Homeless helping homeless: The 3rd annual Wood Street solidarity bike ride

On the morning of October 4, 2024, a group of unhoused and formerly unhoused organizers, known as the Wood Street Commons community, embarked on a 106-mile bike ride from 1707 Wood Street in Oakland to Sacramento, CA. Riding alongside supporters, advocates, and other community organizers, Wood Street Commons pedaled off for the 3rd Annual “Homeless Helping Homeless” Oakland to Sacramento Bike Ride.

One of the main goals of this bike ride was to meet with state lawmakers and discuss the negative impacts of Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent executive order on those who are directly impacted by the measure. Additionally, the resident organizers of Wood Street Commons aimed to shed light to the ongoing battle over vacant parcels owned by Caltrans, the dissolution of Camp Resolution, the impacts that have been felt by unhoused people statewide, and to garner support for community-led solutions that are designed, owned, and operated by unhoused organizers.

The history of this bike ride can be traced back all the way to over a decade ago. Community organizer John Janosko recalls conceiving the idea of riding cross-country to fund a micro-enterprise with his street dad, “Tone.” Since then, the concept has grown and changed into what is now a political call to action for the lawmakers and representatives at the state level. To put it simply: bring the unhoused to the table.

This year, this ride was even more important. In June, the Supreme Court ruled on the Grants Pass v. Johnson case, making it legal for municipalities to sweep encampments without offers of shelter. Since then, state agencies and local municipalities have increased their criminalization of the unhoused.

This year, more than ever, the bike ride was also an action in solidarity with our extended street family, specifically in Sacramento. It was there that, during the first bike ride, members of Wood Street Commons encouraged unhoused organizers of Sacramento to take the vacant lot which became known as “Camp Resolution.” This poor people-led solution to homelessness was the first of its kind, eventually resulting in a lease agreement between the City of Sacramento and the residents.

However, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on Grants Pass and the Governor’s executive order earlier this year, the lease agreement was dissolved prematurely, and the residents of Camp Resolution—many of whom are disabled and seniors—were violently displaced, their homes and belongings destroyed, and two residents were arrested during the sweep.

It is a bitter irony that, in response to the demands of the Governor to close all encampments in an effort to clear the streets, around 50 residents of a self-sustaining, self-maintained community would be forced back onto the streets after having their clean, operational RVs repossessed by the local government and many of their belongings—including medication and documentation— disposed of and destroyed. These are measures that are almost certain to result in further destabilization and trauma, and create even more obstacles in the struggle to attain permanent, supportive housing.

The organizers of Wood Street Commons, members of the newly formed Oakland Homeless Union, and other unhoused neighbors from surrounding areas brought with them a list of demands—or solutions, as we have come to call them—to the offices of Assembymembers Sharon Quirk-Silva and Lori Wilson, as well as the office of California Senator Steve Padilla. Below is the list of solutions that the unhoused, formerly unhoused, and our allies brought to the Capitol, which are also being asked of the City of Oakland as well as all local governments in the state of California. They are:

1. Stop the sweeps: Data has shown us for years now that there is a direct correlation between the continued displacement and the exponentially higher mortality rates among the unhoused. The same correlations can be found concerning mental health crises, overdose deaths, and acts of violence against unhoused individuals. Instead of flushing billions of dollars every year for the same chaotic, inhumane results, it’s time to implement a moratorium on sweeps statewide. This moratorium would start with changing the accepted vernacular in reference to unhoused displacement. After all, you sweep trash—not humans.

2. Audit the service providers: For decades now, service providers have built mini-empires off the backs of those who are most vulnerable and have the least, keeping unhoused residents in a cycle of “getting housing” but never really being housed. CEOs of these organizations are driving around in Maseratis, but their clients are denied basic human needs such as toilet paper, drinking water, or clothes for a job interview. Furthermore, we still have zero conclusive data to show what the success rates of these programs are. It’s way past due for some real, concrete answers.

3. Redirect the funds that are going to city officials’ salaries, police overtime, and weaponized machinery used to clear encampments. Instead, direct those funds toward mental health services, housing navigation, job readiness, and permanent, supportive, truly affordable housing.

4. Free public land for public good: for almost a year now, the residents of Wood Street Commons, with the help of architect Mike Pyatok, have been working tirelessly to design a self-governing, self-sustaining, all-inclusive, and service-rich community in Oakland. While the original designs were intended for 11 acres of the Northgate parcel, several other alternative designs were conceptualized from the ideas and suggestions of unhoused organizers and advocates who have worked closest with them. These designs not only offer full, permanent, supportive housing solutions, but also short-term, interim, transitional solutions to the poorly run cabin communities scattered throughout Oakland.

5. Allow the creation of safe, community-run, interim sites which are self-governed by the residents that live there. These self-governed, organic communities are not only an improvement in the services they offer, they are also cost-effective in the delivery of these services. This is due in part to the community-based staffing and training that is a core value of this proposed model of governance.

6. Require the involvement of people with lived and living experience in the creation of policies that directly affect them. The wisdom and knowledge that is gained from personal experience is without parallel and cannot be substituted by simply reading or hearing about it secondhand. First-person experience, and the empathy that comes as a result of said experience, is an invaluable asset and should be acknowledged as such. Continuing to draft legislation and policies concerning homelessness without inviting those who have experienced homelessness is either blatantly ignorant or dangerously indifferent. This overlord mentality is reminiscent of some of history’s darkest hours and the individuals who were responsible for them.

We were pleased to be received so warmly and actually connected with two of the staff members on a more personal level. As it turns out, these two staff members had relatives that lived unhoused and eventually died on the streets. When we told them about our visions, solutions, and demands, they were inspired and encouraged us with some suggestions about next steps we could take. Among the suggestions given, we were encouraged to revisit the legislative proposals that we were requested to draft after last year’s bike ride and visit with Senator Skinner’s staff. We were also invited to maintain correspondence with staff to continue the discussion in the future.

Policies like Mayor Thao’s and Governor Newsom’s are why actions like the Wood Street Commons Bike Ride are so important, and serve as a reminder that we are only as powerful as we organize ourselves to be. It’s a reminder that we take care of each other, just as it’s implied in the slogan “Homeless helping homeless.” While we are resourceful and industrious when it comes to distributing the wealth evenly among us, it is more important than ever to hold accountable those who receive the bulk of the funds allocated to “homeless services.”

If we can ride our bikes all the way to Sacramento, if we can organize meetings with lawmakers, if we can give another community the courage to take back a city lot and, in doing so, help lay the foundation for a one-of-a-kind contracted lease for an unhoused community, we can do anything.