Federal judge rules some people can stay at Berkeley homeless encampment

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- There's a new chapter in the fate of a homeless encampment in Berkeley that was supposed to be cleared out last week.

There was a swell of support in Berkeley Wednesday night for the people swept from the longtime encampment at 8th and Harrison streets, where one week ago a federal judge ordered the city to halt the cleanup.

RELATED: Federal judge orders halt to Berkeley encampment clearing

The city at the time said the encampment posed a safety risk for people in the area, citing a rat infestation, human feces, and drug needles. But on Tuesday, the judge temporarily barred the city from sweeping the entire camp, allowing people with disabilities to stay.

"We've been fighting for a long time for any kind of recognition of the ADA throughout this whole thing," said Ian Cordova Morales, president of Where Do We Go. "That's the big piece people don't seem to be grasping, is that all of our people out there are experiencing some kind of disability, a physical disability - we've got people in wheelchairs, mental health disabilities."

The judge's ruling comes as a relief for groups like "Where Do We Go," a nonprofit working with people on the streets.

"It's good for us and for the people who are there because it means that we don't have to go all over town trying to find them or losing them forever," said Cordova Morales, noting there is still a lot of uncertainty for the people who've returned to the encampment.

Tara Campbell: "Are you confident you will be able to stay now?
Popcorn (lives at encampment): "For the next two months, apparently, but after that I don't know. I really don't know."

MORE: Tents pop up in front of Berkeley City Hall in protest of encampment sweeps

The judge ruled the dozen or so people with disabilities can stay put for the next two months - while also ordering the city to help find them shelter.

Campbell: "Where were you able to go between the time that you were swept, and now being back here?"
Popcorn: "Well, we just went down the block. It is the only place we can go, really, like we didn't know where else to go. There's nowhere else for us to go. They're sweeping everywhere, closing everything down, or they're fencing everything off, like what are we supposed to do?"

Meanwhile, back at the rally, there was a call for an investigation into the way the city went about the sweep.

"Why did they need so much force to sweep a homeless encampment made up of elderly and disabled people?" said Andrea Henson, a civil rights attorney.