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A group of about 20 homeless people have set up a small tent city on a median in the middle of Adeline Street near the Berkeley Bowl grocery store to protest the way the city of Berkeley is allocating aid to people who live on the streets. 

Mike Zint of the advocacy group First They Came for the Homeless said he and other homeless people are upset with the services that are coordinated by the Berkeley Food & Housing Project, which is also known as The HUB. 

Zint said the center is disorganized, makes it too hard for people to get help and homeless people are being sent out of the area for housing. 

Zint said he and other people set up a protest camp outside the Berkeley Food & Housing Project's office at 1901 Fairview St. last week but the city raided the camp. Protesters set up a new camp on Sunday night on the median in the middle of Adeline Street between Ward and Stuart streets. 

The Berkeley Bowl and a Walgreen's store are about a block away to the south and a Sports Basement store is about a block away to the north. There are also several small businesses nearby, including a bakery and two Pilates and yoga clinics. 

Zint said protesters picked the site because it's near The HUB and the Ashby BART station. 

The protesters have set up a large sign that says, "Honk To Keep Affordable Housing in Berkeley" and Zint said they've been getting a lot of community support. 

Berkeley city officials haven't responded to requests for a comment on the homeless encampment. 

"They don't want the homeless to be in Berkeley," Zint said. "I'm seriously disabled and there are thousands like me." 

Zint said, "Tents are a step in the process of getting people off the streets because otherwise they'll be exposed to the elements and die." 

He said the next step would be to create "tiny homes" that would be like shacks, sheds or trailers and include a kitchen and a common area. 

Zint said he wants to keep the protest small for now but it would be possible to expand tents to three adjacent medians in the middle of Adeline Street so that up to 1,000 homeless people could be accommodated. 

He said the protesters are "mobile" and if the city moves them out of the Adeline Street site, they have "a target list" and will move on to Mayor Tom Bates' home and then to the homes of City Council members. 

"We'll be proper but we'll be annoying," Zint said. 

He said the homeless camp is drug- and alcohol-free and people at the camp provide their own security to keep everyone safe. 

"We won't tolerate criminal activity," he said.