The Berkeley Homeless Union was granted a temporary restraining order against the city of Berkeley to halt a sweep of the Eighth and Harrison homeless encampment scheduled for Monday.
U.S. District Judge Edward Chen granted the request Thursday. The order will remain in effect until Aug. 13. On that date, the court will hold a hearing on the BHU’s motion for a preliminary injunction, which would prevent the city of Berkeley from clearing the encampment until a final decision is reached in the lawsuit.
On Monday, the city issued two notices, which warned of fire hazard and announced the city’s intent to close the encampment in a week, ordering residents to vacate the encampment.
The city has been attempting to sweep the encampment for years, and has successfully swept parts of the encampment in the past few years. Residents protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act have been fighting for proper accommodations and exemptions from city sweeps.
In the new order, Chen found that BHU raised serious questions about whether the city’s actions would satisfy the court’s requirements for clearing encampments. The BHU stated multiple concerns regarding the city appropriately meeting the requirements outlined by the previous ruling.
Some of these concerns include the city offering residents a $100 gift card instead of replacement sleeping bags and clothing, and that the city declined to store certain items, like bike parts and loose papers.
BHU president Yesica Prado said the organization is relieved that the court has stopped the city from “forcing our disabled members out of their homes without the provisions of their accommodations.”
“They are not abstract problems to be swept away—they are our neighbors,” Prado said in a written statement. “We are not trying to stop the city from managing public spaces. We are trying to find a way for all of us to fairly coexist.”
Prado noted that prior injunctions in the ongoing case have already allowed time for unhoused people in the encampment to move into shelter or housing.
Following the outbreak of a bacterial disease in January, the city further urged residents to leave the encampment, and reduced that number of residents with ADA protection from 19 to eight.
In April, Chen ruled that Berkeley could legally sweep the encampment, given the city provides appropriate accommodations to residents with ADA accommodations and those living in vehicles. The ruling also required that the city physically assist residents with relocation and storage of their belongings.
The city of Berkeley declined to comment on the pending legislation.