Oakland continues encampment sweeps, heading to East 12th Street site next
OAKLAND — Oakland Officials are continuing to clear some of the city's largest homeless encampments.
Next week, the city will begin dismantling the site on East 12th Street near Fruitvale Avenue, but for some, it's become their safe haven.
"It is home," said a man who lives there. "It is the same thing, really, just a little smaller."
The man didn't want to share his name. He just found out he'll have to move.
"They just put this here today, the 7th," he said, pointing to the date on the sign.
On poles throughout East 12th Street, pink papers relay a "7-day notice to vacate illegal encampments."
It goes on to say the City of Oakland has deemed the site uninhabitable and public works will begin clearing the site on May 14.
"It's not the first time," he explained about his experience. "I just moved over here because they did that down to us on 66th by San Leandro about six months ago."
Leajay Harper with Wood Street Commons, a homeless advocacy group made up of formerly unhoused people, said this is becoming more common.
"What they're doing is they're sweeping people and they're sweeping people and then they're having to move and they're sweeping them again," said Harper.
Representatives from the City of Oakland said the transition is already underway. The city purchased the Extended Stay America Hotel in North Oakland using $7 million in state funding, and unhoused residents are already moving in.
The city said outreach workers have been visiting the area around the 12th Street encampment and have identified 79 core residents who will be offered housing. Harper argues it's not an accurate number.
"There are more than 189 residents who live there," said Harper about numbers tallied by other advocates for unhoused people. "The city is only recognizing that there are 79, and even with those 79 there still isn't enough space for all those people. So that's the thing, where are all those other people going to go?"
CBS News Bay Area asked people at the encampment if they had heard about the possibility of temporary housing.
"That's what they say," said a man living there. "They don't always do what they say they're going to do."
He said personally he hasn't been approached by an outreach worker at this location. He has lived in his RV for almost six years. He said some others have been living on the street much longer.
They're prepared to move, but things are getting more difficult.
"I always think ahead in case something like this happens," he said. "There's other places around, but they're closing a lot of them down."
Now, he has to start packing and find another new place to call home before next week.
