Oakland’s head of homelessness is out of a job — leaving city in the lurch, again

Oakland has let go of its top staffer in charge of homelessness after he served less than a year on the job — once again leaving the city without a permanent leader to take on one of its most severe crises.

Homelessness Administrator Daniel Cooper was placed on administrative leave Dec. 20 and “released from his employment” Tuesday, according to city spokesperson Nicole Neditch, who declined to comment further. The shake-up comes as new Mayor Sheng Thao takes the helm and Oakland loses other top officials — Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong has been placed on leave, and City Administrator Ed Reiskin is stepping down.

LaTonda Simmons, assistant to the city administrator, will fill Cooper’s shoes while the city works to recruit someone for this “important role,” Neditch said in an email.

Cooper did not respond to a request for comment.

Cooper’s departure follows a string of short-lived homelessness administrators, highlighting the notoriously difficult nature of the job. Daryel Dunston lasted just over a year before leaving in March 2021 to join a nonprofit. He was preceded by Assistant City Administrator Joe DeVries, who stepped back from work on homelessness after being accosted by activists during a 2019 City Council meeting at which he proposed citing people who set up tents at spots where encampments already have been cleared.

Meanwhile, Oakland’s homelessness crisis continues to worsen. The city reported more than 5,000 unhoused residents during its last census — up nearly a quarter from three years before. Earlier this month, a federal judge blocked Oakland from clearing dozens of people from a vacant, city-owned lot off Wood Street in West Oakland, ruling that the city doesn’t have adequate plans to provide shelter for all the occupants.

Clearing the Wood Street camp was one of Cooper’s first priorities after he was hired in March 2022. He came to Oakland from Charlotte, North Carolina, where he worked for Mecklenburg County. Cooper has firsthand experience with homelessness — as a toddler he lived in a condemned home with his single mother, and later slept in his car for several months while working on his master’s degree in public health — which he told this news organization would help him understand what Oakland’s unhoused residents are going through, and respond with compassion.