California Proposal to Shelter Homeless on Cruise Ship

Oakland is looking at the possibility of housing homeless people in unconventional quarters.

1 minute read

December 19, 2019, 12:00 PM PST

By Camille Fink


Cruise Ship

susannp4 / Pixabay

Ali Tadayon reports that a city council member from Oakland, California, is floating the idea of housing up to 1,000 homeless people on a cruise ship at the city’s port.

"Because the International Maritime Organization is imposing more stringent emissions regulations in 2020, and some ships won’t be able to upgrade their engines to the new standards in time, [Rebecca] Kaplan said. Instead, they could dock them at the Port of Oakland or a private dock and plug into electricity, she said."

Cruise ships have been used for emergency housing in the past after hurricanes left people displaced, so the Oakland proposal is not completely unprecedented. However, port officials say Oakland’s docks are used for cargo ships and are not designed to accommodate cruise ships, which normally dock in San Francisco.

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 in East Bay Times

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