City Council - meeting_joint_special

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.

You must have your card turned in two hours from the start of this meeting. This meeting was called to order at 09:32, so that time will be 11:32AM or before the item is called for discussion. On roll for this meeting are council members Brown.

Present.

Council member Fife.

Present.

Council member Gayle. Present. Council member Houston. Present. Council member Ramachandran.

Excused.

Council member Unger? Here. Council member 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 6.1 is 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 Kyle.

On the motion to move this item from consent to non consent moved by council president Jenkins, seconded by council member Gaio. Council member Brown? Aye. Council member Fife? Aye. Council member Gaio?

Aye.

Council member Houston? Aye. Council member Ramachandran is excused. Council member Unger?

Aye.

Council member Wong? Aye. Aye. And chair Jenkins? Aye.

Motion passes with a vote of seven ayes when excused noting that this item is now on cons excuse me, non consent, which does allow proceeding of time. Going to item 6.1, adopt a resolution amending resolution number eight eight three four one 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, and b, continues to require reasonable efforts to make shelter offers and seven day notice prior to nonurgent encampment closures and clarifies emergency and urgent health and safety conditions that authorize immediate twenty four hour or seventy two hour notice for encampment closures including encampments blocking sidewalks. At this time you do have 80 speakers on this item.

Thank you so much. Council member 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.

So starting off, this has been a very long run. I've been trying to move this this this humane

policy. Order in the chambers. You will be given one warning after that you will be asked to leave. Order in the chambers. Since 2016.

I'd like to thank everyone that supported this EAP. 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? And my staff, Lidditt, Trinity, Nelly, I really like to pre 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 against it because I know that and I believe that they're coming from a good place.

I 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. K CHOP, can you share that video?

Director of this and a 2014 Oakland mayoral candidate launched operation stabilized homeless Strike. He's been eating, sleeping, and spending time with the homeless people in a number of encampments all around East Oakland.

He says he 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 Houston. 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 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 the the trailers, trailers, the people that live in the the the 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 what would the homeless emergency declare and and how would it help solve the problem?

So in 2016, I purposely I purposely walked with the unhoused to understand the magnitude of the situation. I purposely did that. Now that I'm a council member, I understand clearly what it it feels like. Let me share something with you. Do we have a mic k top?

A mic that I can hand? Hell, because I should have got that. Can you get that for me? This right here, and I'm gonna show my council members, then I'm gonna show the audience. This was 104th In MacArthur.

It's before and after picture. It was a young lady living in this trash. Living in it. If a skip loader or anything would have came up, they would have picked her up in this trash. 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 a share something else with you. I'm a send this I'm a show the council members this first. Do you see this? Do you see this council members? I'm a show this to the audience.

Do you see that? It looks like a pile of trash, doesn't it? It looks like a pile of trash. But it's not. But it's not.

Someone is living in this. Is that in 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 it's 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 Brooks before you begin, you do have about a minute and twenty seconds left.

Please pause the time. Council Member Brown.

I think given the preamble. Complexity of this matter 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 thorough thoroughness.

Thank you. Please add five minutes to the clock.

Thank you through the chair. Thank you council member Brown. Alrighty. One? Ah, there Thank you. Alrighty. 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.

Encampment abatement is not just enforcement, it's about managing a crisis responsibly. 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 gonna pronounce this right, but I tried last night several times, Lestrosoporosis, which is nearby. This is not theoretical. This is happening now. This actually happened in Berkeley Encampment and that's as of 01/14/2026 where they hadn't seen such an outbreak in about thirty 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. This policy positions us to compete for those resources.

And specifically, what you're looking at is the HAP funding that was awarded to certain cities. 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. Protecting communities, fire, and crimes risk of encampments. The infrastructure and the fire and the crime risk.

Encampments often contain flammable materials near critical infrastructure. Fires and crime aren't isolated. They impact entire neighborhoods. 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 in 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 and 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 wanna 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? Council member Houston, you you guys have to get to the point. You you you have to get to the substance of the issue. Alright? So I will donate three minutes of my time, alright, but you guys have to get to the substance of the issue.

Okay. Well, I think I talked about the multifaceted approach. I wanna bring up that 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 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 a map or a graph or in grid of other cities and ordinances that they're taking. There were some council member early on that were concerned and asked about the model ideas on RVs and oversize, we forwarded this information over to ACA Lake and her team is looking at these pro programs and models. Efficacy and research matter. We have about 30,000 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 Benioff 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, we'd 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 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 council member Houston.

Council member Houston, think you have two more minutes or one more minute, clerk. Thirty eight seconds, you wanna wrap things up? Thirty five seconds.

With those thirty five seconds, thank you Patricia Brooks, I appreciate it. And if my colleagues have any questions about the EAP, if you read it, you have any questions, the floor is open to you. And then I would also like to hear the public, I really would.

So I'm in agreeance with you. We'll take the questions but people came out here to speak. I wanna hear from them. Wanna hear member

I'd like

to too. Hear Brown and then council member Fife.

But I'd like to hear the phone public first if you mind. Do you mind?

Well, let's let's hear from my colleagues. They've been waiting to ask questions.

Excellent. Thank you so much. I guess through the chair to council member Houston and team, do you all have a slide that, helps to outline the difference between what changes you were able to make to the policy from the last time you presented to us as a body now to now?

I'll let you go ahead, Patricia.

Through the chair, council member 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. 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. That was accepted by council member Houston.

Also, there were technical changes that we made to better align the policy. We also strengthened 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 suggested by a c e 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 council member 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.

Council member Fife.

Two questions. Number one, to you council president. 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 there might be some challenges coming up.

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 wanna understand thoroughly and completely what has changed.

I wanna see the presentations. I wanna 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 give the the the DOT, the police, and I wanna pull them up, Amari, the teams that are actually doing the work, council member Fife, clarity which the EMT does not give. And I just had a meeting with the desk, I had a meeting with Amari and the it gives them clarity on how to proceed. Because the 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?

Let me call up Tedesco. I was gonna say, but yeah. So you said something very, very important just a minute ago and I took a note about this. It 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 Gesco, can you explain? And I'm a call up Josh Rowan. I'm gonna call up the individuals, council member of Fife, that have to do this hard work.

I'm a 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 the individuals that do the services, they'll know where to locate them at instead of pushed around the corner. And we just heard something about it was a a chop shop. They didn't even know what to do with the RV that was causing criminal activity, not gun house, because they were confused as no clarity. So to to Desco and I, share with me how this makes your job easier, where you can do it in a humane way instead of a 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, council member Fife. But let me say this to you, we have to start somewhere. So, Tedesco, I'm a 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, it's been raised a number of times

Ordering 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 mister 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? Mister Rowan, what you shared to me this morning was so powerful. Can you share how this actually brings clarity?

Yes. Through the chair. Josh Rowan, 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 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 m f'ers to get out. That is why I have intentionally introduced myself from that day forward as an engineer. My name is Joshua and I'm an engineer. I am not a police officer. So the Oakland Department of Transportation that 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 seventy two hours. That is the tow authority DOT has. And so what I appreciate in this is that there's clarity. That there there are some very complex situations involving people and vehicles in the right of way that I don't believe belong in DOT. We need to stick with paving streets. We need to stick with removing abandoned autos and doing the things that that we do very well. It's simply far too much risk for our technicians to be interacting with people on the streets.

I'll I'll wrap up with my understanding was when when parking enforcement was moved to DOT, there was a discussion made about should our folks wear body armor? And the answer was no because it would give them a false sense of security and they would go into situations that they otherwise wouldn't. From my vantage point, two years ago when I got here, we were sending them into those situations anyways. I've I made the policy decision to pull my people out. I think the one positive the the biggest positive in this is the the clarity and how vehicles are addressed.

DOT will write tickets. DOT will tow abandoned vehicles. The specific ones that have sat stationary for seventy two hours, matters of law enforcement will remain in the police department.

Thank you, mister Rowan. I'd like to Amari, are you around? Can you come up, please? And what I what I'm sharing with the public and what I'm sharing to my colleagues, my colleagues, is that these are the experts. I'm not doing the job. I'm a policy and legislative person. Right? And it has to allow them to do their job. Omari, I have a couple of questions for you, sir. And this young man right here has one of the hardest jobs ever. I don't know how you take a vacation and come back. And I'm a say this, would this policy help the EMT become more effective?

Through the chair, to answer the question, when encampments are reported, we have a significant backlog of 1,700 plus reported encampments in City Works. Right? Many of those include vehicles and RVs. The vehicles and RVs that come to us, unfortunately, what I've experienced is that if you deploy OPD with the teams, the people move their vehicles and we're not necessarily towing the vehicles. The backlog and the resource constraint becomes when the EMT has approximately two hundred days in a year to do as many actions to address the 1,700 encampments, I then have to communicate to the general public that hey, I might not be able to tow this RV or address this because I have to do a seven day notice which typically is ten to fourteen days by general practice, I have to do outreach and I have to offer them a place to go, then by the time we get there, sometimes it's a chop shop, it's stolen, it's a boom boom room, anything you can think of that happens on the street, we run into it and it creates a backlog and a resource constraint.

So by default removing vehicles away from the term encampments will definitely help the encampment management team move a little faster.

Thank you, sir. I got one more. I got one more then I have something for Betsy Lake. From your perspective, Amari, running the EMT, how would this change the way you complete your operations? Make it clear.

Say it one more time, sorry.

Okay. So so how would this change the way you complete your operations?

It would everything will pretty much stay the same as identified in the policy as written. We already do bag and tag. We hold it for ninety days at two locations across the city. We comply with the morale settlement which identifies weather requirements. If it's hotter than 90 degrees, we try not to close an encampment.

If it's colder than 42 degrees, we try not to close an encampment. If it rains more than an inch, so on and so forth, right? And so as it pertains to the policy, not too much is going to change but I do want to kind of put this in perspective. 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 other 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 used as street storage. So that's the lens 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, thank you Amari. Patricia, can you come up real quick, please? I wanted to answer and I wanna yield to the city attorney about answering council member Fife's question.

Yes. I thought I did not notice that council member Fife really and council member Brown, I didn't notice that ACA Lake was on the dais. So if I could just sort of loop back a little bit through the chair to have ACA Lake come up and sort of explain all that has been happening. I think this may help you council member 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. 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 the EAP and the mayor and administration led homelessness strategic action plan. That plan has come before committee and is going to counsel in May. So the main things that we worked on with the authors, and they were open to making the majority of changes that we asked for, and those changes include 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. The authors added clarification that individuals cannot be arrested for re encampment but may be arrested for criminal activity.

We strengthened the outreach section, including, as Patricia mentioned, 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 of the substantive changes, 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.

Through the chair, I'd like to pull up another expert and that's chief Covington. Chief Covington, are you in the audience? Can you please come up and and we know that the fires have stopped BART. I 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 housed in front of their businesses. Chief Covington, please share with me how this makes it clear for you also.

Yeah. Good morning. Damon Covington, Oakland fire Thank you for that. In regards to homeless encampments and RVs throughout our city, 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. 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, infrastructure.

We've, we've dealt with that, as you saw on the slideshow, under the BART tracks. We've dealt with it under freeway, under the freeways where, we've we've had severe fires could possibly damage, the the physical structures of the freeway. And we've also dealt with it at our PG and E substation down on 3rd 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 had to go to the hospital due to these RV fires. They were so large and they burned so intently. It damaged a rig once and it sent one of our firefighters to the hospital. So it it certainly is a a major problem within our city.

Chief Coventine, thank you. I appreciate that. And I just wanna 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 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 Covington, I'm gonna do what you're the expert. You're putting your life and your employees on the on the line along with our our residents. So I'm a yield this to you back to you, president. And for any of colleagues that wanna ask anything else or I really wanna hear from the public. Well, thank you council member Houston.

Thank you to all the experts. Council member Fife, does that complete you? Okay. So, to my colleagues in transparency, if you guys want to introduce your amendments before or after the public speakers, after? Okay. We'll go after. Alright. 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 seated 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 you a 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 Ahn, Petra J. A. Hilton, Maya Zwelling, TJ Grayson, Henry Simmons, Jake Glastien, sorry if I said that incorrectly, Charlotte Iom, Ryan John Sears, Laura Billings, Birdie Atwater, Donald Bedford, Alfred Wong, Jane Esposito, Madeleine Stacy, Amy Astrig, Meg McAden Adam, sorry, Cindy Hart, Michael Piatock, mister Boatwright, Irina Itsuksan, 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 BART infrastructure safe and the communities around our stations safe. 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. 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 by BART to the list of high sensitivity areas and thank the council members who we met with 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 they can afford, and the rent is too damn high.

There's a real question as to why we're even here today. 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 in case in in cabinet management policy, and there are many things wrong many more things wrong with the encampment abatement policy. Say it like it is. Encampment

Thank you, mister Vann. Your time is up unless you have time seated to you.

Good morning. 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. This anytime right around here, there'll be five or six cars that didn't get towed because they claimed to be residents. They even have little sign 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 the runaround from the city to all the different department, and I'm not a stranger to the city's infrastructure. But selective enforcement is the case. We had a fundraiser for a bounty in front of the in front of the fire fire

Thank you, sir. Your time is up.

It got told

I'm a principal at Esther Merz Development Partners. We own and operate the Prescott Market, Food Hall, and R And D Campus in West Oakland. SRAM Arts 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, R And D Campus, Oakland Baller Stadium, American Steel Studios, and the o two a a 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're 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 Thank you, ma'am. Your time is up.

Good morning. My name is Charlotte. I'm a District 2 resident. I wanna 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 passed 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. The bigger picture and

Thank you, Charlotte. Your time is up.

Good morning. My name is Petra Hilton. I've been an Oakland resident in District 4 for almost fifteen years. I'm currently a law student at UC Berkeley Law, and I've been researching local homeless encampment policies through the policy advocacy clinic. In my review of the field's existing research, it has 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 camp encampments have grown by 10 times. Mary Lee's office, which conducted more sweeps than her

Bye.

I'm a resident of councilman Unger's district. I'm also faculty at UC Berkeley. I cede the remainder of my time to my student.

Second, this new proposal puts the city at risk of increased costly litigation. Just this month, a federal court found that Berkeley's encampment policy, 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. Oakland's 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 log that as overtime. Oakland already budgets $72,000,000 for OPD overtime and pays officers tens of thousands in overtime for their involvement in encampment activity.

I'm TJ Grayson, a faculty member at the Policy Advocacy Clinic, and I'm ceding the 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.

My name is Meg McAdam. I'm an Oakland resident, small business owner, and I'm the founder and president of Human and Pet Initiative. My team and I are in homeless encampments all the time. I can't believe the fearmongering I'm hearing here this morning. 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 leptospirosis, 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 100 dogs for leptospirosis. We show up with a portable ultrasound machine wearing scrubs, not armor. That's for proactive what 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, miss McDonough.

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 does 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 instability.

Esposito. Your time is up.

Hello. My name is Becky Ham. I'm the Oakland political manager at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network and I live in District 5. 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. AIPEN members wanna 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've lived in Oakland all my life. This is kinda kinda unfair to us because you only given 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 we're we're living. And Camp Nixon is kinda hard. It's really messed up our streets. Now they're getting so bad they're getting into the neighborhoods 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 even come down at all.

I'm on 75th Avenue, you know. And my street street but the street haven't been swept in about two months now because of the homeless encampment. We need to do something about it instead of just putting up the all these, you know, proposal for it. 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. 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 the high sensitivity area. As one of our neighbors within the Prescott market has mentioned, there's been a significant amount of economic development in that area.

We are constantly recruiting for new new fans, more fans, fans from outside of Oakland, fans from inside of Oakland. And having having these areas be low sensitivity sort of blocks our ability to be able to bring more people into West Oakland and help the economic development that's happened in those neighborhoods. We are providing jobs and lots of opportunities for Oakland residents, we wanna be able to continue to do that throughout the course of our ten year lease of the city of Vermont Park. Thank you.

Hi everybody. My name is Bertie Atwater. I'm an Oakland resident of ten years, medical student and 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's justification of why their violence is good for you, it falls apart under minimal scrutiny. For example, why in the ninety 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. Compare 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 does 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, council member 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, Marisha Marisha Farnsworth, miss Cecilia Cunningham, Zaire, Razir, Donnie, Avery, Simba, Mutiado, Anaya, Ananda, Shane, Kanaji, miss Angela, Bailey, Mickey, Allie Cat, Naja Ifaleo, Nick Meyerhoff, Bernard Crystal, Talia Husbands Hakins, Armando Solazar, Joyous 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 council member Houston's embank encampment 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 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 Your right over 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 mister Houston's proposed

Through the chair, we're gonna pause your time. Can you please state your name

before we Sure. It's Irina Edsickson. I'm a resident of District 1, mister Unger. For too long, Oakland has been treated like a dumping ground for the entire state's homeless population. As a taxpaying 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, 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 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 I can come and get arrested.

I can't take over the sidewalk with my belongings. There needs to be the enforcement of law that is correct for every everyone while we work on that perfect solution. So I beg you to start and to put and to vote.

Good morning to each and every council member that's present today. I am missus Cunningham, and I've been living in Oakland over sixty some 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're gonna have to replace them.

You're gonna have to 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 are done here in Auburn.

Thank you, miss Cunningham. Your time is up. Thank you, miss Cunningham. Your time is up. Hello? Madeline Stacy. Before you begin you can pull the mic up so you don't have to.

Madeline Stacy I cede my time to Nikki.

My name is Jay Glazian 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 mine to tell you in my heart, I know everyone of you guys can do the right thing. I've been homeless since 2019 on 5th 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 had 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 generation 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 tcooper870@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 a bigger picture. All I can say is refer to your constitutional rights because you guys are breaking mine every day.

My name is Michael Piatock. I've been a resident of Oakland for almost fifty 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 gonna be needed to do that. You've got more than 5,000 people on the streets. Where are gonna move them to? There's a little phrase in there, a reasonable effort has to be made to found alternative shelter. You can't be reasonable if there's no shelter there. We closed several 100 shelter beds just in the last couple of months. How do you do it?

You need a 100 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 thirty days if you worked hand in glove with the volunteer architects who were willing to work with city staff to get that to move. LEU Harris got 3,000 burned houses rebuilt in a matter of a few years by setting up city halls in those neighborhood 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, you need a 100 sites with about 50 in each. You already have a list of city owned land, but you don't know how to test how to fit this properly, these new kinds of shelters. Housing and Dignity, over the past year, has developed a series of programs for those who are unsheltered to be sheltered in a way that is humane and helps people prepare to get moved into permanent supportive housing. They're willing to volunteer their time to work with city staff to get that ninety day period compressed to thirty days days and get those sites in front of developers of of interim housing so they can get it done, get it up and running within six months.

Do the right thing. Create a collaborative effort between the public and private sector to make this thing move fast. Thank you.

Ifa Layo. My name is Ifa Layo, a homefulness resident in Wood Street Commons in the building. First and foremost, stop the sweeps. Vehicle residency 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's 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 could 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 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 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 Temescal, 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 walk by

Excuse me.

Houseless bodies like mine.

Excuse me. Please state

your name

name for the

is tiny. 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? Do you have a card? Did you

Yeah. Sign

all signed up.

Can All of

you show your card so

that can I don't have it because somebody Yeah? Else did

Thank you.

Yeah. They all signed up. So all that to say, I hope that you stopped my time right then. 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 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 Nija 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 Decolonized Academy.

My name is Anaya. Homefulness is a home full home fullness. People solutions to home home fullness. We wrote a.

A on sweeps.

Hi. My name is Estrella Cruz, 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 rural housing options and for house less people led solutions to be considered and launched.

Sweeps kill. I wanna remind everybody that Cam Hughes Ken Houston is the one who flipped the public off, flipped the people off. Just a reminder of that. Anything that comes from his hands, we don't want any part of. We, the people, we have solutions. And every time we come with solutions, it seems like you guys have a problem with the solution. But we just we're still praying for you guys that that god touches your hearts and allows you guys to make the right decisions. But we don't want anything coming from this guy. Thank you.

My name is Mickey. I'm ceding my time.

And I'm Deb Oh. I'm also ceding 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 Merritt 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 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. Their life is in shambles. All you guys doing is chasing us around.

This guy here, he acts like he's helping eighty fifth. 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 a 100% raise. How y'all get a 100% raise? That is so unfair to us as taxpayers and everything. You know, people are homeless and still on the street. They're still outside. They cannot afford the rent. You feel you gotta make six times rent. That is ludicrous that you guys are doing that. Where do 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'd rather struggle in our hometown than somebody else's hometown. K?

So no matter how much y'all push, we still gonna come back. Of course, if you guys don't get them treatment out 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. It's doable. It's doable. You guys can do it. That was one of y'all better program, the mother infant program, the transition in housing. That was one of y'all better programs. Re reentry for people getting out of prison, And mothers are out here with their kids. They 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 a 100% raise. We how dare us even ask for a 100% raise? Nobody has a 100% raise. Come on. You guys Donald Trump, what's going on? He's the only one doing a 100% raise. You know? Come on. Let's let's get this together. Work with us. You I see him on eighty fifth doing nothing promising. If he clean that, I'll pay you, and then he get down to $10. You know? We know. We know.

We be out there. We be out

Thank you, Allie Catch. Your time is up.

Hello. My name is Leon Amolica. I'm a District 2 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 and 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 lotto 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.

Good morning. My name is Damian Scott. I live in District 3. I'm a 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 in California for that matter is more services and more affordable housing. You know, was told this morning that over 80 of East Oaklanders wanna see something about the encampments in their neighborhoods, and I agree as someone who lived in East Oakland for over thirty years. But I wonder, do these East Oaklanders know that folks can be cited and arrested for re encampment? I wonder do they know that the low sensitivity low sensitivity zones are mostly in their neighborhoods and on 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. We need real solutions like the mayor's homeless strategic action plan, the state affordable housing bond, which I hope everyone calls their legislators to ensure gets on the ballot that we support because it'll give us $10,000,000,000 to fund affordable housing development.

Your time is up.

Thank you.

Hello. My name is 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.

My name is Tom Jensen. I've filed a certificate. My first comment is where are the homeless experts? This this hearing has to be continued so that they have a chance to equally speak. My second comment is because the city administrator failed to follow it.

The EMP has problems, but they are far less than the problems of the EAP. And the one of the things the EAP fails to admit is that the tents available to the homeless our wholly inadequate shelter, and our fire hazards that have caused deaths. Vehicles are far superior to shelter.

Thank you, mister 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. I don't believe that homelessness should be criminalized for a person being homeless. A part of the American dream is even being home homeless here in The United States, and a right to live however the person wants to live. And I wanna address this picture that is 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 not having a place to stay. But they sometimes slump into having mental health issues and being a person 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, you and shouldn't be persecuted for it. There there are resources. There are resources already there, and it's called section eight. Once a state is called 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.

Or give

not sure if the seeding time or give them to your yellow sheets

too.

My name is Eve Valentin. I've been an Oakland resident for ten years. I completely oppose this policy. I'm seeding my time to Satya.

So if you're seeding time, you're just saying your name.

Connor Barrow, seeding 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 Satya.

Three. Moham

So

Moll Green.

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

That's fine.

Yeah. Thank you. My

name is Satya and I'm a District 7 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 significant 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. And you know what? I'm not interested in beefing with any of my neighbors. I don't wanna 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 reelected. 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 some place to shower. That is how my parents raised 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 going to 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. Receive my time.

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

My name is Juniper Vlue. I am seceding 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 reentry 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, caseworker 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. Woodstreet comments 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 steals. Woodstreet 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. Paula Politicsters 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 this shit, because we don't bite and we don't quit. As And 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 gonna read the remaining names. Nita b, Patricia Toscano, Alex from Just Cities, Renee Hayes, Al from Saint Mary's Center, Sheila Gay, Kawemi from Saint Mary's, Arenado, Fred, Nicole Dean, Chris McKay, miss hold on. I'm sorry. Dominic DeMeo, miss maybe Fowles from Civic Action Coalition, Caleb, Shaunte McLaughlin, Saint Tran.

I'm a resident of Oakland District 2. I just want to say that it's kind of insulting that someone like Ken Houston is currently being allowed to help dictate the city of Oakless Oakland's approach to the housing crisis. Under his watch, he felt comfortable running an organization that paid him $195 an hour while he paid the unhoused residents employed a mere $17.19 an hour in the Bay Area which is just insulting. Clearly any policy that he helps dictate does not have the best interest of residents at heart. Any policy crafted by him should be opposed by the city of Oakland. Thank you.

My name is father Dominic De Mayo. 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, 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 this city, and that includes all of our residents whether they're housed or unhoused.

And they've been given funding to provide services for the residents of this city. In working with the unhoused in this city, I've come across many who 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 lose 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,

this is a very controversial policy. And so I thought I'd write a pro and oppose position to the council, and I'd like to just share what I wrote to you guys. So on the one hand, Oakland's incumbent 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 program, but they're increasingly demanding to the cities to show results. And cities that move faster on interim housing and it can't be 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 RVs. Oakland should grow our tent cities and pile our RVs with more trash. Raw sewage dumped on sidewalks foster much

Thank you. Your time is up.

Hello.

Billionaire billionaires, landlords, tech, and finance oligarchs,

Chris pause your time before you begin. Please state your name.

Armando. Billionaires, landlords, tech and finance oligarchs. Chris Moore, Ronald Najas, Christian Larson, Massey 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 Unites, Revitalize East Bay, Better Bay Area, Empower Oakland, etcetera. 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. There wouldn't be a need for all these debates if we just seized the housing directly.

Joyous Morale, I cede my time.

My name is Nita 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 homeless solution that states in their new strategic plan that sweeps are costly, ineffective, solve nothing, and cause irreparable harm, including increased mortality rates. Decades of research and experience show that police enforcement based homeless policies are an exorbitant waste of money that only make the problem worse and increase 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 tows. According to an internal audit of the city of Oakland, the city spends more than thousand $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 criminal behavior activity. The police just choose to not intervene. The village is a part of the housing and dignity project and since June, 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 Piatak, 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 indignity proposal. It is in line with the office of homeless solutions strategic action plan. It is in line with the United Nations recommendations for adequate shelter and declarations that housing is the human right. We I've submitted the proposal, and I've submitted the high recommendations. I've submitted alternate other alternate

Thank

you, miss b. Your time is up.

My name is Alex Penningas, and I'm a District 4 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 independent 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 per from provisions governing encampments will do nothing for Oakland's residents, housed or unhoused, and in fact, only lead to more people living on sidewalks and Streets. I respectfully request that the EAP be amended to remove this provision and others. Thank you.

Good morning. Caleb O will, concede his minute to me.

Caleb, are you in the chamber? He's on Zoom. Kayla, please raise your hand.

And what's your name? My name is Patricia Toscano and I'd like for council member Ken Houston to sit and

listen Hold on to one second. Caleb.

Order in the chambers. Over direct your number towards me.

Okay.

Thank you.

Good morning. So as I'm sitting here listening, I'm thinking everyone's talked about everything except for for 225 children that I met during the holidays. During the holidays, I sponsored a toy drive in D. P. 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, that's a lot of numbers. That's probably closer to 50%, 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 a a district and also yourself council member Jenkins served 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 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, because it was raining. All of you will go home. You spent your holidays with your families. You spent your holidays in your warm house while these

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

What's your name? Ash Do you have a card for Ash Wagner? One second, miss Toscano.

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? Miss Descano, do you have anything else to say?

Thank you. I made over a 100 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 and and and you act like these children are invisible. These children are not invisible. Go out here. Find these children.

The data does not rep represent these children that are unhoused. I have numbers to show you. If if you can't if you don't have anywhere to place them, then where are they supposed to go? They're gonna end up on the streets. We're gonna continue to walk over 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.

Miss Toscano, your time is up.

Thank you, miss Toscano. Thank you, miss Toscano.

Good morning, council members. My name is Kay Wyden, and I cede 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 Saint 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 Saint Mary's. Next month will be two years.

So that's two years of wait list and lotteries to get on wait list. I believe that housing is a human right and that everyone deserves a home they can afford. I strongly believe that the proposed encampment abatement plan is cruel and causes unnecessary harm to the people who live there. 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 Saint 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 Saint 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 caused many losses and such confusions. The sweeps destabilize many who are in dire need of stability. We seniors need help, not punishment. And at Saint Mary's Center, we are hoping that this policy is denied. Thank you.

Good morning councilmember. This is Omowale Fowles. I'm currently the housing director at Telegraph Community Ministry Center in District 1, Oakland. I'm also the former public health commissioner for the city of Berkeley, and I'm also a member of the elder council and the elephant council solution for homelessness. I wanted to point out four cases that are expensive because the city of Oakland has exposed itself using EMP and EAP to litigation.

San Francisco just paid a $2,800,000 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 go forward as a class action suit because of their violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 42 your time as a and Vallejo injunction two twenty twenty twenty

Thank you for your time. Next speaker.

Can you hear Oh, okay. Alright. 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.

This policy provides important tools that 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. Yeah. Just on a personal note, I wanna start by honoring my friend Courtney Beale who passed away on Easter Sunday, second woman in her family to die homeless in Oakland in the last ten years. I remember when the encampment management policy passed, the political forces that later became Empower Oakland and foundational Oakland Unites heralded it as this big turning point in Oakland's homelessness policy and it wasn't. 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 c four c has door knocked are really concerned about how the EAP will affect nine one one response times, traffic safety infrastructure, and other basic 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

Thank you, miss 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, and I'm moving to the Zoom speakers. James b, can you

just One second. One second. Please approach to the podium.

What happened?

Aud your name in the first sentence.

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 three d houses. A sing single unit can be fabricated in one day for less than $50,000 with a pad and utility connections installed for another maybe $50,000 All the city has to do is is add small plots of land around the city. Three d 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 the million dollar unit projects authorized for over 160 units by the council just over a year ago and on which no physical prog progress is

Thank you, mister Boatwright. 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. Mister Burt I'm sorry. James, if you could just tell me your last name.

James Birch, b u r c h.

Thank you. Please begin your comments.

Thank you. 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 2,000 people's vehicles without giving the city anywhere to put them. The city has just a few 100 safe parking sites for more than 2,000 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 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 vehicles, less than 200 spaces. This policy does not close that gap. It just decide

Thank you for your comments, mister Birch. 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 the 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 comments as 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 Jovela. I'm a resident of District 3 and the housing deputy director of the East Bay Community Law Center. Speaking in strong opposition to the anti homeless 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 bulldoze tents, impound lived lived 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 criminalizes black and brown on house community members who are already overpoliced. Our on house community neighbors are not foreign or domestic terrorists like they've been referred to. They are members of our community. Many long time Oakland residents who have been evicted facing housing insecurity and are now fighting to remain in their communities. Public space or public use should not mean pretending that our that our unhoused neighbors do not have a right

Thank you for your comments. Woukan, 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, mister Peters. Yes. Go ahead.

Can you

hear me? Yes.

I've heard a lot of comments here today. Not many of them have 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 ten years? My extended West Oakland family has. We've lived on the same block across 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 maintain historically black communities?

Perhaps more importantly, why do so many of our neighbors who moved here in the last thirty 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, mister Peters. Juan Canham, you are next after Juan Istalia. Go ahead, mister Canham.

Hi. I'm Juan. I'm a D 4 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 9AM 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 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'm with love and justice 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. RVs 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, read. No one thinks it's a good thing that we have a growing number of unhoused people living on the streets.

There is 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 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 act

Thank you, miss Sullivan. 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 wanna comment Maria,

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 of 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. Kyle, you have amendments or do you wanna comment first?

Do you have amendments or do you wanna comment first? Yeah, you comment first. One second. Can we turn can we turn this microphone on, please?

We'll get you. Don't worry. Justin, one, two. There we go. Okay. Thank you. Let me first, thank all of you for being here this evening. And, certainly, when it comes to the homeless management encampment policy, I was part of that development. And, certainly, I've been on the council now for twelve 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, it's, you know, transportation, the, 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. Alright? So, you know, I I have a 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 buying your gasoline for your car, everything is going up and up and up that in many areas, like in my District 5, 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, we need to stay unified because Oakland is an is in Alameda County. And Alameda County receives a good amount of money to deal with homelessness, but the the biggest challenge is here in Oakland.

I mean, I just heard the numbers about here in Oakland. What do we have? Currently, we have what? How many do we have? For those of you that hear in administration, how many homeless that the county report that we had here in Oakland? How many? 6,000? I heard the the number 6,000 before our committee. 6,000. But in that out of that 6,000, 70% 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 and 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 the president can tell you that. And 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 at six in the morning. So when you go out driving, you don't see the activity on the streets. Six in the morning to 11:12, 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 that's where I know Anita be this year.

I mean, 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, 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 weren't living in certain areas. But, I just wanna 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 does 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, 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 to deliver a service. And one of the reasons that kinda 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. My Jesus wasn't out there in a church and a cathedral worth $10,000,000. He was on the hillsides.

But and and so I'm reaching out to the churches to allow, perhaps, their parking lots to become places where we can drive and park 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 your advice and your support, and let's take care of our 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 council member Unger, you have some amendments, then council member Wong, then council member Brown, then Fife, then myself.

Alright. Thank you, Council President. Know what, as this

Excuse me. Can we, if anyone, please clear the walkways including over here. Ledette, this journalist over here, if you wanna record, please record from the back. Thank you.

Alright, 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. 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 $1,400,000,000, which is about $1,400,000,000 more than we have.

So the amount of guidance that it gives us to actually decide what to do today is is very limited. And, you know, and I had hoped that we as a city could come together around a more comprehensive and strategic vision for addressing homelessness that included encampment management that reflected a shared vision between counsel and the mayor's office and the administration that, you know, really reflected the urgency 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. You know, we are welcoming our new homeless service 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. You know, 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 wanna 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 wanna offer a couple of amendments. And my my goal is to sort of try to provide some direction in the development of these policies. I don't know, K Top, if you have my amendments. Look at that.

You guys are good. So, you know, first, understanding that employees of different departments have different resources and skill sets, My amendment to three b 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, 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 three b requires that OPD first prioritize vehicles that propose an imminent hazard. This is vehicles leaking gas, blocking a fire hydrant, or whether it's, illegal activity going on, you know, 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. Beyond that, OPD will follow the priorities regarding high sensitivity areas and low sensitivity laid out in the mayor's plan two a and two b. So to support these amendments, I wanna require that the city administrator, encampment team, OPD, every other necessary stakeholder work on standard operating procedures. That's what this next year is gonna be about, is these SOPs. Right?

So I wanna provide some guidance around those SOPs. And 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 admin 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 wanna note that as part of these amendments, the plan now refers directly to the mayor's homelessness strategic action plan, which deals with some of my earlier concerns about coordination.

And finally, I wanna make the obvious point that we are constrained by lack of resources. 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 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. 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, 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 intentions with my amendments on the highest priority, highest severity. 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 wanna take up all these amendments.

So we'll introduce all the amendments, but thank you for your sensible, reasonable amendments to this policy. Councilmember Wong, please proceed.

Thank you. Thanks. Through the chair. So just before I get to the amendments, wanna say some high level remarks which I would say at a utopia where we had a different federal administration that was providing resources instead of on war but instead on actually addressing homelessness, we would be in a very different 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.

For us to consistently be the region's social safety net is just not fair and it's not sustainable. For me, I do support this but this is about providing relief to the neighborhoods, to the neighborhoods who have had their encampments in their backyard. I don't know how many of the folks who, you know, came against the encampment. Have you had an encampment right in your backyard? That's what I need folks to grapple with.

Right? And 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. 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 a real plan to stand up shelter. There's cuts happening at the federal level. The measure w money happening at the county level is absolutely not enough. When you look at it, it's about a $153,000,000 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 ensuring that. I have tents popping up in just areas that are just not appropriate to be popping up and and RVs and areas that I I just I I need to have these areas cleaned. But I do wanna see some important amendments in order to have this policy passed. First thing is if KTOP can put it on the screen.

For the first amendment, this is around the SOPs. I do want to see as part of the SOPs that are promulgated addressing families that are living in vehicles subject. 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. 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 given for families with children in vehicles. The next amendment. This is about the cleaning interventions.

I do wanna ensure that as it's as it reads, Oakland Public Works is authorized to conduct debris removal and sanitation services around encampment sites as pass as needed, excuse me, and follows the city's SOPs and collective bargaining agreements. There's been too many situations where I have had a three one one complaint from constituent. I've given it to three one one. 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 evac 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. 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. Next amendment. The next amendment is just around when I'll just read it aloud. It adds a provision that says when shelter is available unavailable despite such efforts, the city shall allow an individual to move to a low sensitivity area.

And here's where my amendment kicks in and provide information and resources that include safe parking lot sites and available services, shelter and supports in Alameda County. I just think it's important that we include the county's resources in our encampment abatement plans. And this final 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 it becomes available. Participation in this tracking and the subsequent acceptance of shelter remains strictly voluntary. All that to say that if shelter is not available and a an encampment is closed down, 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. Council member Wong. Council Member Brown.

Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank you Council Member Unger, Council Member 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 up for this conversation. You know I think at this point I'm not sure if this is our third or fourth engagement on this topic over the course of the last six to eight months.

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 in showing up. One of the things over the last six to eight months I've been working on is ensuring that I've met myself and my team. We've had the ability to meet with a handful of the advocates that have showed up consistently to talk about just some of the details of this policy as with some of the areas of opportunity. In addition, I've also connected with the East Bay Community Law Center and they provided us a hand, myself and my team, a handful of just feedback on the policy and you know momentarily you will see some of those amendments. So if KTOP 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 council member Houston.

No, no, no, no. Please proceed. Think council member 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. So for the first amendment that's presented on the screen you can find the text on page one, section one 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 ninety 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. Some of the feedback that myself and my the team received is that one of the barriers for, you know, unhoused community members accepting shelter is the fear of lose you know, losing their vehicle and or their possessions. And so I did indeed think that this was a priority in including that piece of information into the amendment.

I know momentarily council member Fife will be offering up an amendment kind of along these same lines and I'm supportive of the B part of your amendment so the public will see that shortly. Next slide. And then the next slide showcases adoption of the encampment management plan around the data. What is the data telling us and how are we tracking that? And so and then in addition, we know that our mayor established the the office of homelessness solutions.

We recently just had two reports around an anti displacement plan as well as our homeless homelessness strategic plan. And similar to council member Unger, you know, I couldn't help but think, hey, how how is this interacting with our EAP? And so for these amendments it just kind of states calling for this annual impact in 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 it's very crucial that they are part of the conversation given so many of the resources that are made available through department as well as the ongoing efforts of this newly established office of homelessness solutions. And I think that all of these entities should be working together to move us in a more positive direction. And so numbers one through six simply offer up the operating standards of what we want to be included into this analysis.

The number of encampments addressed, closed, stabilized, numbers of residents, numbers of locations, repeated closures. You know there's this saying around like if you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting a different, expecting a different result, You know you're just gonna get the same thing and so we really, I really think that it's important that we begin to capture this information as well as we know that there's a lot that is done with the Alameda County's point in time count but we also want the city of Oakland while we are there engaging with the unhoused neighbors to also be capturing this data as well. And so that's kind

of

the details also around tracking the hours and times that we're spending on these efforts. Alright. Next amendment. And then similar to I believe it was I think it's council member Wong's amendment for offers of shelter. You can find this on page eleven first page of section three.

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. Also outlining some clear examples. Examples of reasonable requests may include 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 the EMAT operations. And then lastly also putting a provision here to ensure that we are performing any of the deep cleanings. And so some of these amendments I was able to work with, of course, the office of the administration as well as the office of the city attorney, I would say well over a month ago.

So thank you all for your partnership and collaboration.

Thank you for your amendments. Council member Fife.

Yeah. First I I wanna thank everyone who showed up today, even people with opposing perspectives because that I believe is how you sharpen the analysis on what's happening. 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 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 our homes.

And until we address that very fundamental issue, we are going to consistently have challenges with housing and from the day that this item came up when council member Houston was talking to me about it, every time council member Houston, what did I say? Where are people gonna go? And I know you worked 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 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 RVs and 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 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 Nicole Dean for 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.

So

I I I believe that there I I believe that some amendments that have been made are 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 KTOP can put those on on the screen. I think you have those. 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 a $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. The amendments that I'm gonna take them out of order and start with the the third bolded paragraph, paragraph three, offers of shelter pages fourteen and fifteen. In connection with a partial closure, 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 EMAT 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 one of the our fathers here 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. The EMAT intervention, I wanna 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 encampments or or shelter offer, In cases where no shelter options are available but due to urgency findings a 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. And 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. And the last point I wanna make is the effective date.

The policy currently states that within ninety days of encampment, administration shall provide to city council a written report identifying 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 3 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 ninety days from adoption or b the date that the city administrators presentation of a written report to city council identifying city 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 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 cost 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 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 or, you know, Middle Oakland or wherever or in District 3. 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. 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 poor as a nation. We are getting older as a city. And if these policies can can continue, we may all be facing an issue of homelessness where we wish someone would have been more considerate. Thank you.

Thank you council member 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. You have a flippable 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. Know where your heart is. I've had the pleasure of within the last week going into council member Houston's district where he's looking for safe RV 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 unsheltered residents, call them unsheltered relatives. And when you're referring to people who 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. I wanna channel that energy, right, and making sure that we're going to the county board of supervisors to make sure they are standing up treatment centers, to make sure they're standing up mental health centers. San Francisco County has done an amazing job setting up systems, setting up treatment centers. Right?

It seems like we're falling behind. It seems like Alameda County is falling behind. Right? And I think we in Oakland have a deep care about this, 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 council member Houston and I have been looking for safe parking spots in District 6, District 7, because people, as council member five has consistently said, where are people 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, San Leandro 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 risk 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.

May I say I'm one I'm noticing that there may be some inconsistencies that I would like to recommend a reconciliation over if that's okay?

Please do.

So with respect to the Fife and Brown amendments, I was going to recommend that well, two things. I was gonna recommend that Fife's language, the EAP shall become effective the sooner of ninety days from adoption or the date the city administrator's 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.

And then finally, was just gonna note that the report about the full assessment, that we do not have the staffing or availability to do that. If you think about our PIC 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. Do you accept those amendments?

Yes, sir.

Alright. Madam Clerk.

On the item 6.1 moved 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. Council member Brown. Aye. Council member Fife.

Abstain.

Council member Houston I'm sorry. Council member Gaio. No. Council member Houston. Aye. Council member Ramachandran is absent. Count I'm sorry. Excuse. Council member Unger? Aye. Council member Wong? Aye. And chair Jenkins? Aye. Believe you'd have a tie.

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 form.

As I call your name, 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 forum to address the council. James Van, Jennifer Finley, David Boatwright, Josephine Guzman, Puyman Wong, Mina Kuchi, John Marks, Hillary Chin, David Newton, Rashida, I think, or Rohina, Deborah Walker from Green Clean. In any order, please oppose the podium or raise your hand if you are on Zoom.

James

Van, thank you for this opportunity. I just wanna comment on the process that has been in place leading up to this, which has been one unlike I've noticed ever before. This kind of bullying of the council, the illegal meetings behind closed doors. This is has not been a a prideful type of development that has gone on regarding this particular action. And I hope that the council will 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 actions

Thank you, mister Vann. Your time is

that they will stop immediately.

Hello. My I'm the owner of Green Cleaning Scene. I was the first 100% black woman owned biohazard cleanup here in the Bay Area. My comment is in reference to the EAP policy is that something has to be done. I do homeless and cabinet 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. Abode 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 Boatwright. 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 the builders tell us is what it costs. And there are other alternatives. We don't have to rely on the builders for everything. Thank you.

Hi. My name is Mina Kuchi. I live in District 6. I've been in the city for ten years. I'm a homeowner, a former business owner, and a mother. I oppose the EAP policy. Across from where I live in District 6 there is an in total area that's completely open. I wanna know how are we using this space. It's on the other side of the 580 below Oakland Zoo. I think it's District 7. And I wanna 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 I oppose this policy. And Ken Houston, you are an abomination.

Hi. My name is Hillary. I'm a member resident of District 3. I just wanted to point out something that nobody has before which is that this, my comment is about the EAP. 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 permanent housing. And I feel like the EAP is just a band aid solution. We talk about crime and drug use about we are not talking about what is forcing these people to turn those to those things to cope which is homelessness, property, and systematic racism and ableism.

We urge you to address the shelter shortfall and use the

Thank you. Your time is up.

Oakland's EAP is not a balanced public policy.

It's We'll a

pause your time. Can you state your name, please?

John Marks. It's a removal policy dressed up as management with recent federal rulings limiting how cities can treat us, the homeless. In Berkeley Homeless Union versus City of Berkeley, the Northern District made clear that the city can't invoke abatement while ignoring due process disability accommodations and protections ignoring 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 nineteen eighty three due process principles in the same body of law as Martin v Boise and Prado versus Berkeley. The council doesn't need persuasion about its position, but the record should be clear. Oakland is choosing

Thank you, mister 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. Miss Guzman, please unmute yourself and begin your comments.

Good morning, council members. My name is Josephine Guzman, public policy manager at the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. Just to for context, the chamber has long been an advocate for equitable solutions to homelessness and has actively supported 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 in cabin payment policy move into implementation and appreciate the amendments and thoughtful review.

As the implementation begins, we hope that ongoing engagement with stakeholders will be essential for strong execution and help identify areas that need continued attention, and we remain committed to collaborating with the city and, supporting any way and 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? We'll go Houston, then we will go five.

Most people would be happy with with Out of order.

Out of order.

Most people will be happy about something that passed. This is a very, very, difficult policy to to move. 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 from 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. I'm not.

But we have to do something to make things happen. Right? So this is a starting point. And 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. I appreciate everyone.

Thank you, council member Husson. Council member Pike, this meeting is adjourned.