Instead of clearing homeless camps, Oakland is spiffing them up

While San Franciscans argue over how much warning the city should give to homeless people before clearing tent encampments, Oakland is trying another strategy entirely:

The idea is to provide basics such as trash cans, portable toilets and regular cleanup services while the city tries to devise a long-term shelter program before shutting down the camps for good.

[...] the program provoked an instant backlash from neighbors when the city tried its first test-run Monday, at a sprawling encampment in West Oakland where several dozen people are living under an on-ramp to Interstate 580.

Residents and merchants already infuriated by the camp grew even more angry when city workers began power-washing the area, installing toilets and putting up concrete barriers to block off traffic.

To some, it looked like Oakland officials had given up trying to shoo away the homeless, deciding instead to use taxpayer money to create permanent outdoor settlements.

In June, Oakland set aside $190,000 for this fiscal year to bring services to the camps and fund the Compassionate Communities program, but critics of the plan say that money should be spent on housing.

“My tax dollars should not be paying to put people out here and treat them like animals,” said Michael Engle, who lives nearby and was among the people shouting obscenities at McElhaney and several city administrators who gathered at the camp Monday.

Some city workers shared Buckley’s concern that their new sanitation services will make the camps more attractive.

[...] Bedford also said it’s Oakland’s duty to provide some form of humanitarian aid for people living in the camps.

A measure on the Nov. 8 ballot would allow police to clear out encampments with 24 hours’ notice while offering homeless people a shelter spot — although San Francisco’s 1,300 nightly shelter beds are invariably taken.

For the past few years, Oakland has taken a catch-as-catch-can approach to homelessness, clearing out camps when neighbors complain, only to see them pop back up, McElhaney said.

City officials hope to close the West Oakland camp by the end of March, assuming they can find transitional housing for its inhabitants.

Many of Oakland’s homeless are drug addicts or people with mental illness who need treatment.

[...] the Compassionate Communities program is still an experiment, she said Monday, trying to fend off angry neighbors as the homeless campers silently watched.