Governor Gavin Newsom of California has promised hundreds of millions of dollars more to help the homeless people who live along state roads, but many people aren’t sure if the old plan of moving them is really working.
Yvette Wright said, “I’ve lived on Wood Street for ten or twelve years now.” “Wherever there’s somewhere to be I’ve probably been there.”
Wright and about 200 to 300 other people were taken away from the Wood Street camp in Oakland about seven months ago. At the time, it was one of California’s biggest. The state and Caltrans said the situation couldn’t last and revealed a huge operation to clear the land and move people.
Wright said, “It did not get rid of the people.” “Because where are all of them going to go?”
A drive around this area shows that many people just moved to the next open block, filling side streets with cars, campers, and even boats. Some, like Wright, have moved into one of the city’s nearby tiny homes.
“The people have had enough,” Newsom said when he made his speech. “They’re tired of it. I’m sick of it. We’re all tired of it.”
Newsom says that the extra $300 million, on top of the $400 million that had already been set aside, will help towns clear out camps near highways, like the work that was done under Interstate 80.
“This encampment resolution will help us do even more with our state right of ways, state property,” Newsom said.
The Wood Street operation may have cleared the Caltrans land, but it didn’t solve the problems for those who were moved beyond the property lines in the long run. What’s going to change now?
Wright also said, “I can’t say for sure what the answer is.” “Some people belong here. Some people would rather not be inside. What do you do for those people? It’s a really tough position.”
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