Urban Creeks and the Unhoused
A panel discussion Tuesday 18 February 2025
3-5pm Rm 305 Bauer Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley

Creeks have always attracted the unhoused, offering relatively natural settings, water sources, and
commonly quieter environments than alternatives such as freeway underpasses. With increasingly
costly housing, the SF Bay region has experienced increasing populations of unhoused along urban
creeks. This intersection of the state’s massive housing shortage with the urban stream network
drives a set of issues, including the risk of flooding the people who live along these creeks and the
impacts of these encampments on water quality of the streams. There are no easy solutions, but
perhaps we can learn something from recent experience in the urban and peri-urban streams of
Contra Costa County, where issues are brought into sharp focus. Join us for a panel discussion
featuring Amanda Booth (City of San Pablo), Daniel Barth (SOS Richmond), Chris Lim (Contra
Costa RCD), and Mark Boucher (Contra Costa County Flood Control & Water Conservation
District). This Riverlab event is part of the class Rivers & Cities (LA254-3) in the Dept of Landscape
Architecture and Environmental Planning, UC Berkeley. The panel is free and open to the public,
but please pre-register at https://forms.gle/VDafP1R7jnSCYTtT7.