Stable Housing for All Who Call Oakland Home
Homelessness is the result of decades of systematically racist housing and economic policies, leaving Black and Brown people to bear the brunt of a severe, ongoing housing affordability crisis. It’s no surprise that 69% of Oakland’s unhoused population identify as Black or African American, compared to only 21% of our city’s general population.
As residents of one of the most proudly diverse and working class cities in the State, Oaklanders have been hit particularly hard. And with a serious shortage of shelter beds across our region, many who lose their jobs and the roofs over their heads have little choice but to sleep in their cars, in our parks, or in the encampments on our streets.
My plan to address Oakland’s homelessness crisis will be to expand and continue the recent successes by doubling down on what works, and demanding more partnerships and accountability from our County and State leaders in this effort.
How we get it done:
- Increase investments in non-congregate, low-barrier shelter beds
- Continue to leverage new State and Federal homeless resources to rapidly acquire, rehabilitate, and convert hotels, motels, and other properties into permanent affordable housing
- Address unsheltered homelessness like the regional crisis it is by demanding an urgent, coordinated response from our State and County partners to resolve unsafe encampments with housing, not handcuffs
- Strengthen and expand Oakland’s innovative Keep Oakland Housed effort to stop homelessness where it starts with targeted prevention resources to those most at risk
- Center racial equity in our homeless response, recognizing that an all-of-the-above approach to housing and shelter expands choices to Black and Brown people who right now have none.
We have reason to be optimistic: Oakland’s homeless population increased 9% over the past two years–the smallest increase in over a decade–and homelessness across Alameda County is down 3% overall for the first time in years. We are beginning to bend the curve in Oakland, because we know what works: real offers of low-barrier, service-rich housing and shelter that connect people to the services and treatment they need to move from sidewalks to safety. But homelessness does not respect arbitrary city borders, and Oakland cannot continue to make progress without real regional partnerships and financial support.
A New Social Contract
While Oakland has seen some success in bending the curve on homelessness, our affordability crisis has been decades in the making–and resolving it will not happen overnight. As I fight for abundant and affordable housing for all who call Oakland home, I also recognize that, in the meantime, most of our unsheltered neighbors – over 83% of whom were last housed right here in this community at the time they became homeless – have little choice but to sleep on sidewalks and in tent encampments. With nowhere for our vulnerable neighbors to go, I recognize Oakland will never be able to simply arrest our way out of this problem.
However, many of our encampments have become magnets for criminal behavior or unhealthy, dangerous conditions that make Oakland less safe for everyone – sheltered and unsheltered residents, alike. Oakland needs a new social contract – one that balances the needs and rights of those with nowhere to go with everyone’s right to clean, safe, and accessible open space.
I will make it my priority to:
- Strengthen and empower Oakland’s innovative and successful Encampment Management Team to focus shelter and resources where they are needed, but to separate the the truly unsheltered from dealers and profiteers — any person or group who take advantage of homeless encampment communities to engage in organized and violent criminal activity–and hold them accountable.
- Expedite the clean up of our encampments’ worst fire, traffic safety, and public health impacts.
- Continue to provide services and resources to prevent the accumulation of garbage and debris while also providing unsheltered residents with the hygiene services and the dignity they deserve.
Those who lack roofs over their heads are victims of an unfair and racially unjust housing system. And while ending their unsheltered homelessness is a realistic goal, we cannot do it alone. I know that Oakland is a compassionate city that can make space for those with nowhere to go while also ensuring that our public spaces are safe and usable for all.