Aug 7, 2025
The City of Oakland has cleared a large homeless encampment on East 12th Street, relocating about 70 people to the Mandela House — a former hotel turned shelter, now funded through a state grant.
The move marks one of the city’s most visible steps toward addressing homelessness, a crisis that has more than doubled in Oakland over the past decade.
Advertisement
Driven by rising rents, stagnant wages and a chronic shortage of affordable housing, more than 4,000 people in the city are currently unhoused.
Oakland officials say the clearance is part of a broader push to connect unhoused residents with long-term housing support. It follows Governor Gavin Newsom’s rollout of a model ordinance aimed at helping cities respond to what he calls the “dangerous” and “unhealthy” conditions of encampments.
“There’s nothing compassionate about letting people die on the streets,” Newsom said in a press release. “Local leaders asked for resources — we delivered the largest state investment in history.”
As Oakland aligns with statewide efforts to address homelessness, the impact of encampment closures — and whether they help — remains at the center of the conversation.
Homelessness in Oakland
California’s homelessness crisis has reached a breaking point. According to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, more than 187,000 people were homeless in the state last year — nearly 24% of the entire nation’s unhoused population. The pressure is mounting on state and local leaders to act fast.
In response, Newsom announced $3.3 billion in new funding to help cities expand access to housing and treatment for the state’s most vulnerable.
Cities like Oakland and San Francisco are rolling out targeted interventions. San Francisco’s newly elected mayor, Daniel Lurie, has pledged to tackle homelessness head-on. Oakland is already home to the Community Cabins program — a shelter initiative offering small, two-person cabins built on public land.
These temporary shelters focus on stabilization and connecting residents to long-term support. The program has seen high participation rates, largely because cabins are built near existing encampments, allowing people to stay close to familiar spaces.
Advertisement
“Oakland’s Cabin Community model is one of the most promising and cost-effective homeless shelter innovations I’ve seen,” said Trent Rhorer, executive director of the San Francisco Human Services Agency.
Must Read
- Dave Ramsey warns nearly 50% of Americans are making 1 big Social Security mistake — here’s what it is and the simple steps to fix it ASAP
- Robert Kiyosaki begs investors not to miss this ‘explosion’ — says this 1 asset will surge 400% in a year
- Vanguard reveals what could be coming for U.S. stocks, and it’s raising alarm bells for retirees. Here’s why and how to protect yourself
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
Is this the only solution?
City officials say closing the East 12th Street encampment is a step forward, but community reactions suggest a more complicated reality.
Some residents and business owners say they’re relieved to see the area cleared, calling it a long-standing source of frustration.
"I was driving by, and I was shocked to see the whole encampment was clean," said Veleda, an Oakland resident, in an interview with Fox KTVU. "It was an eyesore, and it was very hard for them to tackle it."
But homeless advocates say that while shelters like Mandela House or Community Cabins represent a step in the right direction, the process of clearing encampments often unfolds with little warning and limited resources.
"People lost medication, people lost their IDs, people lost their phones, people lost their clothing, their food," Needa Bee, director of the homeless advocacy group, The Village, told Fox KTVU. According to Bee, she was able to reconnect with 54 individuals from the East 12th encampment — none of whom were offered housing options before the site was cleared.
The city maintains that shelter space was made available at Mandela House. But advocates argue the outreach efforts fell short, and question how effective these emergency responses really are in the long term.
With growing pressure to “clean up” encampments, cities risk swapping long-term solutions for short-term optics — and sidelining the very people these efforts claim to support.
You May Also Like
- Turning 50 with $0 saved for retirement? Most people don’t realize they’re actually just entering their prime earning decade. Here are 6 ways to catch up fast
- This 20-year-old lotto winner refused $1M in cash and chose $1,000/week for life. Now she’s getting slammed for it. Which option would you pick?
- Warren Buffett used these 8 repeatable money rules to turn $9,800 into a $150B fortune. Start using them today to get rich (and stay rich)
- Here are 5 easy ways to own multiple properties like Bezos and Beyoncé. You can start with $10 (and no, you don’t have to manage a single thing)
Victoria Vesovski is a Toronto-based Staff Reporter at Moneywise, where she covers the intersection of personal finance, lifestyle and trending news. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, a postgraduate certificate in Publishing from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Master’s degree in American Journalism from New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. Her work has been featured in publications including Apple News, Yahoo Finance, MSN Money, Her Campus Media and The Click.
