At a City Council hearing, young people told harrowing and triumphant personal stories and asked for more resources.
Tag: Homelessness
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Report: 800 homeless people died in Alameda County in 3 years
The main causes of death were overdoses and medical conditions, many “preventable.”
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Man dies in RV fire in West Oakland
The Wood Street encampment fire destroyed six vehicles and displaced five people.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
After a fire, more problems for city’s Eastlake tiny-home village
Dewey Academy, the OUSD school next to Lakeview Village, sent a letter to the city demanding changes.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Fire destroys tiny homes at city-run homeless shelter near Lake Merritt
Nobody was injured but five people were displaced, said the Oakland Fire Department.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland names new homelessness administrator
Daniel Cooper will be the third person to lead the city’s overall response to the homelessness crisis.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Lake Merritt Lodge homeless shelter will remain open until December. Then what?
The transitional housing program has been unusually successful, but the city is struggling to find funding to keep it open.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Will Newsom’s ‘care court’ support homeless Oaklanders with mental illnesses, or force treatment on them?
Mayor Libby Schaaf is backing a proposal to overhaul mental health care in California, but some call it coercion.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Volunteers conduct long-awaited homeless count in Oakland, Berkeley
The pandemic likely worsened the homelessness crisis, but a crucial population count was delayed until now.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
A High Street love story: From teen romance to navigating a shared life on the streets
Alejandra and Sergio Ruiz grew up on the same East Oakland block. Now they’re married with kids and still living in their old neighborhood, in a tent at the moment.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
New program lets homeless residents access clean drinking water from fire hydrants
After community members pushed for a safe, legal way to access water at encampments, EBMUD changed its policy.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
COVID-19 outbreak shutters West Oakland homeless shelter
The St. Vincent de Paul shelter—which has served unhoused residents throughout the pandemic—was no match for the ruthlessly contagious omicron variant.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
After a pandemic pause, Oakland ramped up homeless camp closures again. Why?
The city’s reasons for shutting down encampments aren’t always clear to those who are directly impacted. We reviewed two years of data to identify patterns.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
How should Oakland tackle the housing crisis in 2022?
We asked community members and leaders to tell us their New Year’s housing and homelessness resolutions. Here’s what they said.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
A year of protest, policymaking, and new ideas for using limited land
In 2021, Oaklanders debated what should be built in the city to ease the housing and homelessness crises, and how to use scarce land.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
A pledge to ‘give meaning to every homeless death’ at Alameda County memorial
According to a forthcoming report, more than 800 unhoused people died in the county over a three-year period, significantly higher than previous estimates.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
City Council sets stage for new supportive housing, RV park in 2022
During a marathon meeting, Oakland officials approved a new RV site, Homekey housing applications, and ADU rules, but money is still tight.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Curbsteading: One West Oakland resident’s reflections on living outdoors
Mavin Carter Griffin, founder of the Wood Street People’s Collective, says we’re thinking about “homelessness” in all the wrong ways.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
With a second COVID-19 winter coming, will unhoused people have more options for staying warm?
Some traditional homeless shelters are staying closed or at reduced capacity. Others are trying something new.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Tiny-home shelter to open on a contentious Eastlake development site
Dozens of people will soon get access to heating and privacy through the temporary program. What happens next is less clear.
