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Federal District Judge William Alsup today has ordered the city of Berkeley, by November 28, to submit to him “a practical plan for shelter for its homeless during the coming winter.”

He instructs the city authorities not to “simply recite the programs the City purports to offer, for they are admittedly insufficient.”

Instead, the city is required to “(s)ubmit a plan that will shelter substantially all of Berkeley's homeless.” He says in his order that “The Court is not ordering the plan to be adopted but wants to be informed, and the parties and counsel to be informed, concerning the scope of possible relief. “

The judge has also ordered that by the same date, Dan Siegel, the attorney for the homeless people who are now camped on Bay Area Rapid Transit land at the Berkeley/Oakland border, should submit his own proposed plan for sheltering the homelss . Siegel is told to “Be specific. Name soccer fields and open spaces he would convert to tent cities. Failure to be specific may be a sign that there is no practical solution.”

The judge in his order today did not address what the consequences of having no practical solution might be.