The Mosswood Park sweep near West MacArthur and Broadway matches the clearance operations at Wood Street and Lake Merritt and Vallejo where homeless people received no suitable shelter support, according to advocates from POOR Magazine and Wood Street Commons.
“They came out here and posted notices,” said John, a longtime Mosswood resident, to POOR Magazine, adding, “The officials explained to me that I needed to take part in the census survey six months back for obtaining housing assistance. Having failed to display my presence, the policy pushed me out.”
Homeless advocates report that ineffective unhelpful approaches towards homelessness are typical in this pattern.
“This follows the sweeps of Wood Street, the death of James Edward Oakley from a sweep in Vallejo, and the brutal sweep of Lake Merritt,” said Tiny Gray-Garcia, co-founder of POOR Magazine, who added, “Houseless people possess solutions which never required instituting costly operations to treat us as garbage.”
John Janasko, a formerly unhoused resident of Wood Street Commons, added, “Once again, the City of Oakland feels the need to continue doing things that harm the community and separate us more.”
POOR Magazine says that officials face criticism for dismissing dorm-sized community-based plans created by homeless persons while directing public funds toward police-run clearance operations.
The Oakland Homeless Union demands immediate response to the current situation.
“We are not subhumans, nor are we garbage to be swept into the shadows,” said Freeway, an organizer with the Union. “One day history will show who was on the side of right, and who was not.”
The homeless advocacy organization POOR Magazine together with Wood Street Commons and the Oakland Homeless Union advocate for a citywide encampment sweep halt followed by the implementation of shelter solutions that homeless people developed.
