The Village in Oakland

We aimed to demonstrate through our visionary encampment that housing is a human right. We also hoped to show that, in the face of a city government that fails to meet the needs of its people, it is possible for the community to unite to serve those on the street in a dignified and humane manner. We challenged the inaction of the City of Oakland, saying that the City has proven not been to be loyal to its long term families displaced in this city-initiated housing crisis. We broadcasted that the City has not implemented sufficient efforts to address homelessness, such as building permanent public housing, starting with housing for those who have been displaced by the housing crisis, particularly Black and Brown people.

The Village action was also inspired by Malcolm X Grassroots Movement’s call to #BeUngovernable and to “build and fight” to resist the illegitimate government, most recently manifested by Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th President of the United States. Our action took place a day after hundreds of thousands of people across the country took to the streets and declared their cities to be zones free from displacement, mass deportations, registries, attacks on poor people, and corporate giveaways of public goods. Instead, they called for protection and expansion of healthcare, housing, food, and free public education for all. “Today we stand in solidarity with the poor, houseless, and displaced people of Oakland, many of whom are Black and Brown. As #Asians4BlackLives, we realize that gentrification, inaccessible housing, and privatized public land are a part of the ongoing war on Black people, which also includes racist police violence. We support the leadership of the homeless folks moving into this camp, and stand together with them in the fight for dignity and the fight against displacement,” said Ellen Choy of #Asians4BlackLives.

So while the country braced itself for the inauguration of the facist cheeto, The Village began moving onto the public land at MLK and 36th street in the middle of the night during the largest storm of the season, and set up the frames for the first three homes.

The center of the Village became a community space reserved for daily people’s assemblies and provided services to the residents and the broader community in need. Volunteers started a health & healing clinic, hot home cooked meal service, 2 hot showers, raised gardens, a computer lab, adult education center, and a center for distributing donations to Oakland residents in need. The village was open to all who need services provided whether you live at the site or not.

News of the encampment spread like wildfire throughout Oakland’s homeless community who dubbed it “The Promise Land”. Folks said that unlike The City and non-profits, The Village made promises they kept.

However, in the early morning of February 2, 2017 Mayor Libby Schaff and her Administration sent a bulldozer and 80 pigs in riot gear to raid and bulldoze The Village. But the Mayor’s violent action and criminalization of Oakland’s humanitarian efforts merely turned our direct action into a powerful movement

The Village is starting off with building temporary emergency shelters in response to the epidemic of homelessness that has erupted in Oakland. We seek  to address the immediate needs and harm reduction of some of the City of Oakland’s more than 6,000 homeless residents. Oakland’s homeless population makes up 49.2% of all of Alameda County’s houseless. Homeless numbers are growing as a direct outcome of the city’s housing affordability crisis. The housing market in Oakland has skyrocketed, and a vast majority of landlords no longer accept Section 8 vouchers. Many of Oakland’s homeless residents have vouchers for Section 8 housing, but cannot find a rental agency that will accept the public housing program. Currently, there are only 386 beds available in Oakland shelters.

Housing is a human right. Being without a home is not a crime. The politicians that created this crisis are the criminals. Yet folks without shelters have been ignored, harassed, shuffled around, degraded, and criminalized. The responses from city officials, CalTrans, and police has not only been ineffective, but degrading and even criminal, Institutions like CalTrans continually violate homeless communities’ constitutional rights with their protocol towards folks living under freeways. They seize and destroy people’s property without due process, and as a cruel and unusual punishment for circumstances that are treated as a criminal.

Activists and residents hope to unite communities that face displacement, destruction, terror, poverty, and violence. We as housed and unhoused Oaklanders stand together in the fight for housing for all,promote self-determination in the face of an illegitimate government. And we dont stop. We are currently building our first village since Oakland City Council reinstated the Shelter Crisis Declaration and gave us the power to create villages and other forms of unhoused encampments in October 2017. Located in East Oakland at 23rd ave and East 12th street, we will build dozens of homes and services on site. We have four additional Villages slated to start up this January 2018 as well. If you are housed or unhoused and want to join our efforts to address, alleviate and ultimately end the systemic crisis of homelessness hollar!