Public Radio East serves Eastern North Carolina by providing news, fine arts, and informational programming that challenges, stimulates, educates, and entertains an intellectually curious audience.

© 2026 Public Radio East

Public Radio East
800 College Court
New Bern, NC 28562

EIN 56-1802728
Public Radio For Eastern North Carolina 89.3 WTEB New Bern 88.5 WZNB New Bern 91.5 WBJD Atlantic Beach 90.3 WKNS Kinston 89.9 W210CF Greenville
Donate
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
US

Oakland Considers Way Forward As Homeless Encampments Grow

NPR
Published July 24, 2017 at 1:52 PM EDT
Jeffrey Hill's tent burned down in an encampment fire in late May 2017. The cause of the fire is not known. Hill calls his encampment at Fifth and Brush streets a "family," but also says it has become harder to maintain order as the encampment has grown in size. (Devin Katayama/KQED)
Jeffrey Hill's tent burned down in an encampment fire in late May 2017. The cause of the fire is not known. Hill calls his encampment at Fifth and Brush streets a "family," but also says it has become harder to maintain order as the encampment has grown in size. (Devin Katayama/KQED)

California has the largest number of homeless people living without shelter in the country. More than two-thirds of the state’s 118,000 homeless live on the streets or in tent encampments, many in the state’s largest cities. This is certainly true in Oakland, a city that prides itself on its progressive values.

But helping homeless encampments has proven to be a hard task for the city, which is also trying to welcome new development. From Here & Now contributor KQED, Devin Katayama (@RadioDevin) reports on why the encampments are vulnerable and also what makes them strong.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

US