500 14th St.
Oakland
CA
Prior to 2017, Oakland City Hall only had $250,000 per year to spend on Homeless Services.
Since 2017, volunteers with HAWG Homeless Advocacy Working Group have spent countless hours successfully advocating for more than $56 million to be spent towards ending the outrageous homeless crisis. more than $30 million has already been spent on ineffective approaches that harm more than help curbside residents. and while the millions were wastefully spent, homelessness has doubled in Oakland in the past two years. The Mayor’s anti-homeless Encampment Management Team led by Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries is responsible for the mismanagement of funds and the city’s inhumane treatment of our unhoused brothers sister’s.
For the past two years, City Council has attempted to work with advocates and directed Joe and the Encampment Management Team to try a variety of effective and cost effective approaches. 99% of the time Joe and his time have ignored City Council and continue to use millions to harm, traumatize and kick down our people on the streets.
Enough is enough.
Join The Village in Oakland #feedthepeople, The East Oakland Collective @Love and Justice in the Streets on Tuesday November 26, 2019 5pm at City Council meeting to speak truth to power.
please sign up to speak even if you are not going to speak, so yo can give you time to another speaker who needs more time. if you decide to speak, here’s some points to help you when you speak:
– over the past two years, you have survived and/or witnessed the cruel and inhumane treatment of The City government to Oakland’s unhoused.
– In the past two years the Joe DeVries and his team have spent more than $30 million dollars towards “solving” homelessness. But during those two years homelessness doubled in Oakland, and dozens of unhoused residents who used the city’s programs are back on the streets. WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY?
We Demand:
1. An immediate end to evictions of curbside communities, demolitions of homes and towing of vehicles people live in or store belongings in.
2. An immediate end to the destruction of curbside residents’ personal property and survival gear.
3. As the City Council directed the Mayor and her Administration two years ago, two parcels of public land in each district be identified and used for sanctuaries for curbside communities.
4. Immediately upgrade all curbside commuities with adequate portapotties, trash services, clean drinking water, solar power and upgrades to self-built homes.
5. Due to his anti-homeless tendencies, his absuse of power, his complete disregard of the humanity and right of curbside residents, his mismanaement of millions of dollars to go towards solutions to homelessness, an immediate dismisal of Assistant to the Administrator Joe De Vries. Due to his deep anti-homeless biases and arbitrary decisins that impact the lives and well being of Oakland’s unhoused, he cannot lead the approaches to solve this crisis.
6. The immediate implementation of City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas’ reccomendations to align all The City’s appraches to homelessness with a human rights lense.
7. No more fundraising for or building any more Tuff Sheds. These programs are a waste of money and not effective to meet the scale of the homeless state of emergency or the actual needs of curbside residents.
8. An end to market rate and above market rate development. The City must turn its attention to the neglected deeply affordable housing development goals in the next year.