As some East Bay cities ramp up encampment sweeps, Richmond takes a kinder approach

“Knock knock, is anybody home? It’s SOS,” says Leyla Williams as she approaches one of the many hidden makeshift houses along Wildcat Creek. “Does anyone need services?” she asks, scaling the homemade stairs that lead to the tents and tarpaulin shelters. “I don’t think anyone is home.”

This was the second stop of the day for the team at of Safe Organized Spaces Richmond, a nonprofit service provider for unhoused people. Their first stop was the extensive encampment where tents are scattered deep into the wooded intersection of Interstate 80 and San Pablo Dam Road. When the SOS team arrived, they greeted four encampment residents with warm hellos and handshakes before providing transportation to El Portal Church of Christ. There, SOS offered mobile showers and clean clothes, while the church gave out food and hot drinks, and Contra Costa Health Services provided a mobile health clinic.

Nearly four months have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court decision, allowing criminal penalties for unhoused people sleeping outside. The ruling triggered Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order in July encouraging state agencies to conduct mass removals of encampments.

While neighboring cities like  Berkeley and Oakland have adopted more aggressive policies in response to the order, Richmond hasn’t changed its approach. Instead, the city has maintained its camping ordinance, which requires that individuals be offered alternative housing before any encampment can be removed. 

In 2023, Richmond partnered with San Francisco-based nonprofit Homebase to devise a strategic plan to tackle homelessness. A key action item of this plan was to “strengthen collaboration between the city, county, and community-based organizations.” Richmond has a $1.56 million contract with SOS, as funding such organizations is integral to the city’s strategy.

Donald Patchin, Richmond Police Department public information officer, said the city employs a compassionate intervention approach to encampment sweeps. “We do have a multi-pronged approach to dealing with it, but we have not instituted the unilateral sweep-everything, push-everybody-out approach that some other cities have.”

Other cities across the East Bay responded quickly to Newsom’s order. On Aug. 5, the Berkeley City Council passed a policy allowing authorities to sweep encampments without offering alternative housing if the encampments met criteria such as being a fire hazard, health hazard, or a “public nuisance.” Similarly, on Sept. 23, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao issued an order directing authorities to clear encampments without an offer of housing if they pose an “emergency and/or urgent health and safety concern.” Thao also reduced the notice period for sweeps from 72 hours to less than 12 hours in these situations.

Manusiu Tuivailala, director of programs at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program and Shelter, expressed concern about the ruling’s negative impact on the East Bay’s homeless community. “Their story is being moved from somewhere they call home that they are so used to, to a different environment. It’s hard. It’s really heartbreaking.”

Agencies like Caltrans still enforce sweeps on their properties in Richmond when individuals refuse shelter offers. In these instances, SOS, along with the Contra Costa Health CORE outreach team and Richmond’s Community Crisis Response Program, work to minimize harm to the homeless community. When individuals who are under threat of being removed are identified, Richmond police will first contact CORE and SOS staff to do outreach so that people are met with a friendly, understanding presence that ensures they get access to care and resources.

Another goal that was outlined in the homelessness response strategy was to “create ongoing leadership opportunities with compensation for people with lived experience of homelessness.” SOS exemplifies this; most of its workforce is formerly and currently unhoused individuals. Daniel Barth, SOS executive director, highlighted the significance of this approach.

“SOS Richmond is all about hiring people from encampments. Our workforce development project gives people opportunities they don’t otherwise have. Other cities tend not to do that, creating a polarized situation between advocates and the unhoused folks they represent.”

Every Thursday, SOS collaborates with the San Pablo Library to host a wellness center for individuals seeking support. The library provides people food, a safe space to relax, and staff to help with housing and employment plans and to deal with any obstacles to services.

Barth suggested that giving unhoused people a stake in improving their own circumstances fosters a more cooperative response. “Cooperation isn’t just about SOS. What’s distinctive about Richmond is that we have three community-based agencies on the street. This street-level work supports the stability, safety, and security of unhoused individuals.”

(Top photo: SOS workers at Wildcat Creek, by Edith Matthias.)

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