Peter Radu News Today

Crews started clearing a longstanding Berkeley encampment that advocates had tried to save.

Crews started clearing a longstanding Berkeley encampment that advocates had tried to save.

What seemed at times to be positioned like a victory lap looked also like a laundry list of outstanding issues that will impact the city for years to come following Arreguín’s departure.

Members and supporters of Berkeley’s “chess club” gathered at the city council meeting Tuesday in defense of the community space on Telegraph Avenue.

A temporary restraining order that prevented the city of Berkeley from sweeping a homeless encampment on Eighth and Harrison streets will be dissolved, Judge Edward Chen of the North District court decided Wednesday.

Tonight’s city council meeting could approve the creation of a contract with the Housing Consortium of the East Bay as a contingency plan for interim housing at Rodeway Inn for individuals currently residing in People’s Park.

The Berkeley City Council approved a contract Tuesday with the Housing Consortium of the East Bay, or HCEB, as a contingency plan for interim housing at the Rodeway Inn. 

Berkeley is accelerating plans to more humanely deal with homelessness in the wake of a San Francisco Public Press report on a chaotic encampment raid in October, and city staffers say they will start collaborating with unhoused people and homeless advocates when planning to clean or clear large encampments. Several city departments are changing procedures in response to complaints from those living in encampments and their advocates, and from residential and commercial neighbors.

Loss of income and unsustainable housing costs are leaving many California residents on the streets, according to the California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness.

With the drop in temperatures and increase in rainfall, the City of Berkeley and local organizations have been working to provide aid for the houseless population during this turbulent weather.