According to the 2024 Point in Time (PIT) Count, roughly 844 people are homeless in Berkeley on any given night.
Of these, 399 are sheltered and 445 are unsheltered. An estimated 42% of the city's unhoused population is chronically homeless, meaning they have been unhoused for at least 12 consecutive months or on four separate occasions totaling at least 12 months within the last three years. Among the unsheltered population, 49% reside in vehicles or RVs, 20% in tents or makeshift shelters, and 24% sleep on streets or sidewalks. As of this writing, large encampments exist at Grayson and Sixth Streets (largely vehicle dwellers) and at 8th and Harrison Streets.
Berkeley’s reported population of unsheltered individuals decreased by 45% between 2022 and 2024, dropping from 803 to 445. This decline coincided with new investments from local tax measures and state grants to expand shelter beds and housing programs. The City has spent $35 million on homelessness-related costs in 2024 including homelessness prevention, new permanent housing, encampment hygiene and street conditions, and shelter operations. Funding for these efforts comes from local Measure P revenue, grants from the State’s Encampment Resolution Fund (ERF), and federal investments from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated through the Alameda County Continuum of Care.
However, this decline in the unsheltered population has not translated into fewer community concerns in Berkeley. In fact, the number of homelessness-related calls to 311 increased from at least 880 cases in 2022 to 1090 in 2024. These calls are typically assigned to the city’s Homeless Response Team, the interdepartmental team of city staff that is tasked with managing unsheltered homelessness.
Who’s in charge?
The Homeless Response Team (HRT) was established in 2021 by the City Council to “reduce the presence and impact of encampment homelessness in Berkeley” according to the All Home Regional Action Plan. They are the primary government body that unhoused people, particularly those living in encampments, interact with on a day-to-day basis. The HRT operates within the Neighborhood Services Division of the City Manager’s Office, and is overseen by Peter Radu, Assistant to the City Manager. The HRT has six members. Their team includes a Homeless Response Team Coordinator, two Social Services Specialists, and a Homeless Services Coordinator. The team coordinates closely with multiple city departments including Public Works; Health, Housing and Community Services; Parks, Recreation and Waterfront; the City Attorney’s Office; and the Berkeley Police Department. They have an operating budget of around $1 million from Measure P funds. Recently, the HRT reinstated the Homeless Services Panel of Experts weekly coordination meetings among local service providers, after a year-and-a-half-long pause. These meetings include LifeLong Medical Care, Dorothy Day House, Bay Area Community Services (BACS), Insight Housing, Building Opportunities for Self Sufficiency (BOSS), the Homeless Action Center (HAC), Options Recovery Services, the Women’s Daytime Drop-In Center, and others.
While broader responsibilities such as homelessness prevention, affordable housing development, and long-term housing programs fall under other City departments and the Alameda County Continuum of Care, the HRT was created to function as the City of Berkeley’s operational arm for “resolving unsheltered homelessness” through bothoutreach and enforcement interventions.
Outreach involves referring individuals to local shelters (like Insight Housing, the Campus Motel, or the Berkeley Inn), conducting housing assessments through the County’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), and coordinating sanitation and hygiene services such as trash removal and portable toilets. Of those who enrolled in the HRT since 2021, 63% have exited to indoor placements, 25% have exited back into outdoor settings, and 11% have had other outcomes, including unknown destinations or death. The goal of the group’s outreach efforts is to reduce the impact of unsheltered homelessness by offering available resources, maintaining “health and safety” when resources — like dumpsters or shelter placements — are available.
The HRT is also responsible for conducting enforcement, with the goal of reducing the impact of unsheltered homelessness even when services are not available, or accepted by unhoused individuals. Enforcement actions conducted by the HRT fall into three main categories: Public Noticing, Deep Cleaning, and Closure. Public noticing involves issuing Berkeley Municipal Code notices and encouraging individuals to voluntarily relocate or comply with local regulations. Deep cleanings include removing excess debris, trash, and hazardous materials; providing pest control treatments; conducting street sweeping, and sidewalk pressure-washing. Closures involve removing tents, debris, and other items and requiring individuals to relocate along with their possessions.
Most often, outreach happens in tandem with enforcement. The HRT’s outreach staff offer services to homeless residents ahead of a scheduled encampment closure or intervention. However, the HRT operates under a mandate to “resolve encampments” regardless of whether shelter or housing options are available. This leads to inherent tension between outreach and enforcement, as the number of individuals in need of support far outpaces the available resources. According to the 2024 PIT, in Berkeley there were 320 shelter beds available, compared to 844 unhoused people.
In their work, the HRT navigates a complex landscape of competing public interests while balancing the internal tension between outreach and enforcement. The HRT is tasked with deciding which encampments are prioritized for enforcement using information from its outreach staff, Homeless Services Panel of Experts, referrals from other city departments, and public 311 reports.
Making internal decisions about how to prioritize their limited resources and making case-by-case judgements about how to enforce the law is a challenge for the HRT. According to the Draft Encampment Policy Report to the City Council in September 2023, the “City staff do not have the resources to enforce every Municipal Code everywhere and all at once. Staff already make internal decisions about how to prioritize limited resources”. Underlying these decisions is the Berkeley Municipal Code (BMC), which—though not always consistently enforced—shapes the conditions of life for people living outside.
MUNICIPAL CODE
The Berkeley Municipal Code (BMC) is the collection of the city's laws and ordinances that define the way people must inhabit the city. For unhoused people, whose daily lives take place in public spaces, these laws are additionally prescriptive, regulating parts of life that are largely ungoverned for those who live indoors. For example, the BMC informs the boundaries of the public places that Berkeley residents can sit, sleep, store belongings, and park vehicles—all part and parcel of daily life for homeless people. Ultimately, they help describe the conditions under which an encampment can be deemed unlawful or subject to removal.
In determining when and how to resolve encampment homelessness, the HRT is also guided by the Encampment Management Policy Resolution of 2024. However, there is no corresponding internal HRT policy or otherwise formalized Encampment Management Policy. In practice, this means that decisions about when and how to intervene in an encampment and apply the laws of the Berkeley Municipal Code rest largely on the personal judgment and interpretation of staff within the City Manager’s Office.
The criteria for how to prioritize the various different public interests and responsibilities city employees have remains unclear. Even basic procedural steps, such as providing advance public notice or offering adequate warning before an enforcement action, are not legally required nor formally mandated in policy, leaving instead the City’s reliance on past practice or informal precedent.
We have come to understand the BMC’s laws that manage homelessness in two general sections:
Behavioral lawsLaws governing public space behavior can be organized into four broad categories:
- Laws regulating standing, sitting, resting, sleeping, and lodging in public places
- Laws regulating the location and quantity of personal property in public spaces
- Laws governing where vehicles may be parked and for how long
- Laws restricting or prescribing specific activities within public spaces
Sanitation laws Without access to basic infrastructure, such as trash cans, bathrooms, or secure storage, unhoused residents inevitably violate these rules on a frequent basis. Laws concerning sanitation, environmental hazards, and waste disposal can be organized into four broad categories:
- Laws regulating rodent control
- Laws regulating health and safety
- Laws regulating dumping
BMC 13.36.015
Creation of accessibility on commercial sidewalks
“No person shall lie upon a commercial sidewalk or upon any object on such sidewalk.”
“No person shall lie upon a commercial sidewalk or upon any object on such sidewalk.”
Violations of the municipal code are generally treated as infractions, with escalating fines: up to $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second, and $500 for subsequent violations within a year. After repeated offenses, the City Attorney may elevate the charge to a misdemeanor, which carries potential penalties of up to $1,000 in fines, six months in jail, or both. However, limited resources in the city make it impossible for these laws to be enforced on a consistent basis. Instead, they are cited on encampment closure notices on a case-by-case basis.
During encampment closures, the laws that are most commonly enforced are the City’s Shared Sidewalk Policies, Park Rules, Obstructions of Medians, and Notice of Imminent Health Hazard and Emergency Abatements.
HISTORY
Significant policy changes and legal precedents have structured Berkeley’s homeless response over the past ten years. Some of these include:
- In 2023, Richmond published its Homelessness Strategic Plan, outlining the City's comprehensive approach to addressing homelessness.
- In 2024, the City of Richmond and Tiny Village Spirit launched a project to create 12 new tiny homes specifically for unhoused youth.
- The City contracted with SOS Richmond under a 15-month, $1.56 million city contract that began in April 2024.
- In July 2025, the SOS Contract was renewed for an 11-month extension.
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
The City’s approach to unsheltered homelessness tends to lean more heavily on enforcement than on outreach, particularly in the management and closure of encampments. This dynamic is driven largely in part by the scarcity of shelter, housing, and services in the County, leaving the City with limited non-enforcement options even as it expresses a commitment to a “care-first” approach.