Article in The Guardian, words and great photos by Gabrielle Canon, Tuesday May 11, 2021
Homeless Oaklanders were tired of the housing crisis. So they built a “miracle” village.
Tucked under a highway overpass in West Oakland, just beyond a graveyard of charred cars and dumped debris, lies an unexpected refuge.
There’s a collection of beautiful, small structures built from foraged materials. There’s a hot shower, a fully stocked kitchen and health clinic. There’s a free “store” offering donated items including clothes and books, and a composting toilet. There are stone and gravel paths lined with flowers and vegetable gardens. There’s even an outdoor pizza oven.
The so-called ‘Cob on Wood’ center has arisen in recent months to provide amenities for those living in a nearby homeless encampment, one of the largest in the city. But most importantly, it’s fostering a sense of community and dignity, according to the unhoused and housed residents who came together to build it. They hope their innovative approach will lead to big changes in how the city addresses its growing homeless population.…
Now, roughly five months since they broke ground, a community has coalesced around the space that not only hosts events and workshops but also offers food, hygiene, and skill-sharing to the estimated 300 people who live in nearby encampments.
‘It is working,’ Schusterman says, smiling broadly. ‘This is the vision we had and it is working like a miracle.’
(I’m not showing photos due to copyright considerations.)
From Maui Surfer
Lloyd,
Thank you for posting this incredible story. Treating people with respect and teaching them (green) building skills that they can use the rest their lives, is the radical thinking I deeply admire.
There are hundreds of thousands of old school bus carcasses in junk yards that could be made into tiny house / shelters (like Pulman cars). They could be repurposed and made nice with volunteer help.
We are presently doing a sheep wagon/ mini long house built on an old boat trailer ), using a lot of foraged, salvaged and cull materials from Home Depot.