Three people were arrested on Oct. 21 after Bakersfield police cleared homeless encampments along the Kern River between Calloway Drive and Highway 99, sending one dog to a local shelter and hauling away about 13 tons of trash and debris. The enforcement action was part of an ongoing push by the city to clear riverbed-area encampments as Kern County's homelessness numbers keep climbing.
What Happened in Oildale
In a separate operation on April 8, according to KGET, crews targeted six encampments north of the Kern River, just east of Chester Avenue toward Manor Street. One person was cited and three dogs were seized during that sweep, with the animals taken to the Bakersfield Animal Shelter, the station reported. KGET also reported that cleanup crews picked up 26.3 tons of trash.
Bakersfield.com reported on Oct. 26 that the Oct. 21 coordinated enforcement action cleared 17 encampments along the Kern River between Calloway Drive and Highway 99, removed about 13 tons of trash and debris, and resulted in one dog being sent to a local shelter.
Outreach Numbers and Who Accepted Help
Flood Ministries contacted 19 people living at the encampment sites and offered assistance; five initially accepted, according to the report. KGET reported that one person accepted shelter through Flood Ministries in the separate April 8 operation. Bakersfield police announced that enforcement action publicly on Monday, days after the Wednesday sweep.
A Pattern of Larger and Smaller Sweeps
This isn't the city's first high-tonnage cleanup of the year. A separate Bakersfield police operation near the railroad tracks between East Truxtun Avenue and Virginia Avenue in August resulted in 17 arrests, according to BakersfieldNow, with crews hauling away 25.93 tons of trash that filled four 40-yard bins and two grapple trailers, and seizing 12 dogs in the process. Further back, a Bakersfield Police Department riverbed operation in February 2025 cleared 24 encampments, according to Bakersfield.com's earlier reporting on that separate sweep.
Homelessness Keeps Climbing in Kern County
The repeated sweeps come as homelessness continues rising across the county. Kern County's 2026 Point-in-Time count found 2,690 people experiencing homelessness, a 3.2% increase from 2025, BakersfieldNow reported. About 54% of those counted were living unsheltered, and Oildale itself saw its unsheltered population jump from 102 people in 2025 to 181 in 2026, according to the same count.
The Brundage Lane Navigation Center has a capacity of 318 beds, KGET reported. A city official told the station that first-time homelessness and new entries into Bakersfield's homelessness system have risen 24% since the Point-in-Time count was conducted.
The pattern isn't unique to Bakersfield. CalMatters has reported that several California cities have ramped up encampment sweeps or adopted stricter anti-camping rules, including a downtown Fresno sweep in February 2025 and twice-weekly sweeps at one encampment near San Francisco's Tenderloin district.
