{"id":163768,"date":"2026-02-04T17:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/163768\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:10:16","slug":"oaklands-encampment-abatement-policy-may-return-later-this-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/163768\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland’s Encampment Abatement Policy may return later this month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston at Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting.Vol. VI, No. 1,188<\/p>\n

\u2014Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston is moving to revive his proposed Encampment Abatement Policy, aiming for a full City Council vote later this month after a brief but tense derailment tied to state funding concerns.<\/p>\n

Houston said he will ask the Rules Committee on Thursday to place the item on the agenda for the council\u2019s Feb. 17 meeting. <\/p>\n

The policy, which he introduced in September, stalled after the city received a warning letter from the California Interagency Council on Homelessness questioning whether it complied with state requirements \u2014 raising fears Oakland could lose $41 million in funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sent a letter to the mayor the day before, and everybody panicked,\u201d Houston said. \u201cI was told we had to pull it or lose the money. I called the governor\u2019s office, and I was hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the city clarified that it would make every reasonable effort to offer housing to displaced residents and account for personal belongings, the state signed off. Houston said the policy was compliant all along. \u201cThat was calculated interference,\u201d he said. \u201cI was always in compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014Houston\u2019s hands-on approach has earned him strong support in his district, even as critics accuse him of political meddling. He dismisses that criticism, pointing to ongoing quality-of-life issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy community has been suffering for months. Businesses are suffering too,\u201d he said. \u201cSome people want to keep Oakland exactly like this so the funding keeps flowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a freshman councilmember, Houston is unapologetic. \u201cThey\u2019re not used to someone coming in with one of the strongest homeless policies in the country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"OaklandOakland council delays encampment policy overhaul after marathon hearing<\/a>\"Oakland\u2019sOakland\u2019s encampment abatement policy delayed again after state raises new concerns<\/a><\/p>\n

Refer a friend<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014More inside:<\/p>\n

CITY NEWS: Houston disobeyed orders and didn\u2019t get medical treatment for a badly cut finger.<\/p>\n

Hoping to reduce demand, Oakland approves large fines for buyers of sex trafficked individuals.<\/p>\n

San Leandro locks in sweeping rent stabilization ordinance against mayor\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n

COUNTY NEWS: Supervisor rejects his own advisory council\u2019s recommendation as Castro Valley\u2019s bicycle wars continue.<\/p>\n

ELECTION 2026: Tuesday\u2019s gubernatorial debate revealed how some of the candidates view the current state of the field.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston at Tuesday\u2019s City Council meeting.Vol. VI, No. 1,188 \u2014Oakland Councilmember Ken Houston is moving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-163768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-oakland","9":"tag-oakland-headlines","10":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}