House owner wants moms out, youths in
Company wants to train at-risk young adults for jobs, then sell the building
OAKLAND » Adding a new twist to the controversial “Moms 4 Housing” saga, the owner of a West Oakland house that a group of homeless women took over last month now wants them out so that the property can be put to a new use — helping disadvantaged local young people.
Wedgewood, the real estate company that owns the house on Magnolia Street, on Monday announced that it plans to use the house to provide training and job opportunities to at-risk Oaklanders, as well as a purchase opportunity for a first-time homebuyer. All that’s standing in the way, a representative for Wedgewood said, is the house’s occupation by the homeless mothers.
The women, who call themselves “Moms 4 Housing,” moved in without permission Nov. 18 to call attention to Oakland’s homelessness crisis and to vacant investor-owned houses in the city — a move that grabbed the attention of residents around the Bay Area.
Wedgewood, which has served the women an eviction notice, on Monday revealed plans to use the house for a project with Shelter 37, a Los Angelesbased nonprofit that works with children and young adults whose lives have been affected by crime, violence or abandonment. Shelter 37 would renovate the house using local workers ages 18 to 35 who need a “second chance” and may have a hard time finding work elsewhere. Those workers would receive wages as well as training that they can use in future jobs, Shelter 37 founder James Washington said Monday during a small news conference in a private room at Oliveto restaurant in Oakland.
Once renovations are complete, the house will be sold on the open market, with priority given to first-time buyers, Washington said. A share of the proceeds from the sale will go back to Shelter 37.
On Monday, Washington sent a letter to the women living in the house, asking them to voluntarily move out. Wedgewood and Shelter 37 have offered to pay the women’s moving expenses.
“Unfortunately, with the home being taken when we were in the process of negotiating our contract,” Washington said, “(it) has put us in a pickle. And today Shelter 37 is really crying out and asking this group to kind of step aside.”
Washington’s plea did nothing to sway Leah Simon-Weisberg, an attorney with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, who represents the women.
“It’s totally disingenuous,” she said of Wedgewood’s partnership with Shelter 37.
If Wedgewood wants to help at-risk young adults and first-time homebuyers, the company should sell the property to Moms 4 Housing, Simon-Weisberg said. A local land trust already has offered to buy the house on behalf of the homeless women, but Wedgewood has refused to negotiate a deal, she said.
The women living in the three-bedroom house in Oakland include 34-yearold Dominique Walker, who was homeless before she moved into the Magnolia Street house with her two children, ages 1 and 4. On move-in day, she and the other women made speeches from the front steps to dozens of supporters, activists and media, vowing to take back investor-owned houses in Oakland and return them to people who need them. The bold approach has garnered outpourings of both support and reproach from residents throughout Oakland and beyond as the Bay Area struggles to deal with a growing homelessness crisis.
Simon-Weisberg said it appears Wedgewood’s partnership with Shelter 37 is a direct response to the increasing pressure activists and community members have put on the company, bombarding executives with phone calls and other outreach. But the partnership is not the answer, she said. Moms 4 Housing want the Magnolia Street house to go to local Oaklanders in need, but Wedgewood wants to put it in the hands of a Los Angeles-based organization with no Oakland ties, she said.
“This is a company that has no interest in working with the community or being part of the community,” Simon-Weisberg said of Wedgewood. “And this is just more of the same.”
Shelter 37 has been working with Wedgewood for years, mostly in Southern California, but had been in talks to expand the partnership to the Bay Area, Washington said. After the homeless mothers moved into the West Oakland house, Shelter 37 and Wedgewood zeroed in on that house as a prime candidate for their project, he said. Shelter 37 also plans to work with an Oakland-based nonprofit on the project, Washington said, but he declined to disclose the name of that nonprofit.
The Moms 4 Housing members will appear in court Monday to argue why they should be allowed to stay in the house.
In the end, the women will be evicted, said Sam Singer, who is handling public relations for Wedgewood. But he said he hopes they move out voluntarily before then.
“I think there’s a real opportunity here for everyone to have a positive end to the year,” he said, “and the situation.”