A group of homeless people in West Berkeley was awakened Wednesday morning by a swarm of police and city workers, arriving to clear out a long-standing encampment.  

No notice was given that the sweep was coming, and advocates said it's a reflection of the public's changing attitudes about the homeless.

The sweep began about 6:00 in the morning, and the people living in the encampment said it came as a complete surprise to them.

"There was, like, dozens of police. They were shaking people's tents, shaking the fences. They were, like, you need to get out, you have 20 minutes to leave," said Yesica Prado, who lives in an RV on 8th Street. "We got no notice. There was no paper notice that we got."

"And I wasn't given any notice, so I feel like highway robbery is happening right now," said another resident of the camp named Michael. "There's no one offering any services. The city will not talk to me. The city won't talk to any of us."

The sweep may have happened quickly, but it was a long time in the making.  The tent encampment along 8th and Harrison Streets in Berkeley had been there for years and can even be seen in the Google Maps satellite picture.  Prado, who's lived in the neighborhood for eight years, sued the city in 2023 to keep the camp from closing down and as recently as last week got a court hearing scheduled for June 10.

"To determine whether the encampment can remain or not," she said.  "And the fact that they came before that date is, like, OK, I guess they don't care what the court says? Yeah, we just don't understand what's going on here."

The city said the encampment has been a major problem, with 20 percent of their homeless efforts being focused around that one intersection. It's been cleaned up before, but quickly returned with little the city could do about it.  

Then, the Supreme Court handed down its "Grant's Pass" ruling, saying cities can enforce no-camping orders, even if they don't have a housing alternative to offer. That changed everything, said Ian Cordova Morales, president of a homeless advocacy group called "Where Do We Go?"

"It's just become lawless," he said. "They've become lawless — the police and the city and everyone. They're just not following any of the old protocols. They're not giving notice. They're arresting people. They're doing whatever they want now. They've taken what the Supreme Court said about their abilities to arrest people and they've just gone full bore."

No one would go on camera on Wednesday, but when asked if any notice had been given, city spokesperson Matthai Chakko said the campers had been told in January that they could not stay there. He said there are about 400 homeless people living on the streets of Berkeley on any given night, and no encampment has received more attention from the city than the one at 8th and Harrison.

But when KPIX pressed the question, Chakko admitted that no notice had been given about the morning's cleanup operation. It seems the public is losing its compassion for the unhoused.

"We are seeing a lot more people complaining about homelessness, a lot more communities getting together to advocate against homeless encampments being in their area," said Cordova Morales. "And generally, people are demanding that sweeps happen now, rather than people get connected with services.  And it's really made everything that we're doing a lot harder."

And of course, the get-tough attitude still doesn't answer that nagging question.

"'Where do they go?'  I don't know.  The message is, 'Don't go to Berkeley.' Berkeley wants them to leave town, absolutely," he said. "There's no place for people to go. I don't know where they expect them to go.  Go to jail, I guess — or to your grave."

Where do they go?  It's a question that has plagued cities since people began pitching tents on the sidewalks. And there don't seem to be any answers coming from the Supreme Court on that one.

• Berkeley
• Homelessness