38 out of 61 residents of the now closed 2nd Street and Cedar houseless encampment have been sheltered as a part of the City of Berkeley’s cash-for-RV buyback project, spearheaded by the Homeless Response Team.
Four of the encampment’s former residents have found permanent housing, two have entered an institutional setting and another has returned to being unhoused.
The project is in partnership with the UCSF Benioff Homeless and Housing Initiative, whose researchers are evaluating its effectiveness, and the Dorothy Day House, which provides day-to-day care and resources in the shelter.
Encampment residents were offered temporary housing in the Howard Johnson motel on University Avenue, a low-barrier shelter with private accommodations. Residents who previously resided in their RVs were given cash buybacks for their vehicle — $175 per linear foot, according to assistant to the city manager Peter Radu — in exchange for their admittance into the shelter.
“What is new here is the option of the oversize vehicle buy back, recognizing that for people living in oversized vehicles, this is their most valuable possession,” UCSF Researcher Margot Kushel said in an email. “It recognized further that people would not trade in their most valuable asset for something that felt less stable and safe (for instance, a congregate shelter situation or a very short-term housing voucher).”
UCSF’s evaluation will total two years, lasting from January 2025 to December 2026. The project is funded by Berkeley’s “Encampment Resolution Funding” from the State of California, in an amount “not to exceed $200,000,” according to a resolution submitted to the Berkeley City Council.
If the evaluation deems the project successful, UCSF will determine and recommend its implementation elsewhere, both in and outside of California.
“We are using mostly qualitative methods (ethnography and in-depth interviews), combined with evaluating their administrative data to assess not only whether the project “worked,” but how it did,” Kushel said in the email. “So far, there are many signs that the project is extremely successful.”
Radu noted in an email that the project’s goal was to connect all residents to permanent housing, but there were no specific exit destinations as “housing is prioritized at the county level based on need” and length of time unhoused.
Roshone Atkins, the program director at Dorothy Day House, noted that compared to standard motel shelters or encampment sweeps, the 2nd and Cedar plan offered asset buybacks, private rooms, low-barrier design, and trust-first outreach, described as "months of engagement" before closure.
“It’s safer here … better to be in a real place,” said one resident, according to Atkins. Another reportedly praised “respectful treatment and having a private room and basics.”
The Dorothy Day House supplies shelter residents with daily meals, showers, hygiene supplies, clothing, secure storage, laundry and mail services, as well as access to an on-site medical and behavioral health triage. The organization also provides resources such as case management, housing navigation, benefits and ID assistance, as well as connections to transportation referrals, job search support and landlord mediation.
The city has recently applied for a county grant to master-lease the Sather Motel on University Avenue, with the aim of creating another non-congregate shelter that targets West Berkeley RV encampments along Dwight Way and Grayson Street with a similar buyback program.
“It is important to listen to people experiencing homelessness and take their concerns seriously,” Kushel said. “Real problems demand real solutions that offer people choices that any reasonable person would accept.”
-Keemia Zhang, The Daily Californian