Community unites with homeless moms against housing speculators

Latest

Moms4Housing members.
PHOTO/INDYBAY.ORG

 
Editor’s note: As we go to print, a victory for Moms4Housing was announced. Wedgewood Properties agreed to sell the house to the Oakland Community Land Trust. Moms will move back in.
OAKLAND, CA — Members of the Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) at Laney College in Oakland, California, attended the December San Francisco mass meeting of the national Poor People’s Campaign Tour, “We Must do M.O.R.E” (Mobilizing, Organizing, Registering, Educating). One student noted, “This campaign is something new for me, seeing people coming together across race, religious denomination, gender, sexuality, and geography saying, ‘We will not be silent anymore, because everybody’s got a right to live!’ It opened my eyes to the plight of the U.S. poor. As I marched, sang and chanted with the crowd, I realized that in order to be heard, one must turn up and speak up.”
In Oakland, a concrete battle for housing as a human right has broken out led by Moms4 Housing, a collective of insecurely housed mothers, who occupied a vacant investor-owned house in West Oakland on November 18 to reclaim housing for the Oakland community from real estate speculators. The Laney PPC, Bay Area PPC, and many others are actively supporting the Moms by attending rallies, strategy sessions, court hearings, eviction defense, posting on social media and conducting political education. The house, vacant for over 18 months, is owned by corporate investor Wedgewood Properties, a “flipper” of distressed residential real estate. The UN has identified Oakland, with four empty housing units for every homeless person, as a “hedge city,” dominated by financial corporations that make speculative bets and own massive amounts of housing, driving up housing prices.
PPC members joined the large group of supporters attending their eviction court hearings. While the judge refused to hear expert testimony on the Oakland housing crisis, he did consider the Moms’ defense that housing is a human right, eventually deciding in favor of Wedgewood that the Moms should be evicted. One Laney PPC member posed, “The question for me as a minister and theologian is: are property rights more sacred than human beings?”
Hundreds in the community rallied and conducted eviction defense on January 13, chanting “Housing is a Human right!” and “No More Speculators!” But around 5 a.m. on January 14, sheriffs with riot gear, assault rifles and an armored vehicle conducted a militarized eviction, arresting two mothers and two supporters, who were then bailed out the same day. We need to decommodify housing and make it available to everyone! The people of Oakland are fighting for that. As Dominique Walker of Moms4Housing said, “We view what happened today as a beginning of a movement. . . for housing for all.”
 
Supporters of Moms who occupied a vacant investor owned house so their families would not freeze.
PHOTO/ DANIEL LEE

+ Articles by this author

Free to republish but please credit the People's Tribune. Visit us at www.peoplestribune.org, email peoplestribune@gmail.com, or call 773-486-3551.

The People’s Tribune brings you articles written by individuals or organizations, along with our own reporting. Bylined articles reflect the views of the authors. Unsigned articles reflect the views of the editorial board. Please credit the source when sharing: ©2024 peoplestribune.org. Please donate to help us keep bringing you voices of the movement. Click here. We’re all volunteer, no paid staff.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Featured

Pregnant Teen Died: Seeks Care in Three Texas Emergency Rooms

Nevaeh Crain cried in pain, too weak to walk, blood staining her thighs. Vomiting and feverish at her baby shower, the teen went to two different emergency rooms, returning home, worse than before. Pregnant women have become untouchables.

No, Immigration Is Not Making Housing Less Affordable

Despite politicians' claims to the contrary, immigration is not making housing unaffordable. In fact, immigration can be part of the solution.

Make Your Vote Count 

This 2024 election is gaining on us and the pressure to get to the ballot box is intense and...

Michigan’s Prescient Lesson: Vote While You Still Can!!! 

Michigan's non-elected Emergency Manager dictatorship made Flint's water crisis possible. Pay attention to the danger of losing our Democratic rights as we’ve known them in this election. Vote while you still can!

US Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They ‘Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension’ in Gaza

US doctors who visited Gaza tell Biden, Harris they've never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources, that our bombs are cutting down women and children, and that a ceasefire must be imposed.

More from the People's Tribune