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Federal court allows CalTrans to remove encampments in East Bay
Federal appeals court ruling permits CalTrans to remove homeless encampments in the East Bay.
BERKELEY, Calif. - A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that Caltrans can remove homeless encampments in the East Bay without providing other housing for the camp residents.
Caltrans wanted to move the residents due to "critical safety concerns", according to the Chronicle.
The camps were home to 27 people near I-80 in Berkeley and Emeryville.
Residents were originally living in two other encampments in Berkeley known as Seabreeze and Downstairs but were removed by Caltrans last August.
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Advocates for the homeless said moving the encampments would cut people off from health care and other services they need.
"They will have nowhere to go," Emily Rose Johns, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Chronicle. "Nowhere is being offered to them. They will be disconnected from the services they have, lose any progress they’ve made, any place they had on any housing list, and will find it harder to get health care. There’s a good chance they’ll end up on some other Caltrans land or on the streets of Berkeley being swept every day."
Caltrans plans to remove the camps early May.