3D houses.

A single unit can be uh fabricated in one day for less than $50,000 with a pad and utility uh connections installed for another maybe $50,000.

All the city has to do is is add small plots of land around the city.

3D units for multiple persons can be constructed by joining single units.

Multiple companies in California offer different designs.

The cost of the option will more than reduce the cost of repeated cleanup operations.

This recommendation is much quicker to implement and costs much less than million the million dollar unit projects authorized for over 160 units by the council just over a year ago.

And on which no physical progress is Mr.

Boatright.

Again, if your name was called and you're in chambers and you wish to speak, this time we'll be moving to the Zoom speakers.

Mr.

Burt, I'm sorry, James, if you can just tell me your last name.

James Birch, B U R C H.

Thank you.

Please begin your comments.

Thank you.

Uh uh, I feel for the business owners who have been given the EAP as a policy solution.

You have been misled.

What this policy does is give the city authority to tow more than two thousand people's vehicles without giving the city anywhere to put them.

The city has just a few hundred safe parking sites for more than two thousand vehicle residents.

This policy does not create more.

It does not create shelter, it does not create housing, it creates towing authority.

And when you tow a family's RV without a placement, that family ends up on the sidewalk.

You have not solved the problem.

You have moved it to the curb.

This is not a framework for solving homelessness.

This is a framework for relocating it.

And study after study shows what relocation without placement purposes.

Families who stop seeking medical care because they fear losing a vehicle, children who lose school school stability, lost documents that block access to housing, and a cycle through emergency rooms and child welfare systems that cost the city more than where we started.

Over 2,000 uh vehicles, less than 200 spaces.

This policy does not close that gap.

It just decided.

Thank you for your comments, Mr.

Burch.

Sanford Forte, you are next after Sanford Carmen Jovel.

I'm Sanford Forte, co-chair of the West Oakland neighbors.

Speaking of witness to hundreds of neighbors and many business owners with whom I've interacted with over years, among whose major concern is uncontrolled, inhumane, and dangerously unhealthy homeless camps and RVs that degrade the social fabric and frustrate the public's reasonable expectations for basic civil order in the public commons, mostly in East and West Oakland.

We must balance legitimate concerns about the unfortunately unhoused, but not forget the real racial injustice of burdening the most racially diverse economically challenged districts in Oakland with a problem that the EAP is designed to correct.

Please pass the EAP with a firm determination that insists on maintenance of civil order and obedience to laws designed to protect the public commons that's as first principles with no exceptions for all who reside in Oakland, including unhoused persons.

Thank you.

Carmen, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Hello, my name is Carmen Hovella.

I'm a resident of district three and the housing deputy director of the East Bay Community Law Center.

I'm speaking in strong opposition to the anti-homeliness encampment abatement policy.

Abatement by definition is ending, reduction, or lessening of something.

Humans cannot be lessened, reduced, or ended.

That is murder.

That is not humane.

It's not humane to waste millions of dollars to pull those tents, impeled in vehicles and continue to push out and banish thousands of unhoused people from their homes without investing in unsustainable, insustainable solutions.

That is irresponsible.

The constant displacement makes makes keeping track of life-saving medicine, personal belongings, and necessary documents for permanent housing nearly impossible.

The proposed EAP criminal license black and brown unhoused community members who are already overpoliced.

Our unhoused community neighbors are not foreign or domestic terrorists like they've been referred to.

They are members of our community.

Many longtime Oakland residents who have been evicted facing a housing insecurity and are now fighting to remain in their communities.

Public space for public use should not mean pretending that our oaken that our unhoused neighbors do not have a right.

Thank you for your comments.

Well, Con, can you please tell me the name your card is under?

My name is David Peters.

I'm sorry, say that one more time.

My name is David.

My name is David Peters.

Thank you.

Please begin your comments.

Go ahead, Mr.

Peters.

Yes, go ahead.

Yes.

I've heard a lot of comments here today.

Not many of them has talked about our mamas, our grandkids, our nephews and our extended families.

And I have faith that our city council, so many of which folks have grown up in Oakland, and who understand what our communities look like and the relationships that we have with our families of why this is so important.

This is for our mamas.

How many of you have lived with homeless neighbors on your block for the last 10 years?

My extended West Oakland family has.

We've live on the same block across the street from Hoover School since 1950.

Are there RV encampments in Montclair, College Avenue, or Lakeshore?

No.

Why does the city policy and practice allow them to be contained and maintained historically black communities?

Perhaps more importantly, why do so many of our neighbors who move here in the last 30 years who live in other neighborhoods advocate for the maintaining of this redlining policy to contain these encampments in our neighborhoods?

The five closest parks to me are locked.

Kids can't play.

Thank you, Mr.

Peters.

Juan Canham, you are next.

After Juan is Talia.

Go ahead, Mr.

Cannon.

Hi, I'm Juan.

I'm a default resident.

I'm embarrassed by the council right now.

Not only is this a cruel, useless, inexpensive policy, but you're sneaking it through at 9 a.m.

because you know it is.

This will waste millions, giving police union top brass an excuse to rack up even more overtime by sweeping people around, keeping them on the streets longer.

Police can claim that this gives them clarity, but we know from their body cams, they don't care if we live or die.

So giving them more power means they will kill more of us, either deliberately or through negligence.

We have real community-led solutions that are under-resourced, but instead of focusing on housing people, we're wasting time on this.

Again, how many could be fully funded with Sergeant Dolan's 900,000 dollars in overtime?

Unlike our unhoused neighbors, the landlords, business owners, and cops speaking in favor, largely don't live in Oakland.

They are the ones gaming our system, not paying their taxes, keeping their properties vacant, to keep rents high and abusing the fact.

Thank you for your comments.

Talia, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comment.

My name is Talia, and I must love injustice in the streets.

I urge you to vote no on the EAP, which will cause massive harm to many vulnerable members of our community.

Targeting vehicle dwellers and impounding people's only shelter is cruel and ineffective at solving homelessness.

Our Vs and cars provide a locking door and more security than a tent.

When vehicles are impounded, people are left in more dangerous conditions, leaving them vulnerable to extreme weather as well as violence.

In the midst of a budget crisis, when the city is defunding shelters, the EAP would spend millions of public funds with zero housing solutions.

Housed and unhoused Oakland residents want real solutions, not more costly and ineffective sweeps.

I urge you to vote no on the EAP and work with community members on real solutions that uplift human rights and make Oakland safer for all.

Thank you.

Thank you for your comments.

Jeff Levin, you are next.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Thank you.

Good morning, Jeff Levin with East Bay Housing Organizations.

We did send you email comments earlier this morning, which I hope you've had a chance to uh read.

No one thinks it's a good thing that we have a growing number of unhoused people living on the streets.

There's no excuse for a society as wealthy as ours being unable to house all its residents.

But this policy doesn't address that problem.

It doesn't address the underlying causes of homelessness, and it does nothing to prevent or uh reduce homelessness.

Even the proponents have described it as making encampment abatement more efficient, as if creating a better band-aid is the solution to a deeper problem.

This plan doesn't provide more housing, and it doesn't provide for designated encampment spaces with sanitation and social services developed in collaboration with unhoused residents themselves.

This policy does nothing to address those issues.

You're not solving a problem, you're just moving people around.

You're putting the cart before the horse.

You have a comprehensive homelessness strategic action.

Thank you, Mr.

Levin.

Maria, please please state the name that you submitted a card.

I do not have a card for you.

Thank you.

My name is Maria, and I just want to comment.

I don't have a card for you.

At this time, all names have been called.

Thank you to everybody who took the time to come in person and comment, whether for or in opposition to the encampment abatement policy.

Thank you to everybody who spoke online.

I know there are a wealth of amendments, and I'm gonna get everyone in the queue.

So I'll get Unger, Wong, Brown, Fife, and then myself, if anybody else.

You have amendments?

Or do you want to comment first?

Do you have amendments or do you want to comment first?

Yeah, you comment first.

Thank you.

Thank you for all of you.

Let me uh one second.

Can we turn can we turn this microphone on, please?

We'll get you.

Don't worry.

Justin one, two, two.

Okay, thank you.

Uh let me first uh thank all of you for being here this evening.

And certainly when it comes to the homeless management uh encampment policy, I was part of that development.

And certainly I've been on the council now for 12 years, but we've been on the street every day, cleaning the neighborhood, dealing with encampments, and certainly showing appreciation, not just sitting here at council talking, doing more policies.

We need to get the work done on the street, and that's one of the challenges we've had from the very beginning.

Whether it's law enforcement, this you know, transportation, the you know, the administration, they're not delivering on the quality of the program that we're asking for them to do that we're paying to do.

All right.

So uh, you know, I have uh Preston Turner here with me.

His daily job, he's one of my employees.

He does this daily working with homeless encampments, not only to provide information, but to be directly involved to make sure that we're serving our neighborhood, because the reality is this, not just in Oakland, California by the United States of America, the cost of living has risen tremendously.

When it comes to rental, when it comes to buying your food items, when it comes now even to buying your gasoline for your car.

Everything is going up and up and up.

That in many areas like in my district five, we do have some apartment units, but you know what?

There's five, six people living in the apartment.

Because that's all we can afford, and that's all that's available.

So the reality here in the city of Oakland, uh, we need to stay unified because Oakland is on it's an Alameda County.

And Alameda County receives a good amount of money to deal with homelessness, but the the biggest channel is here in Oakland.

I mean, I just heard the numbers about here in Oakland.

Where do we have?

Currently, we have what?

How many do we have?

For those of you that are here in administration, how many homeless that the county report that we had here in Oakland?

How many?

Six thousand.

I heard the number six thousand before our committee.

Six thousand, but in that out of that six thousand, seventy percent is African American.

And here I'm doing a lot of talk about taking care of those that are in need and servicing our community.

And we need to be serious about that and invest in be able to deliver a service, because housing right now is a challenge here and a priority.

But this city council and this administration, as opposed to hiring more administrators, we need to invest in the community.

And Preston can tell you that.

And I'll just leave you with my last comment, because I went from being at City Hall daily, but now five of my employees are in the neighborhood cleaning it up Monday through Sunday.

Monday through Sunday, six in the morning.

So when you go out driving, you don't see the activity on the streets.

Six in the morning to 1112, huh, Preston?

And I join them Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays and do the cleanups as well.

But not just at the street level, but I also work directly with our homeless encampment and this where no need to be this year.

I mean, I we first met one, the very first one that popped up in our district.

And I appreciate the fact that she has leadership where those in the encampment help keep it clean, keep it safe, keep it engaged, and uh because many many times we had to, you know, call grandma from out of the out of the state to come and deal with the children that were in living in certain areas.

But uh, I just want to thank you for the work you do.

I'm not in support of this policy, but I am in support of making sure administration does the request the job that they were paid to do, and don't go around making excuses from transportation, the police department, because we're out there, I'm out there and I make the cost, but nobody shows up.

So the reality is this city council, we need to deal with what we have in place, but be able to deliver a service.

And one of the reasons that kind of motivated me even more, we just got through celebrating Easter Sunday and all those holidays that Jesus said take care of the needy, take care of the poor.

Like Jesus wasn't out there in a church and a cathedral worth 10 million dollars, he was on the hillsides.

But so I'm reaching out to the churches to allow perhaps their parking lots to become places where we can drive in part temporarily, but as well as Oakland Unified School District, because now they have many facilities and buildings that are empty, including Alameda County, that are completely empty for years, but we need to make sure that we take care of the needy of our families and children here in the city of Oakland.

So I appreciate your advice and your support, and um let's take care of uh our families here and children here in Oakland.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

I'm I'm going to council members.

I'm gonna go to Councilmember Unger.

You have some amendments, then Councilmember Wong, then Council Member Um Brown, then five, then myself.

All right, uh, thank you, Council President.

You know, as this excuse me.

Can we, if anyone please clear the walkways, including over here?

Ladette, um, this journalist over here, if you want to record, please record from the back.

Thank you.

All right, thank you.

Thank you all.

So, you know, as this policy and the mayor's plan have been floating around out there in the ether over these past months, I've been struck by how what we're trying to do on homelessness is simultaneously too big and too small, which is both a problem and an opportunity.

Um, it's too small because whatever you think of these amendments, they are going to address only a very limited portion of our challenge.

And the mayor's plan, which I admire, is large and attempts to address the full system, including encampment management.

But the mayor's plan, in order to solve half of homelessness, requires 1.4 billion dollars, which is about 1.4 billion dollars more than we have.

So the amount of guidance that it gives us to actually decide what to do today is is very limited.

You know, and I had hoped that we as a city could come together around a more um comprehensive and strategic vision for addressing homelessness that included encampment management that reflected a shared vision between council and the mayor's office and the administration that you know really reflected the urgency uh of the issue.

And we haven't quite achieved that unity, but it has heartened me to hear so many of my colleagues acknowledge that what we are discussing today, this encampment management is a small but necessary, unfortunately, piece of the puzzle.

And I'm committed to working with everyone involved in addressing this issue.

Um, you know, we are welcoming our new um homeless services chief, Cupid Alexander to the fold today.

I wish I could have done that over a meal, but here we are.

So welcome to Cupid Alexander.

Um, the other reaction that I had to reading the first iteration of the plan, the first iteration of the plan, which came to us a few months ago, was that there were a few red lines in that first iteration that made that plan unacceptable to me.

First, I am absolutely unwilling to criminalize and arrest people for the simple act of being homeless.

Second, in non-emergency situations, in non-emergency situations, I believe it's critical that we make reasonable offers of shelter before we move people from their encampments.

And I want to thank the city attorney and my colleagues for working to present us today with a version that does not cross either of those red lines.

And I think it's really important to repeat that.

The part about criminalizing people for being homeless has been removed.

It is not in the policy that we are considering today.

And this policy does require reasonable offers of shelter before we clear any encampments.

So I think those are real improvements to this, and I want to thank everyone for doing that.

On the other hand, living with no fixed address does not confer the right to engage in dangerous or illegal behavior.

That needs to be dealt with just as if somebody is living in a home that they rent or own.

So, you know, moving on with the work in front of us, I want to offer a couple of amendments.

Um, and my my goal is to sort of try to provide some direction uh in the development of these policies.

I don't know, K Top, if you have my amendments.

Look at that.

You guys are good.

Um, you know, first understanding that employees of different departments have different um resources and skill sets.

Uh my amendment to 3B requires that prior to towing an inhabited vehicle, OPD has to contact the homelessness division in order to coordinate resources and offers of shelter.

Second, um, we have to recognize that even if we change our policy, our actual resources on the ground are gonna be limited.

So it's key to set our priorities for those limited resources.

So my amendment to 3B requires that OPD first prioritize vehicles that propose that pose an imminent hazard.

This is vehicles leaking gas, blocking a fire hydrant, or where there is um illegal activity going on, you know, uh of any type.

In addition, OPD has to prioritize vehicles located in the highest priority locations in line with the mayor's plan, such as schools, parks where kids play, entrances to residences and retail businesses.

Um beyond that, OPD will follow the priorities regarding high sensitivity areas and low sensitivity laid out in the mayor's plan 2A and 2B.

So to support these amendments, I want to require that the city administrator, encampment team, OPD, every other necessary stakeholder work on standard operating procedures.

That's what this next year is going to be about, is these SOPs, right?

So I want to provide some guidance around those SOPs.

Um those SOPs have to ensure that inhabited vehicles that are subject to tow receive adequate prior notice to towing, adequate prior notice, and that the prioritization of tows are again in line with the mayor's plan to reduce homelessness.

And finally, recognizing that citywide problems have citywide solutions.

I put in here in a couple of different places amendments stating that the city administrator shall endeavor to find low sensitivity areas in every single council district across the city.

This is a shared problem, and there's shared responsibility in every council district across the city.

So I also want to note that as part of these amendments, um, the plan now refers directly to the mayor's homelessness strategic action plan, um, which deals with some of my earlier concerns about coordination.

Um finally, I want to make the obvious point that we are constrained by lack of resources.

Um we are almost certainly gonna find that passing this policy is going to be less impactful than people hope and or fear, right?

We still only have three or four people in the encampment team.

So we can write all of these policies, but we are constrained by what we can actually do.

And so what I'm trying to do today is focus those uh limited resources on the most truly problematic encampments, right?

The ones causing significant chaos in the neighborhood where they're located.

There are plenty of people living in vehicles who are good neighbors, and we are not trying to go after those folks.

Um prioritizing the most dangerous and and those engaged in illegal activities highest, we'll probably find that we don't have the resources to you know dip below that highest priority uh that highest priority level.

You know, just nobody wants to chase people from corner to corner, right?

That's like trying to pick up sand with a fork.

That's not what this, that's not what we're doing here.

We are focusing our attentions with my amendments on the highest priority, highest severity.

Um, but when it comes to situations that are truly dangerous or lawless, we can't tie our own hands.

So I don't want any of us to be under the impression that what we're doing here today discussing encampments and how we manage them is a stand-in for any kind of true or lasting solution.

No matter how we vote today, we're gonna need to come back tomorrow, develop these SOPs, and actually keep working as a team on that full system.

And I am committed to doing that no matter what happens today, and I know everyone else up here on the dais is committed to that too.

This is this is a first step, it is a small step, and we have a heck of a lot more work to do.

So I would like to present the amendments, and I'll defer to the parliamentarian about how we want to take up all these amendments.

So we'll introduce all the amendments, but thank you for your sensible, reasonable amendments to this policy.

Council Member Wong, please proceed.

Thank you.

Um thanks uh through the chair.

So um I just before I get to the amendments, I want to say some high-level remarks, which uh I would say in a utopia where we had a different federal administration that was providing resources instead of on war, but instead on actually uh addressing homelessness, we would be in a very different uh picture.

But I would say right now for the city of Oakland, where we not only have the highest poverty rate in the region, our resources are incredibly constrained.

Um, for us to consistently be the region's social safety net uh is just not fair, and it's and it's not sustainable.

Um for me, I I do support this, but it this is about providing relief to the neighborhoods to the neighborhoods who have had the their encampments in their backyard.

I don't know how many of the folks who um you know came uh against the encampment.

Have you had an encampment right in your backyard?

That's what I need folks to grapple with, right?

So, furthermore, these encampments have disproportionately been in the poorest, most working class areas in Oakland.

And so how what I see this as is this is giving our enforcement staff the authority to make people move along.

Uh those living in vehicles and cars will be subject to a notice.

It doesn't happen without warning before towing happens.

At the same time, I don't see that this policy is at odds with providing people with shelter.

I do think as a council, we really do need to work up to stand uh a real plan to stand up shelter.

There's cuts happening at the federal level.

Uh the measure W money happening at the county level is absolutely not enough.

When you look at it, it's about 153 million dollars per year for the county.

We have to come up with something better in terms of a shelter plan.

However, there is some urgency around, in my opinion, around uh ensuring that um I have tents popping up in just areas that are just not appropriate to be popping up and and RVs and areas that um I I just I I need to have these areas cleaned, but I do want to see some important amendments in order to have this policy passed.

Uh first thing is uh if K Top can put it on the screen.

Uh for the first amendment, this is uh around the SOPs.

I do want to see as part of the SOPs that are promulgated, um, addressing families that are living in vehicles subject uh it it I'll just read it out loud.

Furthermore, the SOP shall include addressing families living in vehicles subject to tow and shall avoid towing vehicles where children are living, absent imminent risks to health or safety.

I do think that it is important.

We know that there are, for example, it's a classic case, a single mom with her children that are living in a vehicle.

Um it's disruptive for children to have to re-enroll in different school systems.

This is why I think it's important to have special care uh given for families with children in vehicles.

Um the next amendment.

This is about uh the cleaning interventions.

I do want to ensure that um as it's as it reads Oakland Public Works is authorized to conduct debris removal and sanitation services around encampment sites as possible as needed, excuse me, and follows the city's SOPs and collective bargaining agreements.

Um there's been too many situations where I have uh had a 311 complaint from constituent, I've given it to 311, I need trash adjacent to an encampment to be cleaned up, and I get told that's not possible.

We have to wait to coordinate with the EMAT team, which has been noted by my colleague, there's only three people on that.

It's just not a wise use of resources in an extremely constrained city.

Um that trash can be picked up, and I and I'm pretty sure folks who even if the unhoused person does not want that food waste, that human waste to be next to them either.

And I'm pretty sure folks who even if the unhoused person does not want that food waste, that human waste to be next to them either.

Next amendment.

And this final precision provision.

When shelter is not available at the time of closure, the EMAC shall establish a method to locate and contact displaced individuals to offer them shelter as soon as as soon as it becomes available.

Participation in this tracking and this subsequent acceptance of shelter remains strictly voluntary.

All that to say that if shelter is not available and a an encampment is closed down, I what this amendment establishes is after the fact that those individuals can still get access to shelter.

And the city will establish processes to ensure that that can happen.

Okay, those are my amendments.

Thank you for your reasonable and sensible amendments.

Councilmember Wong Council Member Brown.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Councilmember Ungeria, Councilmember Wong for those amendments.

I just want to first start off by you know genuinely thanking all of the members of the public that have consistently shown shown up for this conversation.

And so just the commitment of community members as well as various stakeholders, whether in the business community, neighborhood groups, action coalitions, thank you for your commitment and showing up.

One of the things uh over the last six to eight months I've um been working on is ensuring that um I I met myself and my team, uh, we've had the ability to meet with a handful of um the advocates that have showed up consistently to talk about uh just some of the details of this policy uh as with some of the areas of opportunity.

Um in addition, I've also um connected with the East Bay Community Law Center, and they provided us a hand, my myself and my team, a handful of um just feedback on the policy, and um you know, momentarily you will see uh some of those um amendments.

Um, if K Top uh if you can pull up the amendments that I'm offering, and then I'll just walk through those very quickly since I gave most of my time to Councilmember Houston.

Um, no, no, no.

Please proceed.

I think Councilmember Fife made a really good point.

Let's this is a meaty policy.

Let's ensure that we are taking our time going through this.

Okay, excellent.

Thank you so much.

Um, so for the first amendment that's presented on the screen, you can find the text on page one, section one, um, second to the last paragraph, last sentence.

And so for this amendment, it says upon adoption of this policy, the city administrator in coordination with the Office of Homelessness Solutions shall within the 90 days provide the city council with an analysis of the city owned property properties, evaluated for interim shelter, safe parking, and options for vehicle storage for individuals accepting shelter.

Uh, some of the feedback that myself and my the team received is that one of the barriers for um you know uh unhoused community members accepting shelter is uh the fear of lose, you know, losing their vehicle and or their possessions.

And so uh I did indeed think that this was a priority in including uh that piece of information into the amendment.

Um I know momentarily council member Fife will be offering up uh uh an amendment um kind of along these same lines, and I'm supportive of the B part of your amendment.

Um, so the you the public will see that shortly.

Um next slide.

Um, and then the next slide um showcases the um equity considerations because we've heard consistently um you know, easily since the first adoption of the encampment management plan around um the data.

What is the data telling us and um how are we tracking that?

And so and then in addition, we know that our mayor uh established the Office of Homelessness Solutions.

We recently just had two reports around an anti-displacement plan as well as our homeless homelessness strategic plan.

Um and similar to Councilmember Unger, you know, I couldn't help but think, hey, how is this interacting with our EAP?

And so for these amendments, it just kind of states um uh calling for this annual impact and equity analysis, also leaning on the support of our Department of Race and Equity as well as our human services department, which is a very um is very crucial that they are part of the conversation given so many of the resources that are made available through that department, as well as the um the ongoing efforts of this newly established Office of Homelessness uh solutions, and I think that all of these entities should be working together uh to move us in a more positive direction.

And so uh numbers one through six uh simply uh um offer up the operating standards of the number uh of what we want to be included in the into this analysis, the number of encampments address, close, stabilize numbers of residents, numbers of locations, repeated closures.

Um, you know, there's this saying around like if you keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different uh expecting a different result, you know, you're just gonna get the same thing.

And so we really I really think that is important that we begin to capture this information as well as um we know that there's a lot that is done with the Alameda County's point and time count, uh, but we also want the city of Oakland uh while we are there, uh engaging with the unhoused neighbors uh to also be capturing this data as well.

And so that's kind of the the details um uh also around tracking the hours and time times that we're spending on these efforts.

All right, um, next amendment.

Um and then similar to um I believe it was um I think it's council member Wong's amendment um for offers of shelter.

Um you can find this on page 11, uh first page of uh section three, um, just this sentence around the city will make reasonable efforts to address and accommodate disability needs that are made known to the city prior to or at the start of an operation, um, also outlining some clear examples, um, examples of reasonable requests may include um providing a referral to a specific shelter if available, extensions of time for individuals with disabilities to move out of a specific work zone, or allowing volunteers to help move belongings at the beginning of an operation, provided that any accommodations do not delay or halt um the the EMAT um operations, and then lastly, um also putting a provider provision here to ensure that we are performing any of the deep cleanings, and so uh some of the these um amendments um I was able to work with uh of course the office of the administration as well as the office of the city attorney um I I would say well over a month ago.

Um so thank you all for your partnership and collaboration thank you for your amendments council member Fife Yeah, first I I want to thank everyone who showed up today, even people with opposing perspectives because that I believe is how you sharpen uh the analysis on what's what's happening.

Um I believe for the most part, people are well intended.

There's some folks that are part of this process that are always stirring up shit, but for the most part, I think residents of Oakland really want answers and solutions to homelessness, and uh I I completely believe that the encampment management policy or plan hasn't worked because it wasn't a plan that addressed homelessness to begin with, because the answer to homelessness is our homes, and until we address that very fundamental issue, we are going to consistently have uh challenges with housing.

And from the day that this item came up when council member Houston was talking to me about it every time Councilmember Houston, what did I say?

Where are people gonna go?

And I know you've worked um to identify places in your district.

I've worked to identify places in my district.

I actually was one of two, I was there were two council members years ago who actually identified locations for uh interventions, low barrier interventions in our districts when no other council member did, and we learned a lot of lessons from those interventions, and sometimes things don't work according to plan, but we gotta keep trying to figure out where are people going to go.

And when the entire city is a high sensitivity zone, it means that we are outlawing homelessness in Oakland.

And I just think that's a fallacy.

I I think it's a fallacy.

I I I also don't believe that we can have the economic development that I'm advocating for in West Oakland that has been so disinvested in historically because of race, that what I'm attempting to do, we need economic revitalization.

And when we have our Vs and different locations set up where businesses can't get into their driveways, or where low-income children are attending the firmary park and pool and can't walk around certain blocks to get into the pool, that's also not acceptable.

But we can't come to any real solutions if we can't even talk to each other.

And that is what I'm experiencing.

I'm experiencing cynical people that are just trying to argue and fight, not because they are right, just because their emotions don't allow conversation to occur.

So I I wanted to give a shout out to um Nicole Dean for mentioning Courtney Beale.

I knew the Beale family, I know that Paula also died.

Both of these black women died homeless, and the majority of people dying on the streets homeless are black people, and that is not by accident.

This is the history and legacy of a racist country.

And I can't support legislation that's gonna perpetuate racist policies that impact my people more than anybody.

Um so I I I believe that there, I I believe that some amendments that have been made are um are good amendments, but I believe that if we're not starting from a place on from where do people go, then there's not really much to amend.

I do have amendments if Ktopp can put those on the screen.

Um I think you have those.

I while they're doing that, I will say that I'm a commissioner on the Association of Bay Area Governments, and we just had a presentation last Friday showing that incomes in the Bay Area at $500,000 or more are rising.

Middle incomes of 147,000 a year or less, and low-income jobs of 25,000 or less are shrinking.

So for everyone that's advocating for stricter penalties around what we do with poor people, because this is about poor people, find out where you are in that spectrum of incomes because this is coming for us all, right?

Because the rents are too damn high and people are too damn poor.

And in America, that is our formula, and it's wrong, so we're never gonna get out of it because in an empire where predatory capitalism is the name of the game, then homelessness is a byproduct, and we're not addressing those root causes.

But I will get off that.

Um the amendments that I'm gonna take them out of order and start with the the um third bolded paragraph, paragraph three, offers of shelter, pages 14 and 15.

In connection with a partial closure or closure of an encampment, the EMAT will make every reasonable effort to offer services, support and shelter to each individual residing within noticed areas, including those living in vehicles prior to removing that individual's belongings.

The EMAT will attempt to coordinate transportation for individuals to relocate prior to or during an EMET operation, particularly for individuals with disabilities.

The addition is the city will make reasonable efforts to address and or accommodate disability needs that are made known to the city prior to or at the start of the operation.

Examples include examples of reasonable requests, may include providing a referral to a specific shelter if available, extension of time for individuals with disabilities to move out of a work zone or allowing volunteers to help move belongings at the beginning of an operation, provided that any such accommodations don't delay or halt EMAT operations.

And this is because the majority of individuals that I've come across and a lot that I've heard of are in encampments with disabilities.

We heard of um uh one of the our fathers here um talking about an amputee in in an encampment, and I've seen far too often people in wheelchairs, people in on walkers or people that are literally disabled seniors who need assistance, and I think this amendment addresses that.

And I think this amendment addresses that.

I want to add the following to the emat intervention section of the policy.

Where any closure or partial closure occurs, the following shall be documented.

And this is addressing the data needs in these closures.

Clear findings regarding urgency resources used for closure, resources offered to residents of the encampment or shelter offer.

In cases where no shelter options are available, but do the urgency findings of closure occurs, there should be clear documentation that will allow the city to determine if individuals are migrating to different blocks or neighborhoods.

Because what I've experienced is for every closure, people migrate from one block to another block.

And so we are spending inordinate resources on just shifting people from one place to another, which is why we need a designated space where folks understand they they can they can live, and not live, they can survive, because that's what people are attempting to do.

Um the pattern of migration should be identified and identified in order to fully understand and capture the multitude of costs of these closures without alternatives.

Um the last point I want to make is the effective date.

The policy currently states that within 90 days of encampment, the city administration shall provide to city council a written report identified city properties that could be converted to shelter, low sensitivity areas or and or safe parking sites.

In my district, because I've been looking at this for I feel like a decade now, in district three, there are two city-owned properties, two that are far too small to be used for any type of intervention.

There are Caltrans and OUSD properties and other things, but there are no city properties.

So my proposed amendment states that the EAP shall become effective the sooner of A, 90 days from adoption, or B the date that the city administrators presentation of a written report to city council identifying city product properties that could be converted to shelter low sensitive sensitivity areas and or safe parking sites.

The report should include the funding sources to support shelter options along with necessary services, and prior to the EAP's effective date, there should also be a report that includes a full assessment of all city encampments and communities of vehicle residencies to residences to identify the number of unhoused individuals, the characteristics of encampments, the health and safety conditions for the residents of encampments, as well as for the surrounding neighborhoods and businesses, and all prior deployment of the city's public safety agencies to address crime or emergencies and any associated enforcement actions taken.

And this is because we don't actually have a real-time understanding of the costs associated with these clearances, and I believe that in order to have these emergency closures to avoid additional impacts to the mental health of people already in uh impacted by mental health situations that we need to identify the space.

We need to know where people are gonna go.

Otherwise, again, what I've seen is what I've heard is my constituents calling saying, hey, this new encampment just popped up in front of my house.

What's going on?

It needs to be cleared.

Oh, yeah, there was a clearance over in East Oakland or you know, Middle Oakland or wherever, or in district three.

So encampment closures migrate without dedicated spaces that's going to continue without the Oakland Police Department having additional resources, they will not be able to enforce.

I know they stated that they want this policy on the record.

Um, and I I just want it to be noted that beyond anything else, what I want is designated places for people to be.

We are getting poorer as a nation, we are getting older as a city, and if these policies continue, we may all be facing an issue of homelessness where we wish someone would have been more considerate.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember Fife for the reasonable and sensible amendments.

KTAP, can you bring up my reasonable and sensible amendment?

So I first want to thank Council Member Houston for embarking on this journey.

I know it's not easy.

Um you have a flip of a coin with the policy.

Some people are going to think it's going to work, some people are going to think that it's not going to work.

Um where your heart is.

I've had the pleasure of within the last week going into Councilmember Houston's district where he's looking for safe RB parking spots where the mayor is there, the county supervisor is there, and he's advocating for funding for safe RV parks, right?

Not really the actions of the fascists, but the actions of somebody who cares deeply, right?

I understand that there is no perfect policy.

I had the pleasure of having dinner with Arnold Perkins the other day, and he said, Kevin, don't call them on sheltered residents, call them unsheltered relatives.

And when you're referring to people have relatives, we're gonna treat them in a more humane way.

So I deeply appreciate everybody who came out here today to advocate on behalf of this policy and against this policy.

It shows that you truly care about our unsheltered relatives.

But I'm challenged if people see this as an Oakland problem versus like this is a regional humane problem, right?

And so I'm gonna continue working on our board of supervisors to make sure that we have the adequate amount of funding and measure W is not enough.

Let's be clear.

Measure W is not enough.

Your budget is where your values are, and there needs to be more of a general fund allocation.

So Councilmember Houston and I have been looking for uh safe parking spots in district six, district seven, because people, as council member five has consistently said where people are going to go, and we will continue to look for places, we'll continue to work with Caltrans.

We will continue to work with our neighbors throughout Alameda County.

As you see, Stanley Andrew inhumanely said the words dumping human beings in Oakland.

And this is not uncommon.

I know of other cities in Alameda County that their solution to homelessness is dumping human beings in Oakland.

And those words should never be put together, but it shows you where we are, and this is going to take a regional solution.

Oakland cannot solve a homeless issue by itself.

We need the full support of the city, the county, the state, and most likely the federal government.

So K Top, if you can bring up my reasonable and sensible amendment.

So this is a priority zone designation.

So the city administrator in consultation with the council member representing the affected district shall have the authority to reclassify specific geographic areas as high priority zones for the purpose of enforcement and intervention under this policy.

These designations shall be based on objective criteria, including but not limited to concentration of complaints, public health and safety risks, proximity to schools and businesses, or critical infrastructure, equity impacts on surrounding communities, and frequency of service calls and prior interventions.

Priority zone designations shall be reviewed periodically, posted publicly, and may be adjusted by the city administrator in consultation with the applicable council member.

With that, I will move this with every amendment.

I'm looking for a second.

Please do.

Um so with respect to the Fife and Brown amendments.

Um I was going to recommend that uh well, two things.

I was gonna recommend that um Fife's language, the EAP shall become effective the sooner of 90 days from adoption or the date the city administrators presentation of a written report to the city council and then use Brown's language about what that report actually is.

So there's not inconsistencies in two reports.

I'll accept that amendment in my motion.

Um and then finally, I was just gonna note that um the report about the full assessment.

Uh, that we do not have the staffing uh availability to do that.

If you think about our pick count, we take 500 volunteers to even just do the count, much less collect this kind of information.

So I just wanted the council to be aware that we would not be able to do that.

So it says should not shall, but I will remove that from my motion.

Um do you accept those amendments?

Yes, sir.

All right, madam clerk on the item 6.1 move by Council President Jenkins, seconded by council member Houston, accepting all amendments put on the floor with the correcting language made by assistant city administrator lake.

Councilmember Brown, aye, council member five, upstain.

Council member Houston.

I'm sorry, Councilmember Gaio.

No council member Houston.

Aye.

Councilmember Ramachandran is absent.

Count I'm sorry, excuse council member Unger.

I council member Wong.

Aye.

And Chair Jenkins.

No tie.

No tie.

That was five and three.

Was it?

I'm sorry, I didn't mark you down.

Motion passes with a vote of five ayes, one abstention, one no, one excused.

Thank you.

Let's go.

Let's go to open four.

As I call your name, please approach the podium in any order.

If you're on Zoom, please raise your hand so I can easily identify you.

You have one minute for open forums to address the council.

James Van, Jennifer Finley, David Boatwright, Josephine Guzman.

Um Wong, Mina Kucci, John Marks, Hilary Chin, David Newton, Rashida, I think, or Rahina, Deborah Walker.

From Green Clean.

In any order, please approach the podium or raise your hand if you are on Zoom.

Okay.

James Van.

Thank you for this opportunity.

I just want to comment on the process that has been in place leading up to this.

Uh which has been one unlike I've noticed there were before.

This kind of bullying of the council, the um illegal meetings uh behind closed doors.

Uh this is not been a uh a prideful uh type of development that has gone on regarding this particular action, and uh I hope that the council will talk to you.

Well, I hope that this type of of bullying and exercising taking of powers that don't exist, doing things that shouldn't be done, that this won't be the standard operating practice of this council and whoever is behind these kind of thank you, Mr.

Van Your time is up that they will stop immediately.

Hello, my owner of Green Cleaner scene.

I was the first 100% black woman on biohazard cleanup here in the Bay Area.

Um my comment is in reference to the EAP policy is that something has to be done.

Um I do homeless and cademy cleanup from LA to the bay, and a lot of times when advocates come and ask if you are a you know if you we would like to offer you housing.

A lot of them turn it down.

So, what is the policy going to be implemented when they turn it down and they refuse the housing?

I live in Castro Valley, my office is located in Oakland.

A bold housing just a few weeks ago last week went down in the creek, and they had housing available for the for the transient, and they refused it.

So what do we do?

Put it on the ballot, put it on the ballot.

Thank you, ma'am.

Your time is up.

David Bowright, uh we need to quit writing reports and start looking at how we can increase the number of houses that are built that can be occupied by the people in the street.

That hasn't been done yet.

We keep looking at million dollar housing units just because that's what the builders tell us is what it cost.

And there are other alternatives.

We don't have to rely on the builders for everything.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Mina Kucci.

I live in District 6.

I've been in the city for 10 years.

I'm a homeowner, a former business owner, and a mother.

I oppose the EAP policy.

Um, across from where I live in District 6, there is an in-total area that's completely open.

I want to know how are we using this space?

It's on the other side of the 580 below um Oakland Zoo.

Uh I think it's a district seven.

And I want to know how this space is being used.

Why has it been sitting there empty for development for as long as it's been since I've lived there and for four years?

And um, I oppose this policy.

And Ken Houston, you're an abomination.

Hi, my name is Hillary.

I'm a member, a resident of District 3.

Um, I just wanted to point out something that some nobody has before, which is that this my comment is about the EAP.

Uh it this policy was being rushed to a vote after key council members repeatedly violated transparency laws.

I also wanted to point out, like many others have, how unequivocally tone-deaf it is to threaten to arrest people for returning to a swept encampment.

Oakland has only 1,300 shelter spots for 5,500 unhoused residents.

Many others have already spoken about how sweeps destroy homes, support networks, and livelihoods, making it harder for people to find house permanent housing.

And I feel like the EAP is just a band-aid solution.

We talk about crime and drug use, about you're not talking about what is forcing these people to turn us to those things to cope, which is homelessness, property poverty, and systematic racism and ableism.

We urge you to address the shelter shortfall and use the thank you.

Your time is up.

John Marks.

Um it's a removal policy dressed up as management with recent federal rulings limiting how cities can treat us, the homeless in uh Berkeley Homeless Union versus City of Berkeley.

The Northern District made clear that a city can't invoke abatement while ignoring due process disability accommodations and protections ignoring uh against arbitrary seizure of property.

The court rejected Berkeley's three by three rule and required disability-related safeguards, even where enforcement was allowed.

If Oakland continues clearing us without meaningful notice, without protecting our survival gear and our personal belongings, and without real ADA compliance, this policy is not just harmful, it's legally exposed under 42 USC in 1983.

Due process principles and the same body of law as Martin V Boise and Preto versus Berkeley.

The council doesn't need persuasion about its position, but the record should be clear.

Oakland is choosing.

Thank you, Mr.

Marks.

Your time is up.

If your name was called and you're in chambers and you wish to address the council, please step to the podium.

At this time, we'll be moving to the Zoom speaker, Ms.

Guzman.

Please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Good morning, Council members.

My name is Joseph Guzman, uh public policy manager at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce.

Uh just to for context, the chamber has been an advocate for equitable solutions uh to homelessness and has actively supported um community cabins initiative and safe parking zones, both of which provide low barrier practical housing options, and we have fundraisers in support of these programs and remain committed to continue that work alongside the city.

We look forward to seeing the 2025 and cabin and payment policy movement to implementation and appreciate the amendments and thoughtful review as implementation begins.

We hope that ongoing engagement with stakeholders will be an essential for strong execution and help identify areas that need a continued attention, and we remain committed to collaborating with the city and uh supporting any way in any capacity that we can.

Thank you for your comments.

All names have been called.

That was the last speaker.

Any announcements or comments from the council members.

Out of order.

Out of order.

This is a very, very um difficult policy to move.

Um it's not perfect, but it's a starting point, and I like to appreciate, I like to just thank all my council members, even for abstaining and saying no, because that's what it's about.

We have to come together and have a starting point.

It was very difficult.

It's very difficult for me right now.

Most people would be happy that their policy passed.

I'm not happy.

Um, but we have to do something to make things happen, right?

So this is a starting point.

I appreciate the people that was against it or the people who just opposed it.

I appreciate your words, your effort.

This is what this country is about.

So thank you so much.

Uh I appreciate everyone.

Thank you, Councilmember Houston.

Council Mr.

Pipe, this meeting is adjourned.