California transit agency wastes $9.3 million dollars on Encampment Sweeps in 2 years
According to Caltrans work order reports from fiscal years 2020-2022, obtained via PoorMagazine’s investigation: “The Cost of Sweeping Us vs Housing Us”
After a year-long process, PoorMagazine’s unhoused and formerly unhoused reporters reveal that Caltrans, a state transportation agency, spent $9.27 million on 490 violent encampment sweep orders in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco in FY 2020-2022. This is on top of rampant spending by a local/state network of police and city departments, who work together to enforce and conduct daily sweeps. In Oakland, audits revealed the Oakland’s Encampment Management Team alone spent $12.6 million between FY 2018-2020.
These reports come at a time when the state and city have ramped up encampment sweeps, killing the unhoused, causing spillover into local communities, while stalling on proposals for deeply affordable projects. In response, a coalition of unhoused and housed advocates are launching art builds and Sanctuary communities for unhoused people, starting December 17th across the US in Seattle, SF, Oakland, Vallejo, LA, and more. Their demands are to end sweeps and the Landback of vacant public land to indigenous and unhoused communities for self-governed housing solutions.
What is an encampment sweep?
In California, encampment closures, aka sweeps, are violent operations in which city public works departments, Caltrans, or both, force residents to remove all belongings and vehicles under a tight deadline. Sweeps are performed under agency watch of local public works departments and police, with one commonly seen sergeant making over $480k a year. If residents resist or cannot relocate in time, police threaten arrests on residents, advocates, and even journalists, frequently utilizing the controversial Safe Work Zone Ordinance to arrest supporters. Eventually public works forcibly tows vehicles and destroys all property, including medical equipment and tiny homes, even killing pets in the process. Sweeps happen daily in SF, Oakland, Berkeley, and cities across the US.
Unhoused communities are overrepresented by disabled people, with a 2024 Alameda county survey showing 60.3% of unhoused individuals had at least one disabling condition. These are the same people who are swept in sweltering heat and pouring rain, forced to move without any support from the city. People of color are also overrepresented, especially Black/African Americans with the same survey showing 41.3% of unhoused individuals identified as Black/African Americans vs 9.8% overall in Alameda.
These sweeps have left hundreds of unhoused individuals dead, with 1062 mortalities reported from 2020 to 2022. Many others are displaced, often forced into unfamiliar neighborhoods or unsafe, mold-infested shelters, far from their support networks. Ultimately, sweeps worsen the “homelessness” issue for all those involved, serving only to wear out residents and line the pockets of those involved, particularly towing companies and contractors.
Sample of 3 work orders in the Wood Street Commons region (Columns: Total Cost, Comments, Project Code). These represent the most expensive Caltrans work orders in SF, Oakland, and Berkeley ($700k in March 17-28, 2022, $630k in Sep. 6-15 2022, and $426k in Sep. 19-28, 2022 ).
Where are they being swept?
Many frequently targeted locations are long-time unhoused communities, which serve as a make-shift safe-haven. One of these was Wood Street Commons, a community which served hundreds of unhoused folks as a safe-haven for over a decade. It was violently bulldozed in May 2023. Documents show the state spent $2.13 million in the area during 2020-2022 even before the closure. During the closure, dozens of state and city police, highway patrol officers, public works employees, and contractors swarmed the street for days. The total cost of the closure is unknown.
What is the impact?
Agencies admit that major closures, such as Wood Street Commons, have caused significant impact to nearby communities, filling beleaguered shelter beds. Oakland’s stopgap solution was setting up sheds, including a 70 unit program built on former Wood Street Commons. Oakland spent a $8.3 million grant from the state to develop the site, which have been reported to have “unsanitary, inhumane conditions” including a lack of drinking water, unusable toilets, exposure to harmful chemicals, and recently reports of black mold.
In comparison, Wood Street Commons provided community for hundreds of residents through internal organizing and volunteers, including housed residents of Wood Street. Their lifetime budget was about $50k from GoFundMe campaigns. A joint effort from the state and city has failed both the unhoused and housed residents of Wood Street, wasting millions to forcibly displace residents, rather than supporting residents with mutual concerns.
What are the Solutions?
Unhoused communities have long advocated for self-governed housing solutions. These include PoorMagazine’s Homefulness model, which has successfully housed over 20 residents in Oakland since 2015, and has begun construction plans for 2 more communities across California. These solutions integrate trauma-informed councils and conflict resolution frameworks to support the challenges of being formerly unhoused.
Recently, Wood Street Commons worked in collaboration with affordable housing architect Mike Pyatok proposed a 405 unit building complex with a similar self-governing model. Separately, PoorMagazine collaborated with San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston on a proposal to convert office buildings into housing. So far, both have been blocked by local and state government bodies.
Calls to action
However, the unhoused and housed are still pushing for an end to sweeps and for long-term solutions. Here are a few upcoming projects:
Where Do We Go has launched camps across Berkeley, protesting the city’s new punitive policies under Grants Pass.
Attend Berkeley City Hall Meetings
Donate in person, or online.
The Tuesday, December 17th Sanctuary Community installation from Bay Housing Liberation. Organizers are asking the public to:
Attend the press release (11am SF City Hall, 11am Vallejo City Hall, 11am Fresno City Hall, 11am LA City Hall, 3pm Oakland City Hall)
Promote their demands to government officials
Donate to the sanctuary villages in person, or online (please indicate the Sanctuary Community)
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