In celebration of May Day, housing activists in Oakland staged a demonstration of the power of communities to house each other. A march wound through the streets of West Oakland and ended at a formerly vacant property that had been transformed into a home. Organizers said they hope to inspire community members to take action and open up vacant properties, while also highlighting the failure of politicians and corporations to address the housing crisis.
Outside the house was a U-Haul set up like the inside of a living room, with furniture, artwork, and a carpet, all created with materials salvaged from street corners where folks lost their housing. There was also a visual representation of the process of opening vacant properties, with replacements locks, a PG&E bill and a pile of zines with information on how to create housing.
House the Bay made headlines last May Day when they moved two homeless women into a vacant property in the Castro, and were forced out by dozens of police wearing “Thin Blue Line” masks, a racist symbol demonstrating opposition to Black Lives Matter. The work of moving homeless people into vacant properties remains at the center of the organization’s work.
“If the City of Oakland won’t provide housing to our unhoused neighbors, it’s up to us to do it ourselves,” said Ari Cowan, an organizer with House the Bay.
There are four empty units for every homeless person in the Bay Area, yet the City of Oakland has left over 4,000 unhoused residents to weather the pandemic outside. Corporate developers and real estate speculators continue to drive up housing costs, resulting in tenants being discriminated against and harassed in their homes, and far too often pushed out of the bay area or onto the streets. This action targeted a known slumlord, SMC Property Management Company, which is also the target of a rent strike led by a union of their tenants.
The demonstration was joined by Oakland’s May Day caravan, and featured speakers from many community organizations.
For more information about this action, visit housethebay.org
