Oakland encampment residents left with nowhere to go as construction begins
Mar 06, 2026
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) -- More than a dozen residents living in an encampment near 6th and Webster streets in Oakland say they have been forced to move three times in the past week. The group reports being displaced from state, city and private land with no alternative housing options provided.
Cal
trans confirmed that it began the Oakland Alameda Access Project in the area this week, a project that requires the clearing of the current encampment. Residents and advocates state that they are being pushed between different properties as officials from various agencies attempt to clear the site for the construction project.
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Sathya Baskaran, an advocate for the unhoused community in Oakland, confirmed that the group has faced a continuous cycle of displacement between various jurisdictions over the past seven days.
"Caltrans told them to move off Caltrans' property. The city told them to move off city property. Private property owner told them to move off of private property," Baskaran said. "So, now they're back on city property and the city, is again, telling them to move off the city property. No one has any idea where to go."
Residents at the site described the emotional and physical toll of frequent forced moves. Papa, a resident of the encampment, said the clearing process involves heavy machinery.
"I feel less than human sometimes because it's kind of humiliating and degrading when you come here and you see the bulldozer just push everything that you own right into the gutter right over here," Papa said.
Father Dominic DeMaio, a Catholic priest, encountered the group on Thursday while looking for parking in the area and noticed a crowd speaking with police officers. DeMaio said he spent time with the residents and observed that many suffer from significant physical and mental health challenges.
"I met all these people and they're disabled and then there's like a woman with — she doesn't even have a leg," DeMaio said. "She's in a wheelchair and there's people with diabetes and there's a man with schizophrenia and they got names and they're real people and I got to spend time with them and it's just really hard for me to see them suffering."
While city outreach workers visited the location on Thursday, those living in the encampment expressed frustration with the lack of tangible results. Hawaii, a resident of the encampment, said the workers primarily collect contact information without following up.
"They haven't really done anything but take down our names and our numbers and tell us that they'll be in contact with us, then we don't see those guys again until the next time they're sweeping us again," Hawaii said.
The city of Oakland has not responded to requests for comment regarding the displacement or the effectiveness of its outreach efforts.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
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