On Monday, Oakland city officials are slated to commence the eviction of residents from two temporary homeless shelters along Wood Street. This area was once home to the largest community of unhoused individuals in Northern California.
The sites in question include a safe RV parking area that accommodates 40 vehicles and a community of 100 cabins. These shelters, while designed to be transitional, ceased operations in mid-May after the operator abruptly withdrew. Though some residents successfully transitioned into permanent housing, many others have reverted to living in tents, RVs, or other makeshift accommodations. SheMika Crawford, who had been residing in the cabins, moved out just days prior, stating the conditions of the shelter had deteriorated significantly.
Crawford, who signed a lease for a new home two weeks ago, reflected on her time in the cabin community. Initially intended for a 90-day stay, she ended up residing there for nearly two years. “You’re looking at the cabin falling apart,” she remarked. “We fix it ourselves.”
After BOSS, the nonprofit managing the shelters, stopped its operations in May due to persistent financial issues with the city, residents like Crawford have been navigating their living situations without support.
In 2022, the city, in conjunction with Caltrans, began evicting residents from a sprawling encampment located under the Interstate 580—a site that was nearly a mile long. Most of the homeless individuals were living on Caltrans land, which was closed in the fall of 2022. Some residents remained until the city moved many into the cabins in the spring of 2023, having formed a partnership with nonprofit Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) to manage both the RV parking and the cabin community.
During its operational stretch, BOSS housed 185 individuals and provided a range of services aimed at helping them secure stable housing and employment. However, by late May, BOSS ceased operations due to a culmination of late or missed payments from the city. Following this interruption, the Oakland City Council voted to decommission both sites, with the aim of returning them to the property owner by December.
According to a city notice, anyone still at the sites post 5 p.m. on Monday will face potential arrest, and any personal belongings left behind will be discarded. Additionally, vehicles left on site will be towed.
Sean Maher, a spokesperson for the city, highlighted the expected timeline for restoring the properties, estimating it would take up to six months. He confirmed that efforts to find alternative accommodations for remaining residents have been in motion for several months.
Upon BOSS’s arrival in July 2022, the nonprofit began providing housing navigation and employment services to those at the RV parking site. Throughout its operations until late May, BOSS served 48 individuals from the site, with 75% of them finding permanent housing solutions.
Conversely, the success rates appear less promising for residents of the cabin community. Out of 137 individuals living there, fewer than a quarter achieved permanent housing, while nearly 84% relocated to other shelters.
Donald Frazier, CEO of BOSS, acknowledged that various factors hindered the success of their programs. He noted that access roads to the sites were in poor condition, and staff turnover escalated, contributing to a decline in services as city payments became increasingly unreliable. He stressed that the organization had endeavored to assist residents amidst these challenges.
“We were brought in from the beginning to provide housing navigation services, clinical services, and just day-to-day operations,” Frazier stated. “A vast majority of people were successful.”
The city’s latest count revealed approximately 5,480 unhoused individuals residing in Oakland last year, with about two-thirds living in tents, vehicles, and RVs. Maher indicated the city is collaborating with Alameda County officials to assist the remaining shelter residents in securing temporary housing.
In light of the upcoming eviction and ongoing crisis, former cabin resident John Janosko emphasized the importance of the city and county considering proposals from housing rights advocates to tackle the growing issue of housing insecurity. “The city needs to really start listening to us,” he urged, suggesting that this moment offers an opportunity for transformative change in how unhoused individuals are treated in Oakland and Alameda County.
KQED’s Beth LaBerge contributed to this report.
image source from：kqed
