Berkeley, California community members are protesting the criminalization and displacement of unhoused people, which has increased since Governor Gavin Newsom passed an executive order to remove people living in encampments. A coalition of activists and unhoused people have pitched tents on the lawn of Berkeley’s Old City Hall, painted with the message: “Where Do We Go?” Their question points to the hypocrisy of politicians and businesses who back the decision to forcibly remove people from encampments, promising “compassion” and “dignity,” while presenting no solution to solve the housing crisis.
The crackdown enabled by Newsom’s executive order is only the latest phase of the mistreatment of unhoused people:
California’s Department of Transportation has swept 11,188 houseless encampments since July 2021.
In January, hundreds of police swarmed at midnight to dismantle the encampment of unhoused people and clear out activists occupying People’s Park in Berkeley.
And, according to Human Rights Watch, arrests and tickets for unhoused people made up 40% of the Los Angeles Police Department’s citation record in 2022.
These sweeps and arrests are just the tip of the iceberg of the criminalization of unhoused people in California. And what has this strategy achieved? California still has the highest number of unhoused among states in the U.S. and one of the highest rates per capita, with 186,000 people recorded as houseless in September 2024. Governor Newsom has claimed to be an ally in ending homelessness while simultaneously proposing budget cuts for affordable housing and homelessness assistance programs.
The coalition members occupying Berkeley’s Old City Hall lawn are right to fight back against the abuse of unhoused people, and have shown how people can support each other in times of crisis by organizing to provide essentials and building community. The “Where Do We Go?” encampment begs the question: why should people have to protest for their basic needs to be met?
The dehumanization of unhoused people is a symptom of capitalism – a system in which our basic needs are in the hands of businesses and banks. Investors bought 19% of the homes sold on the market in the first financial quarter of 2024, effectively raising the price of homes for their own profit. And rent has risen by 30.4% nationwide since 2019. Affordable safe places for everyone to live should be a high priority for society – and it obviously isn’t.
