Judge orders Berkeley to stop Harrison encampment cleanup
"The City’s abatement shall cease immediately," U.S. District Judge Edward Chen wrote Wednesday afternoon.
A federal judge has ordered the city of Berkeley to stop the removal of a longstanding homeless encampment on Harrison Street until at least next week.
"The City’s abatement shall cease immediately until further order," U.S. District Judge Edward Chen wrote Wednesday afternoon.
The next court hearing on the encampment is set for Tuesday, June 10.
The city of Berkeley began removing the Harrison Street encampment early Wednesday morning, citing serious problems such as rats and feces, rotting food, hypodermic needles and combustible materials.
"We want safety for all — both the unhoused and the housed," city spokesman Matthai Chakko said Wednesday afternoon. "And the conditions here were not good for anyone."
Chakko said about a dozen people who were staying in the area were told to leave. City staff were on hand to help them pack their belongings, he said.
Berkeley police were also part of the operation, which took place on Harrison Street between Eighth and 10th streets in northwest Berkeley.
One man who initially left the area was arrested after returning to the block, Chakko said.
Emilie Raguso
At some point Wednesday, attorney Anthony Prince filed an emergency request, on behalf of the Berkeley Homeless Union, to stop the removal of the encampment, according to court papers.
Prince wrote that he had learned about the cleanup at 9:30 a.m. after the city showed up with bulldozers and "was ordering everyone to leave in 20 minutes."
According to his declaration, he called Marc Shapp, Berkeley's deputy city attorney, to ask for an explanation and "insist that he call off the action."
"He refused to do so," Prince wrote.
In the filing, in which Prince misstated the encampment location as well as the date, he asked the court to stop the city from clearing the camp, citing a hearing already scheduled for next week.
In response, the city asked a judge to reject Prince's request, describing it as "procedurally improper and substantively deficient."
In its filing, the city wrote that an earlier order blocking it from taking action on Harrison Street had expired May 23.
The city also argued that Prince had missed a deadline Monday and called his motion "improper."
But, at least for now, Judge Chen did not appear to have been convinced.
He wrote that an "explanatory order" about his emergency ruling would be forthcoming.
Earlier in the day, Chakko, the city spokesman, said Berkeley had "focused a tremendous amount of attention" on the Harrison Street corridor dating back to at least 2021, offering housing and services to many unsheltered residents in the area.
From September 2021 through December 2024, the city made nearly 740 shelter offers, with more than 20% going to people in the Harrison Street corridor.
Over the same period, the city carried out approximately 18 encampment operations throughout Berkeley, both deep cleanings as well as closures, he said, with more than 20% happening in the Harrison Street corridor.
The city also used a $5 million grant from the state, Chakko said, to master lease The Campus motel on University Avenue — formerly a Super 8 — to help house unsheltered people who had stayed in the encampment.
According to current estimates, Berkeley has more than 400 unsheltered homeless people who sleep on city streets, in city parks and elsewhere in the community, he said.
Harrison Street homeless camp: A troubled history
On Wednesday, Chakko explained that conditions in the Harrison Street encampment were "not reflective of what we are seeing elsewhere."
"What's been happening here is not reflective of the unhoused population as a whole," he said.
In October 2022, the city did a large-scale cleanup in the area after declaring an "imminent health hazard" on and around the Harrison Street homeless encampment.
In May 2023, the city pledged to address serious ongoing public safety issues in the neighborhood, but little seemed to change.
Last year in January, a homeless shelter worker survived a shooting on Harrison Street west of Fourth Street.
Then, in June, a man tried to set a woman on fire outside her RV on Harrison Street, according to police.
The same month, BFD put out an encampment fire at Eighth and Harrison that created a heavy column of black smoke that was visible for miles.
In August, a resident was killed by his bunkmate in a shooting at the same homeless shelter where a shelter worker was shot in January.
Emilie Raguso
In September 2024, city officials said Berkeley needed to get "more aggressive" in its approach to problematic camps, adopting a resolution to allow stepped up enforcement amid hazardous conditions and citing Harrison Street as one example.
The same week, nine businesses and property owners in the area of the Harrison Street encampment filed a lawsuit demanding action.
Problems continued this year: In January, a woman died in a tent fire at Fifth and Harrison streets.
In early March, police said a homeless camp resident used a metal broom handle in an unprovoked attack near Seventh and Harrison streets.
In May, a man was charged with multiple felonies after attacking two people, and threatening to kill them, on Eighth Street north of Harrison, according to court papers.
The same month, there was an RV fire on Seventh Street south of Gilman Street, not far away.
Emilie Raguso
The city has held two large community meetings this year to address concerns at other Berkeley homeless encampments — in Civic Center Park (now cleared) and Ohlone Park, where a recent city cleanup was stalled by new legal action by the Berkeley Homeless Union.
During the community meetings, the city said much of its work in northwest Berkeley had paid off.
And, while much of the public comment at those meetings came from residents and business owners concerned about worsening conditions, advocates and activists have decried city "sweeps" they say simply push problems from block to block, separate unhoused individuals from critical property and break up community bonds and support.
Emilie Raguso
In February, the Berkeley Homeless Union filed its original lawsuit against the city seeking a temporary restraining order to block enforcement on Harrison Street, which the judge ultimately granted.
"Plaintiffs are disabled individuals, who rely on their tents and encampment setups for safety, shelter, community and essential accommodations, and the removal of these will likely lead to the rapid deterioration of their physical and mental health," they wrote in the February filing. "Many residents, due to physical disabilities and mental disabilities, lack the ability to pack their belongings or move their possessions without assistance, putting them at risk of losing critical items such as medications, identification, and mobility aids."
On Wednesday, the Berkeley Homeless Union did not respond to requests for comment.
Stay tuned for ongoing coverage.
Related coverage
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
Emilie Raguso
