PHOTO/WAYNE HSIEH
OAKLAND, CA —“Few Of Many” is a statement stenciled on one of the newly built condos in Oakland CA. What does it mean? Is it alluding to the fact that many buildings are needed for the many homeless people who are sleeping in warehouses and encampments all over the City of Oakland?
The city asserted for years that the developer was using its own funds in building these condos; but at the July city council meeting, the City admitted using H.U.D. money to help finance all these buildings under the City Housing and Community Development Department.
Under the H.U.D. policy, one-third of housing units built with H.U.D. funding must be for low-income persons. LOW-INCOME, not AFFORDABLE. The City of Oakland and many other big cities have transposed the words. In the reality of day-to-day living, these two words do not have the same meaning, and this is in violation of H.U.D. policy. The use of this language is forcing seniors, physically and mentally disabled people, low-income working people and families, people on welfare and General Assistance into homelessness.
Because their income does not enable them to move into these “affordable units”, many people have been forced to move into warehouse buildings and encampments that are not up to code. This has resulted in fires like the “Ghost Ship” that tragically claimed 36 people’s lives. The next Oakland fire claimed six people’s lives after the code enforcer passed the building four or five days before the fire.
At a recent City of Oakland council meeting, a council member admitted that a couple of seniors were sleeping in their cars in front of the council member’s home. (I wrote in the Nov-Dec, 2010 issue of the People’s Tribune about seniors sleeping in America’s streets. See peoplestribune.org.)
According to government regulations under the Steward B. McKinney Act, Section 903 and 904, a closed government facility is to be repaired and rehabilitated for the homeless and people of low-income usage with the ten million dollars that come with it. However, in one facility, the city of Oakland has torn down units and not replaced them with anything, claiming contamination of the land. In another, the established housing units were torn down and replaced with “AFFORDABLE” condos /townhouse units. According to one City Council member, the displacement of nonprofit organizations that could help with the housing crisis is due to the dramatic increase in rental cost.
At the July city council meeting, I recognized one of the city’s younger residents, eight-year-old, A.J. Jackson. He used his own money to buy bottled water for the homeless. To support A.J. Jackson in his cause, contact: Tamara Edward at 510- 541-2181.
I watched a channel 2, KTVU, you tube documentary on homeless. It said that the billion or soCl dollars to house homeless in San Francisco would only house half of 30,000 homeless in SF. Only the building of housing, land is not covered. 60,000 homeless in Los Angeles; 60,000 homeless in New York City. Clearly there has not been enough money allocated to end homelessness in America. The steps Sacramento takes are raising property costs on the so called poor middle class, forcing them into homelessness, supposedly to build low income housing. Nationalize housing. Housing for all regardless of ability or no ability to pay rent, or too much income to qualify for affordable housing, or lack of legal papers for immigrants.