Tackling Oakland's Homeless Problem

OAKLAND, CA — Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said Tuesday that the city is beginning the second phase of its ongoing effort to try to move homeless people from encampments into temporary shelters as they wait for permanent housing.

Schaaf said the city opened its first temporary sanctioned navigation center at Sixth and Castro streets in early December and is now opening its second such site at 27th Street and Northgate Avenue.

Speaking at a news conference in her office, Schaaf said there's "a very large homeless encampment" of about 100 people at the 27th and Northgate site, underneath a freeway exit there.

The mayor said the city will accommodate 40 people in portable "Tuff Shed" living structures and the rest will be housed at the nearby St. Vincent De Paul Community Center at 2272 San Pablo Ave.

Schaaf said the sanctioned centers have bathrooms, showers and security and offers a variety of services aimed at getting the homeless population at the locations into permanent housing.

She said, "The goal is to have people move from the sheds to permanent housing within a six-month period" and also to help people get jobs.

Schaaf said 8 of the people who've lived at the center at Sixth and Castro streets "are on a path to permanent housing" and 15 have permanent jobs.

Schaaf said the work by city agencies and their partners to get the 27th Street and Northgate Avenue center up and running is part of a broader effort to reduce the city's unsheltered population without just forcing homeless people out.

She said, "It's not compassionate or effective to simply tell them to move on."

— Bay City News; Image via Shutterstock