As of Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, at the Old Berkeley City Hall, an encampment protest was set up with the words, “Where Do We Go?” written on the tents. Where Do We Go? is a local non-profit founded by unhoused people in the Bay Area.
The protest follows recent policy changes in many cities due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, which declared that enforcing criminal penalties for sleeping outdoors isn’t considered “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment. In Berkeley, for example, a recent eight-to-one vote allowed the adoption of a new policy that negates the requirement to provide shelter or other housing during encampment sweeps.
According to the website of Where Do We Go?, The non-profit originally began in 2019 as a protest to the removals of encampments by Cal-Trans and Highway Patrol. An agreement was made with Cal-Trans that evictions would be halted if the land was kept clean and followed safety guidelines.
Andrea Henson, lead attorney for homelessness affairs at the East Bay Community Law Center and the co-founder and chair holder for Where Do We Go?, worked alongside encampment residents to found the organization. The movement works to advocate and provide aid for the homeless residents of the East Bay. Their mission is to bring tents, food, clothes, or emergency transportation to anyone in need.
Around the encampment are posters for various boycotts and protests against the sweeping of homeless encampments. One poster calls for a boycott of “Bay Area businesses who advocate for harmful encampment sweeps,” namely Boichik Bagels, Covenant Wines, and Fieldwork Brewing. This boycott was organized by the Berkeley Outreach Coalition, an organization supporting those in need of food or housing in Berkeley. According to another poster near the encampment, on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, the organization plans to hold a protest “demanding an end to the war on homelessness” in Downtown Ross, California, where CA Governor Gavin Newsom lives.