Oakland Mayor Thao Issues Executive Order to Clear Homeless Encampments

OAKLAND, California. – Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao issued an executive order Monday aimed at more thoroughly and quickly cleaning up the city’s homeless encampments.

In a press release and video statement, Thao said that in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision granting cities greater authority to dismantle homeless encampments, she is ordering all city departments to “fully implement the Encampment Management Policy,” which the City Council approved in 2020.

Citing recent examples of the city’s efforts to dismantle encampments and provide residents with access to homes and services, she said her order directs the city to focus on encampments that impede safe commutes to schools, children’s areas and playgrounds or impede access to small businesses.

Priority will be given to encampments that block traffic lanes, bike paths or sidewalks; impede emergency services; create a fire hazard by blocking fire hydrants, setting fires within 30 feet of buildings or illegally tapping into electrical wires; pose a hazard such as a highway overpass or BART tracks; contain flammable materials such as gasoline and propane; or if biological waste from the encampment poses an environmental hazard such as to sewers and waterways, Thao said.

“Being homeless is not a crime in Oakland, but it does not give anyone the right to break other people’s laws,” she said. “We need to give public spaces back to society — and do it with compassion.”

Thao also mentioned that she was homeless and lived in a car with her young son for a while, but said she never tried to “pitch a tent” but “sought affordable housing and services, for which I am deeply grateful.”

Under the order, a camp that poses an imminent risk of serious injury or death, damages key infrastructure or blocks traffic and bike lanes can be closed in less than 12 hours.

Camps that create other problems, such as blocking sidewalks or harboring disease or pests, may be closed if notified within 24 to 72 hours.

According to the order, camp residents will be provided with temporary shelter, but “in no case will the closure of the camp in an emergency or urgent manner be delayed due to the lack of shelter availability.”

“The City of Oakland’s Camp Management Team has been working hard to implement the Camp Management Policy adopted by our City Council, and this year has already resulted in numerous closures and referrals of dozens of homeless residents to programs and shelters,” Deputy City Administrator Harold Duffey said in a press release. “Thanks to Mayor Thao’s executive order, we have a clear mandate to intensify these efforts.”

The Oakland Police Officers Association issued a press release in response, calling Thao’s effort a “last-minute political stunt before voters decide to recall her on November 5.”

They also claimed that the Oakland Police Department was not notified of the plans and that police were playing a key role in dismantling homeless encampments.

KTVU assisted in preparing this report.