Caltrans will close the entire Wood Street encampment by the first week of August. The department posted notices at the site on July 15 and will close the encampment in phases beginning July 20. Caltrans’ responsibility is to ensure the safety of the traveling public and to protect and maintain California’s highway infrastructure. The department is taking this action to address the increasingly serious safety risks to life, property and infrastructure at the encampment, including from the fire this week that prompted the closure of the MacArthur Maze.
Caltrans is coordinating with the City of Oakland and Alameda County so that the nearly 200 people estimated to be living at the site have access to shelter beds offered and provided by the local partners. Additional rooms are expected to be made available in late summer, and the City of Oakland is building a 100-bed community cabin village at Wood and 26th streets with a $4.7 million grant.
The recently enacted 2022-23 state budget includes an additional $3.4 billion over three years to build on the $12 billion multi-year investment in Governor Gavin Newsom’s California Comeback Plan by continuing progress on expanding behavioral health housing, encampment cleanup grants and support for local government efforts. Of the $700 million included for encampment resolution grants, $350 million will be available to assist people living on the state right-of-way.
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