OAKLAND, CA – This Wednesday, December 4th at 5:00PM, there will be a special Life Enrichment Committee meeting consolidating current homelessness reports and legislation for a comprehensive discussion around what the City is doing regarding our homelessness emergency.
On the agenda is an informational report from the City Administrator regarding the status of implementation of our Encampment Management Plan. This is especially timely given the events of last week when homeless advocates in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza were arrested. We look forward to hearing from the Administration what our strategies are to assure our unsheltered neighbors are treated with dignity.
Also on the agenda is my request for a homelessness solutions report and recommendations. In February of 2018 my Resolution that the City of Oakland should be encouraging and supporting the private development of expanded housing options, including those offered by non-profits, faith-based organizations, private property owners, and service providers working on private land to provide housing and sanitary facilities for the homeless through strategies including “small homes,” shipping container conversion homes, manufactured housing, recreational vehicles, unattached trailers, restroom structures, and other options to provide dignity, privacy, and disease control.
This Resolution, which passed Council over a year ago, provided specific strategies to help remedy our homelessness crisis and directed the administration to respond within 90 days. Now, we see that many of the strategies have still not been Implemented by the administration and the unsheltered population in Oakland increased dramatically. We must do better.
POLICE COMMISSION POSSIBLE HARASSMENT UPDATE
It came to the attention of the Council over the holiday break that the Oakland Police Commission Vice Chair, Ginale Harris, was the target of an investigation. The alleged incident occurred in San Francisco where Ms. Harris works. I am keeping informed on this and stand firm our Police Commission should be an independent agency and our City Administrator and Police Department should have no authority to control or fund such inquiries against Commissioners.
>