Homeless camp growing in industrial West Berkeley

Zuber "Miami" Awad lived at People's Park for a while, then the Albany Bulb, then, until last week, under the Gilman Street overpass in Berkeley. Now he and a dozen of his cohorts have a new home: a sunny vacant lot at Second and Jones streets.

"So far, so good," the 27-year-old laborer said Tuesday at the makeshift encampment along the railroad tracks in West Berkeley. "It'd be nice to stay here for a while, as long as everyone gets along."

Awad is among the homeless who've taken up residence in the city's industrial area after shuffling from one transient camp to the next as authorities periodically clear out the accumulated shopping carts, tents, broken bicycles and other items.

Awad and his fellow campers seem content at Second and Jones, but neighbors and merchants in the area say they're frustrated with government policies that just seem to relocate homeless camps, rather than address the root causes.

"They just keep moving back and forth. They leave, but then they're back again," said John Hwa, who works at an auto salvage shop along Second Street. "There's garbage, needles. It's not good. The city doesn't seem to care. It just keeps going on."

Shifting campsites

Most of the crowd around Second and Jones lived at the Gilman Street overpass until July 18, when city crews removed their gear and fenced the area because of a growing rat problem. Prior to that, many lived at the Albany Bulb, a 31-acre former landfill along the shoreline. Albany cleared out the Bulb in April, paying 28 homeless denizens there $3,000 each to leave the city.

Social workers and outreach staff from both cities have been offering shelter space, drug rehabilitation, mental health services, meals and other incentives to the homeless for months, with some success. But most remain on the streets.

Berkeley, long a hub of the East Bay's homeless population, has no policy regarding homeless camps but addresses each individually based on complaints, crime, public health and other factors, officials said.

Police officers regularly visit the camps, especially those in the parks, to check on conditions, said Jennifer Coats, a Berkeley police spokeswoman.

"We offer services and basically just wait and see how they're developing," she said.

'Very frustrating'

City Councilman Laurie Capitelli said the problem is regional, not confined to city boundaries, and other cities need to take more responsibility.

"Berkeley has been extraordinarily generous, and we've approached this very gently," he said Tuesday. "But it's very frustrating when Albany, for example, gives the homeless some money if they promise not to come back. We need to be looking at this in a much more comprehensive way."

Meanwhile, at Second and Jones in Berkeley, Awad and his brethren enjoyed the calm Tuesday. So far the only hassle has been trains howling by every hour or so. Some live in elaborate lean-tos, some have created cave-like shelters between piles of gravel, and others live in cars or RVs.

The lot itself is sandwiched among auto repair shops, construction yards and recycling centers. It's lined with blackberry bushes and licorice plants, and littered with old tractor parts, plastic barrels and other debris.

A longtime resident who gave his name only as Cameron, 61, had the spot mostly to himself until the crowd from Gilman Street showed up. His concern now is that the growing population will draw the attention of police and the city, and the camp will soon be cleared.

"I understand both sides," he said. "People pay a lot of money for their properties and they have a right not to see people like us. But I think Berkeley still has a heart, a conscience. It might be dying off, but I think there's still some vestiges left. I hope so, anyway."

Carolyn Jones is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: carolynjones@sfchronicle.com