Oakland, California – Drug use, drug dealing, prostitution, brawls and trash heaps are common sights in the rough parts of the city, but when Oakland Police moved several RVs and their occupants out of a building controlled by Elecia Holland, the new landscape deterred potential renters.
“We’ve seen drug use and drug dealing. We’ve seen them bring stolen cars up here and take them apart for parts,” Holland told Fox News. “I see sex workers on the other side of the street getting into burnt recreational vehicles.”
View from an apartment in Auckland, Holland. Garbage and a diesel generator sit outside an RV that has been abandoned for months. (John Michael Larsch/FOX News)
“So we’re seeing a lot of what happens with people who have criminal lifestyles,” she continued. “People don’t want to see that.”
The RV was moved to a Dutch street in the spring of 2022 after police destroyed a nearby encampment after a building fire and complaints from neighbors, he said.
“The RV actually in front of our property and the RV behind our property were towed here by Oakland police and instructed to park here,” she told FOX News. “We watched them do it.”
Auckland’s homeless population more than doubled from 2015 to 2022. According to city data, the total number of people not evacuated was 5,055. More than half (58%) of Auckland’s homeless population lives in her RV, truck or car, many of which are parked on the side of the road or under highway overpasses.
How RV homeless camps are preventing this property manager from renting an apartment:
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Oakland police and fire departments have been dealing with homeless camp fires for years. Last year, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom sent a letter to city officials, saying the handling of the camp was “totally unacceptable.”
The 2022 letter also noted that Oakland received a total of $4.7 million over the past two years for homeless camps.
Holland and some of her tenants have repeatedly called police to move RVs parked outside the building, reporting countless crimes taking place outside their windows.
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“When we called the police, they came several times and they said there was nothing they could do,” Holland said. “I had the sergeant tell the tenants who live two houses down the street that they should move out.”
“City officials and police do nothing about the homeless problem here,” she added. “That made it difficult to rent an empty room.”
Furniture, food, auto parts and other personal items burnt in the aftermath of a homeless camp fire in Oakland in 2021. (@OaklandFireCA via Twitter)
Over 35% of Aucklanders said homelessness was the most pressing issue the city had to address in its 2023-2023 budget. According to a survey of 1,270 local residents. The same survey found that 63% of residents disapproved of the city government’s work.
Holland said people living outside the building were stealing electricity and ignoring local noise and hygiene regulations.
“If I lived like this on someone else’s property, I would be kicked out of my house,” she said.
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Residents of her building fear retaliation if they call the police on those living outside because those living in the RV “can see where they live.”
The apartment building has cut vacancy costs by up to 40% since last year.
“Two tenants moved out this year due to noise from RVs and generators,” Holland said. “Many tenants have recently left Auckland.”
A boat leans against a lifted RV parked on the street outside Exchange Studios in West Auckland. Local residents said the vehicle had been abandoned for months. (John Michael Larsch/Fox News Digital)
Holland said the way to solve the growing homeless problem is to get people off the streets and into counseling.
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“It’s a death sentence for them to be allowed to sit here as they please and it doesn’t help them at all,” Holland continued. ‘It’s really inhumane’
Oakland Police did not respond to a request for comment.
To read the full Dutch interview, click here.
Ramiro Vargas contributed to this video report.
Jon Michael Raasch is an Associate Producer/Writer for Fox News Digital Originals.