Alunita Nicola: Mother, survivor, Swiss street paper vendor
By Dina Hungerbühler on My name is Alunita Nicola. My surname is the only thing that I inherited from my father. He died when
Abi Speers
Complaints against the homeless could backfire
By Kheven LaGrone on in April of 2018, the City of Oakland launched “OAK 311”—an app and web service that was built to make
Twisted Image
By Ace Backwords onThe cycle of destruction in American cities
By Charles Blackwell on Angel Brinston and Inti Gonzalez A frame, a skeleton, another crane, another construction site, a point of destruction, a high
The county wants to put me in jail so they don’t have to see me
By Markaya Spikes on I must start off by saying I laughed when I heard that Alameda County agreed to lease the City of Oakland use of the Old North County Jail for $1.00 a year. Would the officials who had this idea stay in North County? Exactly how it is that this is an option just because someone else feels like, “well it’s better than where you are now so this is what I have to offer you, take it or leave it”?
‘I have never called my cell a home’
By Juan Haines on All throughout my incarceration, I have never called my cell a home. Moreover, I consider the bars that cage me disrespectful, even to animals. So, I think Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf let down some very vulnerable people when she told the San Francisco Chronicle that a vacant jail is an “obvious” option for a homeless shelter.
Rebuttal to the SF Chronicle: Visibility for homeless families
By Tracey Mixon on The 2019 one-night homeless count found 201 families (612 people), a count similar to the 2017 one-night count of 190 families (601 persons). That means 8 percent of the total counted homeless population is made up of families. The Coalition on Homelessness says the count is actually much higher, pointing out that the school district—using its own definition of homelessness—lists more than 2,000 students as being homeless.
Affordable housing: One size does not fit all
By Andy Pope on As the homelessness crisis worsens, cities all over the U.S. are desperately trying to come up with solutions. California, for example, is in a frenzy to build new homeless shelters that will fit thousands of new shelter beds.
Introducing ‘Right to Exist Curbside Communities’
By Anita de Asis Miralle aka Needa Bee on Meet the group of informal settlements upgrading their encampments and suing the city of Oakland Right to Exist Curbside Communities
Oakland opens safe parking RV site as vehicle evictions roll on
By Ariel Boone on Jorge Peña walked his tiny dog, Chiquita, around the inside perimeter of 711 71st Avenue in Oakland, behind the RVs parked neatly facing each other, stopping to say hello to his neighbor sitting in the shade. He is one of the first residents of Oakland’s new, invite-only “safe RV lot” next to Coliseum BART, and he calls it a “godsend.”
Why does homelessness follow trans teens?
By Sarah Holder on A new study sheds light on a well-known problem. The decision to leave home wasn’t easy for Greyson. After his