2.3 20-0932 Subject: Declaration Of A Local Emergency On Homelessness
From: Council President Kaplan
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution Renewing And Continuing The City Council's Declaration Of A Local Emergency Due To The Existence Of The City's Homelessness Crisis
I stand with Oakland's unhoused residents and with Council President Kaplan's motion to adopt a resolution that decrees congregate shelters as unfit forms of alternative shelter during the pandemic. We are still in a global pandemic, in which social distancing and access to sanitary resources are essential for survival. We are still in the middle of winter, in which cold temperatures make it even harder for survival. Our houseless neighbors are humans, trying to survive. They deserve compassionate care and resources, not to be written off, punished, and put at much greater risk of COVID-19. Houselessness AND COVID-19 disproportionately impact Black, Brown, and disabled individuals. The EMP is racist, ableist, and violent.
Congregate shelters are not safe forms of shelter during a pandemic. They would place a large number of houseless folks indoors, in close quarters, and drastically increase their risk of contracting COVID-19. The unhoused need safer shelter in a time of COVID. The definition of adequate housing should include AT LEAST 3 months of INDIVIDUAL shelter.
Additionally, the City should work in alignment with and in collaboration with the Coalition to Stop the Encampment Management Policy, composed of Oakland's leading unhoused activist groups, including The Village and East Oakland Collective to create more compassionate, pragmatic and effective solutions to solving houselessness.
I stand with Oakland's unhoused residents and with Council President Kaplan's motion to adopt a resolution that decrees congregate shelters as unfit forms of alternative shelter during the pandemic. We are still in a global pandemic, in which social distancing and access to sanitary resources are essential for survival. We are still in the middle of winter, in which cold temperatures make it even harder for survival. Our houseless neighbors are humans, trying to survive. They deserve compassionate care and resources, not to be written off, punished, and put at much greater risk of COVID-19. Houselessness AND COVID-19 disproportionately impact Black, Brown, and disabled individuals. The EMP is racist, ableist, and violent.
Congregate shelters are not safe forms of shelter during a pandemic. They would place a large number of houseless folks indoors, in close quarters, and drastically increase their risk of contracting COVID-19. The unhoused need safer shelter in a time of COVID. The definition of adequate housing should include AT LEAST 3 months of INDIVIDUAL shelter.
Additionally, the City should work in alignment with and in collaboration with the Coalition to Stop the Encampment Management Policy, composed of Oakland's leading unhoused activist groups, including The Village and East Oakland Collective to create more compassionate, pragmatic and effective solutions to solving houselessness.