The words “housing is a human right” used to appear in bright colors on a painted placard at the gateway to Wood Street Commons, which until recently was the largest unhoused encampment in northern California. But this February, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) demonstrated how vehemently it disagrees with the placard’s assertion.

Caltrans, which owns the land under an enormous freeway interchange called the MacArthur Maze, has evicted more than 300 people who had lived there for years. The U.S. Constitution does not recognize a right to housing, Caltrans asserts.

In the end, Federal Judge William Orrick came down on the side of the state. For months, an order he issued in July 2022 had prevented Caltrans from evicting the camp dwellers. Orrick even endured criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the order would “delay Caltrans’ critical work and endanger the public.” But last October, the judge finally accepted the agency’s argument. “I don’t have the authority — because there is no constitutional right to housing — to allow Wood Street to stay on the property of somebody who doesn’t want it,” he admitted.

In February the last of the camp residents were removed. As they left, a group of day laborers appeared, taking away belongings and discarding the trash left behind. They were some of Oakland’s lowest-paid workers — Mexican and Central American jornaleros who daily look for work on city sidewalks and parking lots. While they hauled out debris, the unhoused people who would soon be joining them on those sidewalks watched.