‘The state is doing whatever it wants:’ Homeless advocate arrested while trying to block Oakland sweep
Caltrans should have gone through a court process to carry out an eviction for family living in Oakland encampment, housing advocate alleges.
Early Wednesday, state law enforcement showed up to clear a homeless encampment on Caltrans land beneath Highway 580 in Oakland — only to find that they were blocked from entering: a woman had chained herself to the fence.
The woman was Andrea Henson — an attorney and executive director of the homeless advocacy organization Where Do We Go, who alleged that the sweep was an unlawful eviction. When Henson refused to unchain herself from the fence, California Highway Patrol arrested her.
“I don’t care how poor you are, if you’re homeless, if you’re a senior, you have a right to due process,” Henson said in an interview after she was released from jail a few hours later. “Caltrans is not above the law.”
Since Gov. Newsom issued an executive order on July 25 directing state agencies to ramp up efforts to clear homeless encampments, advocates have worried that unhoused peoples’ rights could be trampled upon in the haste to comply. The move came following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Grants Pass v. Johnson, which reversed precedent and gave the government authority to ban homeless encampments, even if no other shelter is available.
The sweep Wednesday morning is an example of sweeps going too far, Henson said.
The encampment’s primary resident, John Cardone, a 70-year-old former truck driver, had in 2020 signed a sublease to park his RVs at the Caltrans site at Louise Street and Highway 580 for $350 a month, according to documents reviewed by this new organization. He lived there for years with his partner, his son and his daughter.
After paying rent for a year from March 2020 to March 2021, Cardone stopped paying rent during the pandemic.
Even so, Caltrans was still required to go through an official court process to evict him, alleges a restraining order filed by Where Do We Go in court on Wednesday in an effort to block the sweep.
Instead, Caltrans posted notifications around the site on Aug. 5, just two days ahead of the sweep, warning that any property left on the site would be removed, the restraining order alleges.
Caltrans and the California Highway Patrol did not respond to a request for comment.
By the afternoon, Henson was back at the encampment site, continuing to plead with Caltrans workers not to impound Cardone’s RV.
In a live video posted to Facebook by Henson, Cardone said that he’d been told by Caltrans workers that he needed to leave the site, or risk going to jail.
“I’ve been watching them scoop up stuff and throw it away,” he told Henson in the video.
Henson worries about residents like Cardone, who could be forced to move quickly without getting their day in court. It’s also unclear where Cardone’s family is meant to go next.
“No one is paying attention, and the state is doing whatever it wants,” Henson said. “Without oversight, this is a reign of terror on our most vulnerable.”