BERKELEY, California (KPIX) — A group of homeless people in West Berkeley was awakened Wednesday morning by a swarm of police and city workers, arriving to clear out a long-standing encampment.

New data shows the number of unhoused residents has hardly budged since 2023 — though more of them are sheltered.

Workers clear a homeless encampment on Harrison and Eighth Streets in Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. A federal judge ordered the city to halt clearing work Wednesday afternoon.

Pamela Benefante watches as workers clear a homeless encampment on Harrison and Eighth Streets in Berkeley, Calif., on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. Benefante has lived there for seven years.

The unsheltered homeless population in Berkeley has dropped in recent years, falling to 445 people in 2024 from 803 people in 2022, according to Alameda County’s point-in-time count from last ...

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 10, to decide if a long-standing homeless encampment in West Berkeley should be allowed to continue. But there's just one problem. It doesn't exist anymore.