A trendy Bay Area neighborhood is facing growing scrutiny after large homeless encampments spread through parts of Berkeley, where a federal judge has allowed them to remain for now.
The camps, now visible across sections of the city, drew fresh attention after San Francisco journalist Lyanne Melendez posted troubling video from near her son’s new college dorm, showing rows of tents clustered in the area.
Melendez’s footage, which had topped 3.5 million views by Friday, captured tent structures and piles of debris spilling toward the street near Harrison Street and Eighth Street in West Berkeley.
Emily Winston, founder of the Berkeley-based Boichik Bagels chain, operates a shop only minutes from the encampment site.
“My staff had to beg someone to get out of our dumpster,” Winston told Fox News Digital. “They had actually gone in our dumpster and closed the lid on top of them.”
Winston described the scene as resembling a “slum out of a third world country,” citing feces on the ground and tents that she said have taken over the “entirety of the sidewalk.”
Berkeley officials attempted to remove the encampments last year, but the move was challenged by the Berkeley Homeless Union, an organization that brings legal action on behalf of unhoused residents.
The group argued that the city’s order to vacate did not properly account for people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act, a position backed by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
The Bay Area enclave of Berkeley is being swarmed with homeless encampments such as this one captured by San Francisco reporter Lyanne Melendez near her son’s university housing
Attempts to clear out the encampments have failed, namely because of legal pushback from the Berkeley Homeless Union
US District Judge Edward Chen sided with the union after it argued that an eviction notice failed to accommodate those with disabilities as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act
Winston said that businesses in the area had encountered ‘used needles’ and ‘very scary threats.’
She believed sales at her business’ location on Sixth Street had dropped ‘because it’s pretty scary’ for families with children.
Winston insisted that the ‘dystopian scene’ had gone on for ‘way too long.’
‘We’re all paying rent,’ she told the outlet. ‘We’re paying very significant fees and trying hard to make successful, thriving businesses here, and this is just rough, and it’s really exhausting.’
Berkeley City Manager Paul Buddenhagen said local government was ‘working really hard to solve’ the situation with the encampments, which are not on UC Berkeley property.
‘It’s been incredibly litigious,’ Buddenhagen told ABC7 Bay Area. ‘We are still in an active litigation.’
The legal fight can be traced to last February, when the Berkeley Homeless Union sued to prohibit Berkeley from sweeping the encampment area, according to KALW.
A report from the city manager’s office previously claimed that the encampments featured ‘discarded hypodermic needles, dead animals, spoiled food, human feces [and] bottles of urine,’ KQED reported.
The Berkeley Homeless Union previously claimed that 31 of the 47 people in the encampment area had disabilities
Local business owner Emily Winston says the encampments are losing her customers
In the lawsuit, the union claimed that 31 of the 47 people in the encampment area had disabilities and should be allowed to stay by the city as a ‘reasonable accommodation,’ per the outlet.
The union claimed that the city needed to identify locations where the disabled encampment members could legally camp.
However, the city has contended that it offered replacement tents to everyone in the encampments.
‘Initially, people in the encampment were offered housing and declined,’ Buddenhagen, the city manager, said.
Berkeley attempted to clear out the massive encampment again in July, telling residents to move out by August 3, according to the Berkeley Scanner.
In its closure notice, the city said there was leptospirosis in the neighborhood and deemed the encampment area a ‘fire hazard and public nuisance.’
The Berkeley Homeless Union immediately moved to block the sweep through a temporary restraining order, which was granted by US District Judge Edward Chen.
The city once again ordered the encampment site’s removal on Tuesday, which the Berkeley Homeless Union said it would fight back against once again
The union argued that, as a result, the city should allow those individuals to stay by as a ‘reasonable accommodation’
Chen said he wanted to know whether the city had done enough to help the campers before forcing them out of the site, according to the outlet.
He also ordered the city to spend some ‘in person’ time with a union representative to point out about 25 sites that would be appropriate for its members.
‘I don’t understand the problem,’ Chen said, per the outlet. ‘It seems like that’s a small investment.’
The city put up notices warning about the encampments’ removal again on Tuesday.
However, the Berkeley Homeless Union has said it will go to court again if the city presses ahead, maintaining that it is illegal.
Our News Outlet has reached out to the city of Berkeley, the Berkeley Homeless Union and its legal counsel, Anthony Prince, and Judge Chen for comment.
