The City of Oakland, which like San Francisco has struggled to address widespread camping on sidewalks and elsewhere in the city amid on ongoing homelessness crisis, gave a seven-day warning on Monday to an encampment around Peralta Park.

The park, along the southern shore of Lake Merritt, has long been a magnet for tent encampments (the Google Street View image above is from 2018). And this winter, tents and RVs have appeared along the Lake Merritt Channel, under the 10th and 12th Street bridges, as KTVU reports. Notices were posted there Monday telling campers to clear out their belongings by next Monday, April 7.

The encampment clearing comes just as the city is launching a re-vegetation project at Peralta Park next Monday.

"I don’t think it’s fair because I need some place to go," says one of the encampment dwellers, Michelle Wade, speaking to KTVU. "And it’s kind of sad when you have to be out here homeless an in a tent and the housing stuff is unaffordable."

Wade adds, "Usually, when you call the shelters, they’re usually full. Sometimes, most of the time you have to be on a waiting list, and then you’re put right back out here waiting for that, and they refer you to places and there’s always a waiting list."

The city says its work in the park is necessary in order to address outstanding environmental regulatory permits, and the re-vegetation will help improve the area as a wildlife habitat.

Oakland has had a habit, like other Bay Area cities, of shuffling its homeless around to different spots in the city. A longstanding, enormous encampment along Wood Street in West Oakland was finally cleared under court order in 2023, however there have been more recent signs that campers have returned there.

As of the last homeless census, Oakland was home to around 5,000 unhoused individuals.