Press Conference Aug. 12th 9:30am: Where Do We Go, Gavin Newsom? The Wood Street Commons Demands Public Land be used for Public Good

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

Contacts: John Janosko: Freeway Blalock:

(510) 712-7639   (510) 860-1169 johnjanosko844@gmail.com      freeway.the.writer23@gmail.com  

Where Do We Go, Gavin Newsom? The Wood Street Commons Demands Public Land be used for Public Good

(Press Conference August 12, 2024 at 9:30am, 3440 Wood Street, Oakland, CA 94608)

Oakland, CA – The Wood Street Commons, a community of unhoused residents in West Oakland, is calling for immediate action to address the State’s homelessness crisis. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass v. Johnson decision and Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-1-24, cities now have greater authority to criminalize homelessness. However, we know that the solution to homelessness is housing, not criminalization. 

For years, Wood Street Commons has served as a lifeline for hundreds of individuals forced into homelessness in Oakland. However, the community has faced increasing hostility, including denial of basic services and ultimately, forced displacement by the State and the City of Oakland. The State is spreading misinformation that people are “service resistant” or “voluntarily homeless” because people decline to enter into unsafe shelter programs. People want permanent housing that is affordable to people in poverty, not temporary carceral-style shelter programs that often lack basic services or end with people back on the street with less than they started with. People being displaced by cities and the State are pushed further into the shadows, some ending up in shelters or prisons, while others sadly lose their lives. The forced displacement of the Wood Street Community through ongoing houseless community evictions has resulted in more deaths than individuals becoming housed.

Wood Street Commons is calling on Governor Newsom and the City of Oakland to:

• Stop the Sweeps: Reverse course on Executive Order N-1-24, encampment evictions are not a solution to homelessness
• Stop Criminalizing Homelessness: Fight poverty not the poor, stop arresting people for being poor or homeless
• Accommodation Now! There are over 30,000 vacant units of housing in Alameda County and roughly 10,000 people that are homeless. Use eminent domain or other means to house people today. 
• Use Public Land For Public Good: Utilize the north gateway parcel of the old army base and the three Cal Trans-owned lots near Wood Street to build a self-governed community for low-income and unhoused residents.
• Utilities and Services Now! Every person needs clean water, access to electricity, and trash services, especially if a person is poor and trying to survive while homeless
• Stop Blaming the Poor for Illegal Dumping: people who are homeless are constantly being blamed for individuals, businesses, and governments that illegally dump trash near houseless communities. Shame. 

Wood Street Commons is urging community members to join the struggle by contacting government officials to let them know that people need housekeys not handcuffs:

Governor Gavin Newsom:  gavin.newsom@gov.ca.gov     CAlSTA Secretary Toks Omishakin: contact.us@calsta.ca.gov Oakland City Administrator Jestin Johnson:  jdjohnson@oaklandca.gov Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao: sthao@oaklandca.gov