Oakland is preparing to tow an RV encampment near the Coliseum BART station under a policy that removes inhabited vehicles from the legal definition of a homeless encampment. The City Council voted in April to strip lived-in vehicles of encampment protections, effective in July, allowing city workers and police to treat occupied RVs or cars as abandoned and tow them with little or no notice. In late August, towing began along San Leandro Street south of the Coliseum, and police towed more than 60 abandoned and stolen cars and RVs in surrounding neighborhoods the same night. Oakland has 1,260 shelter units for 4,410 homeless residents.
