California's Encampment Fire Crisis

A 2018 ruling froze encampment clearance across California for six years. A 2024 Supreme Court decision lifted it, but the fires kept climbing. Cities like Oakland have since formalized the pattern into policy, mapping 95% of the city off-limits to encampments and leaving the rest — concentrated in the working-class, majority-Black and Hispanic Flats — to absorb what's left.