UC Berkeley, city agree to relocate People’s Park encampment to motel

UC Berkeley and the city agreed to move a homeless encampment at People’s Park to a nearby motel, allowing the school to advance plans to build student housing there.

The deal will provide temporary housing for the more than 50 people at the Rodeway Inn on University Avenue in North Berkeley, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The university plans to start building housing on the park this summer for 1,100 students and 100 apartments earmarked for the homeless.

“We’re proud to honor the legacy of People’s Park and better meet the needs of our community through an effort that’s deeply reflective of Berkeley’s values,” said Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. “This partnership will put a roof over the heads of those living in People’s Park, instead of simply pushing them from one neighborhood to another.”

The deal comes on the heels of a decision by the state’s Supreme Court to uphold an enrollment freeze, forcing the school to shrink its enrollment to about 42,300 from more than 45,000. Chancellor Carol Christ has set a goal of doubling housing at Berkeley, which has room for just 23 percent of its students, the least in the UC system.

Some 42 rooms for People’s Park residents will be paid for by $4.7 million from the state’s Encampment Resolution Fund and about $2.2 million from the university. The First Presbyterian Church will build a drop-in center at the park with services for those who live at the park.

Attempts to build at the park stretch back to the 1960s, when the university knocked down homes to make room for dorms. Activists and students took over the site, renamed it and held anti-war demonstrations. In May 1969, one person was killed and many others were injured during a clash between protesters and police.

“We are grateful for and humbled by the coming together of this new alliance in support of a new People’s Park,” Christ said.

[San Francisco Chronicle] — Gabriel Poblete

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