I’m going to save expressing my full experience with the Tuff Sheds at the “Mandela Community Cabins – North” for when I have the time and energy. The summary is this:
I can see my breath inside the shed in the morning nowadays. No fire is allowed (I have candles anyway) nor using an extension cord to bring an outlet into the room. A USB-charged hand warmer is the most effective thing after layers of clothing and sleeping bags.
I got in a fight with my roommate after he hit me; the site manager’s response was “You’re both adults, work it out or both leave” — it wasn’t immaturity that caused him to do that. I don’t want to go into that now though.
There’s a tarp that broke above the eating area a while ago that protected the microwave, etc. It hasn’t been fixed and probably won’t be for a while because of red tape.
They do give us food for lunch and dinner, except on weekends because homeless people don’t eat on weekends.
The staff are sticklers for rules because their own livelihood working there depends on it. Rules like no visitors unless it’s like your child, and even then with severe restrictions. No fire or private access to outlets as I stated. Mandatory meetings and room checks.
As one guy staying there put it, “better than prison!” Which is true but not fitting for something called Operation Dignity.
It’s not all bad, there was a nice festival thing which included a free massage which was really nice and sorely needed. I don’t know how often that happens though. Just the once for my stay so far. And it was through them I found out about the emerging leaders program.
Proposal on Wood Street Community:
Let’s give Wood Street [a community of houseless people in Oakland, CA] the city land it’s on to run as it sees fit. Or any of the other open lots owned by the city or privately. If people could find a place to simply rest in peace longer than half a day they would be able to recover from the layers of trauma a thousand times better than a bevy of therapists that changes nothing in the day-to-day. Pharmaceuticals are little better than meth; “It’s the situation stupid!” (not you).
I say Wood Street because they have the combination of experience, integrity, plans, and energy to create something sustainable that can be copied effectively anywhere. What they’ve done with the land is amazing if you’ve never visited. I had a tent there before I moved to Cob [a piece of Wood Street encampment dubbed Cob on Wood] which was under the highway. You can still see the good dirt left behind. Here’s an old article about it. While at Cob I helped take care of the shower and collecting ash for the toilet, among other things like storing food and cooking sometimes. By the time I joined the kitchen became my room and the clinic was never finished but its foundation was used for the free store that is now used at the main Wood Street site (known to residents as the Commons).
Before the pandemic, there was something in the works after Wood Street won a lease to use CalTrans land. Cob was a piece of that. But after the pandemic hit all the support from the City evaporated overnight. No more returned calls. Now that CalTrans land was what I and dozens, possibly over 200 others, were thrown off of. The last part of Wood Street, the Commons, is threatened with eviction in January. Something needs to be done before this last bastion of community, ingenuity, and passion is snuffed out to make more sheds. The residents have used TROs (Temporary Restraining Orders) to slow down evictions, but never successfully stop them. The more pressure, from more places and people, calling for a space for people to simply exist without being arrested for it, is needed.
We need that Thunder!
