Multiple advocates and an independent journalist were arrested during a West Oakland encampment sweep last week. City workers displaced 40-50 people from a densely populated area near the intersection of West Grand Ave. Talya “Boots” Husbands-Hankin, founder of Love and Justice in the Streets says the area was home to black elders, several with disabilities which the city’s shelter programs cannot accommodate. The area is also a known hot spot for opioid deaths according to county death records, as earlier reported by KPFA.
See our earlier reporting here: https://kpfa.org/featured-episode/left-behind/
Following the sweep, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao announced an executive order directing all city staff to enforce the city’s Encampment Management Policy, which Andrea Henson, a civil rights attorney and co-founder of Where Do We Go Berkeley says is a political stunt to gain favor with California Governor Gavin Newsom ahead of her election, which will not eliminate the growing problem of homelessness and ultimately lead to more deaths.
Cities across California have moved to sweep its homeless encampments more aggressively following the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Grants Pass v. Johnson. We will continue to follow these developments in the immediate Bay Area and other cities.
On September 3rd, Aamonte Hadley died while held in pretrial detention for nearly 3 years at San Francisco County Jail. The loss has devastated Hadley’s family who are seeking justice. Her father, Norman Hadley describes his daughter as someone who always cared for others with a smile that lit up the room. Julia Arroyo, co-executive director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center credits Hadley’s untimely death with a systematic pattern of overcharging that has taken place during San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins’ tenure.