My sense is that some of the dialog regarding living space is coming from people who have "owned" for decades and remember when renting an apt was basically I will take it and pay


Days are long gone. Relocating from one apt to another costs thousands of dollars. There are application fee, admin fees, deposits background checks, credit checks criminal checks, employment checks.
Noone reads them, but leases for rentals now come in at around 40 legal pages with micro fonts.
One has to make their rent in one week and prove so with paystubs.
The notion that these folks had choices is really not accurate, , no one would "want" to live in that setting.
At the end of the day their choices are to sleep in a card board box under the expressway, or end up in a setting like this.
For many there are not options.
IMO the people in this position are worthy of emapthy not judgment.
The notion that one can pick up and go to a "cheaper" market is not realistic either. They are trapped. How are they gonna move, they dont have car, job, income, money stashed to relocate and pay for their life while they get resettled.
These are real predicaments
Nor is this an Oakland problem - it is nationwide.