Berkeley cited an outbreak of leptospirosis at a camp earlier this year, but homeless advocates say the rights of vulnerable residents are being violated.
(CN) – A homeless advocacy organization challenged the city of Berkeley, California, in federal court Friday morning over city policies around the eviction of homeless people from the camps.
Berkeley Homeless Union says that the city is putting its homeless residents at greater risk by turning them away from established encampments and, essentially, forcing them to sleep on the streets. He also claims the city’s policies violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and due process laws.
However, the city EVIDENCE that the court’s efforts to force its hand to provide housing for some homeless people risk not giving rise to future litigation and creating unnecessary burdens on the city.
“The city does not have a policy of removing homeless or homeless individuals from the streets,” Assistant City Attorney Christopher Jensen told U.S. District Judge Edward Chen. “It has a policy or program to maintain the public right of way, to maintain safety and access to the road, to maintain the public welfare in these public spaces. That’s what’s at issue here.”
In particular, attorneys argued over a number of homeless residents who have camped out at a long-contested encampment in the Northwest Berkeley neighborhood at the intersection of Harrison and Eighth streets.
The city argues that it has repeatedly offered shelter to residents in the camp, which number between 30 and 40 people, although they have denied the offer.
The Berkeley Homeless Union argues that the city’s shelters are simply not equipped to care for some of the residents, many of whom suffer from mental and physical health problems, attorney Anthony Prince said in court.
“These are almost all people with PTSD who can’t go into certain environments because their disability will be triggered and exacerbated,” Prince said. “This notion that people are just willfully rejecting places to go is simply not true and we have a long history.”
By forcing the city’s homeless population out of encampments and onto the streets, the city is creating a more dangerous environment, Prince said.
“This is a matter of life and death, your honor,” he said. “The lawyer cannot answer the question, ‘where will people go?’ I will tell you where many of them will go – they will go to the graveyard. That is not hyperbole, your honor. That’s been proven statistically, and I think that’s the context in which we have to look at it.”
Throughout the summary judgment hearing, Chen, a Barack Obama appointee, often seemed frustrated with the city attorneys’ inability to offer a middle ground, accusing it of an all-or-nothing approach.
It also came up when the city suggested impounding some of the disabled vehicles left at the campground at Harrison and Eighth. Rats have infested vehicles, resulting in an outbreak leptospirosisa bacterial disease that can infect animals and humans with flu-like symptoms, according to city attorneys.
Chen asked why the city was unable to provide an inspection of vehicles and RVs. City attorneys argued that it also poses safety complications for city employees and property rights issues with vehicle owners.
“If you want them to move, why not just offer to help pull them?” asked the judge.
But that solution presents another problem, Jensen said. Now, a potentially rat-infested vehicle is taking up another public parking spot.
The city could have destroyed the vehicles, to prevent the spread of the disease, but the Prince put it off. He argued that the city’s willingness to evict leptospirosis-infected residents from the camp was inconsistent with its supposed desire to stop the spread of the disease.
The city reported the explosion at the beginning of this year.
Friday’s hearing also included a motion by the city to issue a preliminary injunction blocking her from evicting homeless residents from camps and a motion to a temporary restraining order by the Berkeley Homeless Union preventing the city from relocating its members. The Berkeley Homeless Union filed the lawsuit in February 2025 after it said the city began intensifying the relocation of homeless residents across the city.
The case has a lot in common with THE Where we go in Berkeley CASEwhich Prince also referenced throughout the session. Chen is also leading that case. In that case, a similar group of homeless people with disabilities also sued the city for constitutional violations and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Both cases are on appeal to the Ninth Circuit.
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