Photo by: Crystal Sanchez
This is a press release for the Sacramento-Oakland joint action. — The Editors
SACRAMENTO, CA. — On Friday September 30, the lot at 2225 Colfax St, Sacramento, CA was officially occupied by unhoused individuals. On October 1st, a group of resident organizers from the Wood Street encampment in Oakland, CA and on-the-ground advocates held a bicycle ride from Oakland to Sacramento to raise funds for the Wood Street community, demand an end to the evictions of Wood Street residents and other unhoused Oaklanders, and call on state officials to support the civil and human rights of unhoused people with access to permanent housing, water, electricity, trash removal, and other basic resources that allow them to live with dignity, safety and stability.
On Sunday, October 2nd, 2022, Oakland and Sacramento unhoused organizers held a potluck and a press session at the reclaimed community space on a vacant city-owned lot at Arden Way and Colfax Street,
Today, Monday, October 3, Wood Street and Sacramento Homeless Union residents will be visiting legislators to really lift the needs of our communities. At 2 pm there will be a small rally and we will be speaking with media.
What is the importance of this occupation?
This occupation has historic importance to unhoused Sacramentans and Oaklanders alike!
Both Sacramento and Oakland have been under attack for sweeps, lack of accountability, lack of resources and shelter and lack of collaboration of impacted voices at the table. For the last three years both Oakland and Sacramento have been working together to fight for real solutions that include camp self-sustainability, housing now, and no more death on the streets.
The importance of the location which we are occupying is for accountability and transparency. The City of Sacramento spent $617,000 to fence and pave a lot which officials had stated was intended to be part of the city’s comprehensive siting plan. They moved approximately 150 unhoused residents in circles around the lot and ultimately, last April, forced them off the lot to fence it off and lock people out, displacing people throughout City Council District 2 and creating perpetual sweeps and removals by code enforcement. The city spent millions of dollars forcing people back onto the streets. We want to bring awareness to our community that they continue to implement these policies, and while they claim to be sheltering and housing and helping those who are unhoused, these resources are never made available to those who actually need them. Sacramento spent $100 million on its comprehensive siting plan, yet has virtually nothing to show for it. Instead the city has largely perpetuated harm, violence, criminal charges, loss of shelter and death on unhoused Sacramentans.
Like Sacramento, Oakland has been facing similar devastating sweeps. As in many other California cities, Oakland’s spending on homeless services has come under intense scrutiny over lack of accountability for outcomes such as access to and retention of permanent housing among service recipients. Unhoused Oaklanders and advocates rode their bicycles to Sacramento in an attempt to raise money to create their own sustainability.
“Throughout this past week and over the past month, the California Highway Patrol and California Department of Transportation have been permanently evicting Wood Street encampment residents en masse at the request of Governor Gavin Newsom, destroying their tiny homes, vehicles and the community they have created together there over the past decade,” said formerly unhoused Oakland-based advocate Delphine Brody, who biked with Wood Street resident organizers and advocates to Sacramento yesterday.
“Residents would love to share our experiences and shed light on the trauma caused by the violence state and local government officials are visiting upon people living in poverty and on the streets of California,” said Sacramento Homeless Union president Crystal Sanchez.
Crystal Sanchez is with the Sacramento Homeless Union.
