The growing problem of Oakland's homeless encampments, this one location is a quarter mile long on Wood Street from West Grand at 26 Street.

The unhoused are butted up one against the other for the entire length.

One of the biggest encampments in the city is here on Wood Street in West Oakland.

It extends for several blocks and even under the freeway.

One person who lives here says he thinks there's over 200 people living out here. He says he tried to apply for housing programs in the

city but is still living on the streets. I'm Delency Parham and I'm emboss

Monte King and this is tales of the town, a podcast about Black

Oakland.

In the fall of 2020, the Oakland City Council and Oakland's Mayor Liby Shaft approved a new policy on

House's encampments.

EMP, which stands for encampment management policy, restricts where houses people can set up their tents in Oakland.

It restricts homeless encampments within 150 feet of an elementary

or middle school,

within 100 feet of a high school,

and within 50 feet of a house public park retail business or

protected waterway. So basically everywhere. For Mary Liby Shaft it was

considered the quote-unquote most comprehensive policy.

We have to do a better job and this policy will let us do that to actually keep these

encampments cleaner, more healthy, less dangerous,

and less in conflict with the health concerns of others.

That's the mayor. In other words, she was calling to push

houseless people out of encampments and away from the public eye. This had

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