Homeless filth in Berkeley goes viral; here’s what to do about it

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It’s long been called Berserkely for a reason.

Berkeley, birthplace of the 1960s free speech movement, has always had its quirks, its grit, its radicals and free spirits.

But it hasn’t always had entire street corridors swathed in rat-infested homeless encampments. 

That disgrace is of more recent vintage. 

And it shows that Berkeley –– like Los Angeles and other California cities with laissez-faire homeless policies –– needs to get real.

As a mom’s viral video showed this week, the 1150 block of Harrison Street is crammed with tents, junk, garbage, graffiti, blocked sidewalks and total chaos.

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“I just dropped my son off at @UCBerkeley housing and as we were approaching we saw this behind his apartments. Shame on @CityofBerkeley @CityofAlbanyCA @UCBerkeleyNews,” the mom, TV reporter Lyanne Melendez, wrote on X.

All this, less than 3 miles from the iconic campus.

The city, meanwhile, has been sued from both sides: Homeless people and their advocates oppose razing the mess, while nearby business and property owners of course want it gone.

Berkeley officials are pushing to clear the chaos on health and safety grounds, but a judge has said the city must assist some of the tent-dwellers before completing the cleanup.

The same can be asked of other cities, including Los Angeles, Oakland and Long Beach.

The filth, disease and decrepitude show the consequences of faux compassion, unchecked permissiveness and “nonprofit” profiteering off the taxpayers under the guise of providing never-ending services.

Homeless encampments grow out of control and, to some, are normalized. 

That makes eradication all the more difficult when things reach a crisis point and then some.

And Berkeley’s street junkyard is yet another sign that “housing first” policies fail wherever they’re tried. Not only is there never enough “housing” to clear the homeless from the streets, but simply sticking addicts indoors does nothing to solve underlying substance abuse and mental-illness issues.

Cities, along with the state of California itself, need to shift to treatment-first models that center on the causes of chronic homelessness.

And finally, the rat-infested disaster in Berkeley shows just how far public safety has fallen off the priority radar of many “progressive” lefty cities. 

Rats trapped near the Harrison Street encampment have tested positive for leptospirosis, a dangerous bacterial infection that can cause breathing problems, organ failure and even death.

Also this week, a Berkeley homeless man allegedly attacked three contractors with a metal pipe when they tried to clear him from a church near the university.

Enough. Berkeley, Los Angeles and other permissive California cities are long overdue for a return to law, order and public spaces that are kept in clean working order for the public.

Berserkely can keep its quirky charm. But the failed homeless policies? They’ve got to go.