By Caden Gilbert
There are many businesses that want to get rid of homeless encampments on Harrison Street, Dwight Way and along Codornices Creek. They want these encampments removed because they stated that their businesses are being affected by it financially. These areas are said to have unsanitary conditions, safety concerns, and a lot of crime. The employees working didn’t feel safe, and people are afraid to come near the area.
The conditions that homeless encampments leave in the areas are extremely dangerous and unsanitary. Some of the tents block sidewalks and even block parking spots. Some people in these areas stated to have found urine, feces, dead animals, and even uncapped syringes. All of these things aren’t good for business and for citizens in general. Things like these make people stay away from areas
The city of Berkeley passed a new policy allowing city workers to remove tents from the street and sidewalk, even if there are no shelter beds open. Now that people have the ability to evict people living in these encampments, and even take their property, the areas that people stay away from can be cleaned up and fixed. But another issue that this brings is the homeless people that are kicked out are left with nowhere to go.
Although homeless encampments aren’t a good thing for any city, the homeless people who are kicked out of them will no longer have somewhere to sleep. This is quite unfair to them, but there are a few solutions that the city can provide. For example, the city can use our tax dollars for something useful—like a homeless shelter in areas that are suffering from encampments. In doing so, they can clean up the unsanitary areas to bring business back to the people who were affected. Homelessness is rising more and more all over the Bay Area, so something like this might not be helpful to every single homeless person, but could have a positive effect overall.
Some areas that were affected by encampments have their workers not close alone during night shifts. They also made it required to walk to their cars in pairs as a safety concern. Some business owners even took their businesses out of Berkeley because the conditions got so bad. The city of Berkeley has had many failed attempts at offering shelter to homeless people living in encampments, so something has been done.
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