A couple of weeks ago a reporter for an ABC News affiliate station in San Francisco dropped her son off at Berkeley to begin school and on the way out of town came across this sprawling homeless camp.
I just dropped my son off at @UCBerkeley housing and as we were approaching we saw this behind his apartments. Shame on @CityofBerkeley @CityofAlbanyCA @UCBerkeleyNews pic.twitter.com/sxyhkez5l4
— Lyanne Melendez (@LyanneMelendez) August 19, 2026
That video got millions of views and generated dozens of news articles about the situation. Two weeks later the camp in question still hasn't been cleaned up. Why? Well, that's a bit more complicated but it basically comes down to a group called the Berkeley Homeless Union which has repeatedly sued to prevent the city from sweeping the camp.
Berkeley has been trying to close the camp for several years over what officials describe as issues of sanitation, fire hazards and public health risks, while some nearby business owners and residents have filed their own lawsuit accusing the city of letting public nuisances go unchecked.
“There are open flames in the encampment every day. There are rats running over people, screaming in the night,” Assistant City Attorney Katrina Eiland said in a hearing in federal court in San Francisco Thursday. Those rats have fueled an outbreak of the bacteria leptospirosis which has killed one person and hospitalized one more...
Berkeley posted notices July 27 that ordered everyone camping in the area bounded by Gilman Street, San Pablo Avenue, the Union Pacific rail line and the city’s northern border at Codornices Creek to clear out by Aug. 3 so the city could clean the area. A fire marshal declared the encampment a fire hazard and a public nuisance, and the city’s public health officer said that unless Berkeley dealt with rat infestations there, the leptospirosis outbreak would continue to spread, according to the notices.
So the city was genuinely trying to clean this up before that video above was even filmed. They were stopped by a lawsuit from the Berkeley Homeless Union and a judge who ordered the cleanup put on hold until he could look over the matter.
Judge Edward Chen eventually said that the city could, in theory, clean up the camp but not until it had picked a place to move all of the homeless people and stored their belongings for them.
Chen ordered Berkeley to hold off on the sweep until Thursday’s hearing, when he considered arguments on a longer-term injunction. The Berkeley Homeless Union accused the city of ignoring Chen’s earlier orders to help some residents with their moves, sensationalizing the outbreak and improperly destroying or failing to store property during past closures.
Chen wrote in his order that he “expects the Harrison encampment will, in short order, be abated.” Berkeley must, however, continue to meet with some residents to assess accommodations for disabilities and move or help store property for some people who have to move, as he ordered in April.
If you have a good memory, you may recall that the Supreme Court ruled back in 2024 that cities in the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit had the ability to clean up homeless camps. Prior to that ruling the 9th Circuit had argued that anti-camping laws amounted to cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. So isn't this matter settled? Well, yes it is just not in Berkeley.
The legal dispute is occurring despite a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed cities to enforce anti-camping ordinances without violating constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
However, Berkeley differs from many other cities because it does not have a local ban on camping.
So, arguably, the Homeless Union is just taking advantage of this wide open loophole that the city has left in place. All they would need to do is create a blanket camping ban and they would have a lot fewer legal hoops to jump through. But they haven't done that because...it's Berkeley.
Despite that, after years of trying the city may be creeping closer to cleaning up this particular street, but of course there's no guarantee the same people won't be back a few days later setting up the new tents that the city gave them. There's no camping ban to stop them.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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