Thomas Brouns is a documentary filmmaker and student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. He has served four overseas tours as an American diplomat and is a retired U.S. Army officer.
Thomas Brouns
As encampment sweeps pick up, community continues to build
Cob on Wood, a group of tiny homes and community resources, may be displaced in the wave of encampment sweeps that has picked up again.
What happened at Union Point Park? The long-awaited eviction of the harborside encampment community
Union Point Park has been closed and encampment residents and city officials struck a deal: Move inside temporarily while the two parties worked together to create Oakland’s first sanctioned encampment. But talks about the sanctioned community have gone cold.
City of Oakland closes the encampment at Union Point Park
This is the story of the fight over Union Point Park.
Shelter-in-Place hotels are closing. Where will residents go?
Alameda County has set an ambitious goal: To permanently house all the people who participated in their emergency COVID-19 shelter program.
With help from the unhoused community, two tiny homes get a facelift
Thanks to the work of advocacy groups and the hard work of a group of housed and unhoused volunteers, two families’ tiny homes became a bit less tiny.
Rain or shine, grassroots organizations distribute aid to unhoused
A handful of dedicated volunteers from spent a cold, wet December day delivering supplies to East Bay homeless encampments. Volunteer events like this help fill the gaps that are left by local governments and official service providers.
Among the unhoused, mixed reactions to presidential election results
Street Spirit spent some time asking encampment residents to share their thoughts on the outcome of the presidential election.