**We work for you, reporting on the stories Oakland needs.** Our newsroom works diligently to examine systems, not symptoms, and to help you get the most out of the city we all love. With your help, we can tell all of Oakland’s stories. **Chip in today to support your local nonprofit newsroom.** Yes, I want to chip in to support Oaklandside’s work! A new proposal would no longer require the city to offer residents other shelter before clearing an encampment. Credit: Natalie Orenstein/The Oaklandside Oakland would dramatically change how it treats homeless people when removing encampments under a new policy pitched by District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston this week. Houston’s plan, unveiled on Thursday night, would enable Oakland to shut down encampments regardless of whether the city has other shelter to offer residents. Currently, outreach workers are required to offer alternatives living arrangements before a camp is cleared. Oakland police could also cite or arrest unhoused people who camp where they’re not allowed, under Houston’s proposal. The city’s existing policy says Oakland “will not cite or arrest any individual solely for camping, or otherwise for the status of being homeless,” but the proposal slashes that provision. Houston has indicated for months that he wants the city to adopt new encampment rules. His proposed changes are included in the agenda materials for a Sept. 10 council committee meeting. **Never miss a story.** **Sign up for The Oaklandside’s free daily newsletter.** Comments This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Email Δ If the City Council passes Houston’s policy, Oakland would join a number of California jurisdictions that have cracked down on encampments in the past two years, emboldened by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and signals from Gov. Gavin Newsom to take a more aggressive approach and close more camps. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled that local government camping bans are legal, even when no other shelter is available. Opponents of these bans had argued that they violate the constitution because they amount to cruel and unusual punishment of people who have nowhere else to go. Places like San Francisco, Berkeley, and Fremont adopted stricter policies and protocols in response to the decision. Houston’s policy is also a direct reaction to the ruling, the councilmember said in a report co-written with Patricia Brooks, Councilmember Kevin Jenkins’ chief of staff. “The city of Oakland now has clear constitutional authority to prohibit encampments in public spaces,” the report says. “Failure for the city to act can no longer be based on legal uncertainty.” ## How Houston’s plan would shift Oakland’s homelessness policies The proposal eliminates an existing prohibition on citing or arresting someone for camping or being homeless. And shelter would be offered during an encampment closure “when available,” but it wouldn’t be a requirement. As of last year, the city had 1,300 shelter spaces but 5,500 homeless residents. “Oakland has a moral duty to intervene compassionately but firmly,“ Houston wrote in the report. Other aspects of the proposal include towing vehicles that violate city code, regardless of whether someone’s living in them, and expanding which encampments are considered high-priority for closure. For example, camps limited to one side of a sidewalk that don’t present urgent safety concerns are currently considered “low-sensitivity.” The new policy would make all sidewalk camps targets for closure. Currently, the city has to provide advance notice before clearing any homeless camp, aside from those with health and safety emergencies. Houston’s proposal would allow the city to close camps that present “urgent” concerns that are “not emergencies” without notice as well, though it says staff should make “reasonable efforts” to give a heads-up. People who return and reestablish a camp within 60 days of a closure would be subject to citation or arrest. Houston, who often rings the alarm over conditions in his District 7, which encompasses deep East Oakland, said his policy tackles a crisis with the urgency it demands. “The rapid growth of the unsheltered population has led to escalating threats to public safety, sanitation, and environmental health. These conditions have reached a crisis point, underscoring the urgent need for comprehensive and effective policy solutions,” he wrote. We were unable to reach Houston for an interview this week. ## Homelessness advocates gear up to fight the proposal A collaborative called the Housing & Dignity Project is urging the council to reject Houston’s proposal. Instead, they want to see the city open sanctioned encampments and involve unhoused people in decision-making and community cleanups. The group said in a petition that Houston’s plan “aligns city policy with the Trump agenda by prioritizing the removal and criminalization of people experiencing homelessness.”They added that Houston’s plan to allow towing of inhabited vehicles without notice, citations of inhabitants, and evictions of people living on sidewalks without notice, “would result only in more people living on sidewalks in deeper instability.” The Housing & Dignity Project includes several local homelessness advocacy organizations and health centers. In an interview with The Oaklandside last month, Mayor Barbara Lee said she supports offering shelter to residents before clearing a homeless camp. The mayor, however, doesn’t get to vote on policies with the council, unless the council deadlocks in a tie. Her focus, she told us, is on ensuring that whatever policies get passed in Oakland comply with requirements for receiving county homelessness funding. Hundreds of millions of dollars could be coming to the city for homelessness services and housing soon, through Alameda County’s Measure W. Lee also recently announced a new Office of Homelessness Solutions, a dedicated team to coordinate the city’s disparate work on homeless camps, services, supportive housing, and more. The City Council’s Public Safety Committee will hold a hearing on Houston’s proposal on Sept. 10, the first session following the summer recess. The timing of the meeting was a compromise for Houston, who wanted to meet during the recess and send his plan directly to the full council, arguing that it’s urgent. Oakland’s existing Encampment Management Policy dates back to 2020. Under it, the city has closed, cleaned, and serviced hundreds of homeless camps, and moved many of the residents into shelter. The policy was controversial from the start, both among advocates who say it leaves unhoused people without many safe or viable options, and among other residents and businesses who say the city doesn’t enforce it enough. Houston’s proposal replaces and renames the existing policy to the Encampment Abatement Policy, or EAP. The current multi-departmental Encampment Management Team would be renamed the Encampment Abatement Team, or EAT. ## **… We have a small favor to ask.** We work for you to provide free and independent journalism covering the stories that matter most in Oakland – and we rely on readers like you to make our work possible. That’s why we’re asking you to contribute to our year-end membership campaign today. We’ve set a goal to raise $205,000 by Dec. 31 and **we’re counting on readers like you** to help get us there. Your support will enable us to continue doing the reporting Oakland needs. So, what do you say? Will you chip in today? 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Title: Subject: Repeal 2020 Encampment Management Policy And Adopt 2025 Encampment Abatement Policy From: Councilmember Houston Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Amending Resolution No. 88341 To Repeal The 2020 Encampment Management Policy And Replace With A 2025 Encampment Abatement Policy That (A) Defines “Encampment” To Exclude Vehicles And Authorizes Citation And Towing Of Inhabited Vehicles By City Departments Pursuant To The California Vehicle Code And Oakland Vehicle Code; (B) Continues To Require Reasonable Efforts To Make Shelter Offers And 7-Day Notice Prior To Non-Urgent Encampment Closures; And (C) Clarifies Emergency And Urgent Health And Safety Conditions That Authorize Immediate, 24-Hour, Or 72-Hour Notice For Encampment Closures, Including Encampments Blocking Sidewalks; On The December 2, 2025 City Council Agenda On Non-Consent