First Oakland Tiny Home Village by Derrick Soo
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Here is the press release from Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunado Bas:
Oakland Opens City’s First Large-Scale Tiny Home Village Homeless Solution Using Public Land for Public Good at Lake Merritt
Lakeview Village Will Transition 65 Unhoused Neighbors into Upgraded Supportive Housing with Holistic Services to Improve Their Health, Economic Stability, and Housing Status
Council President Bas Convenes Neighbors, Small Businesses and Community Groups Today to Lay Foundation for Collaboration and Co-Governance with Lakeview Village Residents
OAKLAND, CA — Today, Monday, November 1, 2021, Council President + District 2 Representative Nikki Fortunato Bas convened a neighborhood gathering for the grand opening of a tiny home community, called Lakeview Village (LVV), for up to 65 unhoused residents at the largest parcel of city-owned land in District 2 at E. 12th and 2nd Ave. Council President Bas has been advocating since she took office in 2019 for the City to pilot this type of supportive shelter solution. Residents will begin moving into LVV during early November.
LVV is a first-of-its-kind response to homelessness in Oakland, with new program and infrastructure elements:
- A Community Council — made up of LVV residents, nearby housed neighbors, small businesses and community groups, and the on-site service provider Housing Consortium of the East Bay — will work together to guide and support the goals of the program, resourcefully address challenges if they arise, and facilitate meaningful co-existence through beautification projects such as gardening and murals.
- The physical structures (PalletShelters) and program include upgraded new amenities not currently offered by many of the city’s other emergency housing options: single occupancy, electricity to provide heat, potable water and showers, privacy and security with a lockable door and windows, smoke detector, fire extinguisher, carbon monoxide monitor, and a folding bunk system for customizable sleep and living space. The structures are a low-burden yet high quality housing solution, taking less than an hour to assemble or disassemble for relocation and reuse with minimal tools.
Comprehensive, Individualized Care for Residents
All residents will have access to trauma-informed and harm-reduction services ranging from:
- health + wellness services such as physical, mental health, and substance abuse services; to
- economic stabilization services such as credit repair, criminal record clearance, and job training; to
- housing navigation services such as application assistance, advocacy with landlords, and step-by-step goal-setting and case management towards permanent housing.
View Frequently Asked Questions here about Lakeview Village.
“Housing is a human right. All Oaklanders — particularly our Black residents who are 70% of our unsheltered community — must have access to dignified, affordable shelter. Lakeview Village will significantly upgrade the living conditions of our unhoused District 2 neighbors, while creatively utilizing public land for public good to address the crises of homelessness and housing affordability, which Oaklanders have overwhelmingly expressed must be our city’s top priority,” said Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas.
“Our team of Housing Navigators and support staff look forward to building strong, trusting relationships with the residents soon moving into Lakeview Village,” said Kevin Cockerham, Program Site Manager of Lakeview Village with Housing Consortium of the East Bay. “We are prepared to deliver holistic services that aim to honor each person’s experiences and needs, while creating an environment of safety, peace, health, and stabilization for all residents to move towards permanent housing.”
“This intervention offers a moment of hope in the City of Oakland’s continued pursuit to address the needs of the many unhoused residents on Oakland’s streets,” said LaTonda Simmons, Assistant City Administrator. “The Lakeside Village Community project serves as but one of the key steps and strategies that channel support for unhoused residents into supportive housing, and we are thrilled to add this innovative solution to the array of supportive projects serving our unhoused residents.”
“As next-door neighbors, our Dewey Academy school community looks forward to working together in meaningful co-existence and collaboration with the residents and program at Lakeview Village. Much of our student population has firsthand experience facing and overcoming tremendous obstacles, including housing instability and homelessness, so we recognize the importance of solutions to create accepting and supportive environments for some of our most vulnerable community members,” said Staci Ross-Morrison, Principal of Dewey Academy.
“Lake Merritt United Methodist Church and members of our congregation are thrilled to see the opening of Lakeview Village across the street from us. We look forward to being a loving, supportive neighbor as the residents move towards wholeness and healing. We hope to build on our prior work over the last several years supporting unhoused neighbors living around Lake Merritt. Our past efforts have brought joy and solidarity, and have included providing hot, nutritious meals, distributing hygiene kits and bagged lunches twice a week, offering our kitchen space for hot meal preparation with other community groups, and helping individuals access their economic stimulus checks with a mailing address during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Reverend Pamela Kurtz of Lake Merritt United Methodist Church.
“As a District 2 neighbor and longtime advocate supporting unhoused members of our community, I am very encouraged by the opening of Lakeview Village. Piloting and expanding dignified, safe, and resourceful solutions like the one opening today is critical to improving the dignity, security, and living conditions of our unsheltered neighbors. The Community Council component of Lakeview Village is also extremely important in forging a bond with the community and will help ensure fair and democratic decision-making among residents in the program and its surrounding neighbors,” said James Vann, District 2 resident and Eastlake community leader.
The site will be operated by Housing Consortium of the East Bay (HCEB), an experienced homeless services provider with a positive track record operating other city homeless interventions.
Residents who have been living at the E. 12th parcel encampment are prioritized for first-placement into the LVV program. The City has been coordinating ongoing outreach to larger encampments in the immediate Lake Merritt and Eastlake areas and will continue outreach on a rolling basis as placements open. On the same parcel, a separate co-governed program supported by the service provider Tiny Logic will house 16 residents in PalletShelters, and will share some amenities. This is a community of unhoused residents that were formerly located at Union Point Park.
For several years, the E. 12th parcel has been slated for a long-delayed mixed use housing development by developer group Lakehouse Commons. If Lakehouse Commons secures project financing and an additional amendment to their agreement from City Council, the development could begin construction next year.
About Council President and District 2 Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas
Nikki Fortunato Bas is President of the Oakland City Council and represents District 2, one of the most diverse districts in the city. Since taking office in 2019, she has championed community-centered policies and budgeting. She led the passage of the strongest COVID-19 eviction moratorium in the State of California and a COVID-19 grocery worker hazard pay $5 wage bonus covering 2,000 workers in Oakland’s largest grocery stores. She created a fund for community land trusts to prevent displacement and create permanently affordable, community-owned housing, introduced a progressive corporate tax which will be on the ballot in 2022, and led a task force to reimagine public safety in Oakland. She led a budget team that passed a biennial budget which invests millions in violence prevention and alternative crisis response. She also serves on the National League of Cities’ inaugural Reimagining Public Safety Task Force. For two decades prior to being elected in 2018, Bas pushed for worker, environmental, gender and racial justice. She organized immigrant garment workers to win their wages back in Oakland and San Francisco Chinatowns, and she worked in coalitions to raise Oakland’s minimum wage with paid sick leave, create living wage jobs on the Oakland Army Base redevelopment project, and reduce diesel truck pollution at the Port of Oakland. Learn more at oaklandca.gov/officials/
Stay tuned. Thanks to Derrick Soo.
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