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Oakland Community Builds Small Homes With Unhoused Residents

Published

7 years ago

January 23, 2020

Oakland residents built homes for unhoused people on a small tract of publicly owned land between 14th and 16th avenues and East 12th street during the MLK holiday weekend.

“If you were inside one of these units and you closed the door, minus what you may hear on the outside in terms of noise, it’s not different from being inside a normal house,” said Ayat Bryant-Jalal, who’s helped to organize the homebuilding project.

Bryant-Jalal, who grew up in San Francisco and then moved to Oakland, is also unhoused.

“I haven’t built my own yet and haven’t had a chance to” said Bryant-Jalal. “I’m in a two-man tent now that’s movable.”

Bryant-Jalal said he wants to build a small home for himself but needs to be mobile now to aid other unhoused people.

About 75 people came to help out on Jan. 18 and 19, and about 50 people showed up on Jan. 20, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Besides skilled builders, others served food and helped clean up, including Food Not Bombs, which served soup, fruit and bread.

Since the labor and many of the materials were donated, Bryant-Jalal estimates each home cost between $2100-$2500 to build.

Oaklanders, including unhoused residents, had already built three homes prior to the weekend project. By Sunday evening, the builders had constructed most of five new homes. Next weekend they plan to start construction on three more new homes, bringing the total to 11.

The homes are 8 feet by 12 feet and most will house one person. One will house a couple and their new born baby. They are fully insulated against the cold and crafted to reduce fire risk.

Oakland residents paint a mural on the side of a home in The Right to Exist Village on Jan 19. Photo by Zack Haber.

The city’s Community Cabin units, used to temporarily house Oakland residents for up to six months, are 10 feet by 12 feet and can house two people, although they do not allow children. At least three of the residents already housed or set to soon be housed in small homes on site were kicked out of the city’s program after less than a month.

Lifelong Oakland resident Needa Bee helped to set up and promote the weekend’s event, which she called “Guerrilla Housing: Reclaiming Dr King’s Legacy of Radical Housing.” She seeks to help create a community for residents who cannot afford to rent or buy housing in Oakland.

Already experienced in this project, she helped create and lived in a community called Housing and Dignity Village which the City of Oakland destroyed in December 2018.

Bee told the Oakland Post that, after the 11 homes are constructed, the next steps will be to set up a kitchen and a solar shower. She arranged for a portable toilet to be used during the build, fundraising $140 dollars-to rent and service it. She hopes the city will fund the toilet in the future. The community, which is calling itself The Right to Exist Village, is also in conversation about installing solar lights.

The City of Oakland destroyed self-built small homes in Oakland in 2019, based on fire code violations, but people involved in building The Right to Exist Village are using better construction.

“They’re pretty close to code,” said Paul Brumbaum, a lifelong carpenter who is helping on the project. “All these houses have a door plus a window that’s big enough to get out of.”

In order to be fully up to code, the units have to have plumbing and electricity, which is outside of The Right to Exist Village’s current ability. But the insulation and the two exits give them fire protection.

DeGuzman, who says he says he has been homeless for 20 years, recently moved into one of the small homes.

“I want to say thank you to all the people who helped build this place up. You make us proud to be humans,” he said. “I’ve been sleeping like a baby.”

Zack Haber

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Community

Four Candidates, Including Incumbent Barbara Lee, Qualify for Oakland Mayor’s Race

POST NEWS GROUP — Four candidates, including incumbent Mayor Barbara Lee, filed their papers to run for office by last Friday’s deadline, and the City Clerk issued a list this week of those who are qualified to run.

Published

14 hours ago

August 15, 2026

bpusa-syndication

View of downtown Oakland, California and City Hall. iStock photo.

By Post Staff

The four mayoral candidates who will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot are:

Brenda Grisham. A business owner in East Oakland and public safety advocate, Grisham led the successful recall campaign against Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price. As part of her platform, she pledges to work with local, state, and federal partners to secure stricter gun control measures and investments in community violence intervention programs.

Barbara Lee. A former congressional representative and state Assembly member, Lee was elected by voters in a special election last year for a two-year term. Now running for a four-year term, she points out that her administration achieved major successes in addressing some of the city’s major challenges, including balancing the city budget, dramatically reducing crime, and making significant inroads into homelessness and illegal dumping.

Mindy Pechenuk. An educator and activist, Pechenuk is a registered Republican and supporter of Lyndon LaRouche, who has been described by observers as a conspiracy theorist and cult leader. She ran unsuccessfully for mayor in last year’s special election and for the at-large council seat in 2024. She seeks to end Oakland’s police commission and MACRO and invest in more police while launching a new local war on drugs.

Julius Robinson. While little information is available so far about Robinson, he was quoted in a KTVU story about Thao’s recall, stating that people in Oakland want to come together as a community but lack infrastructure and leadership.

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Black History

Oakland Observes Black August with Block Parties, Film Showings, Workshops

POST NEWS GROUP — Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

Published

16 hours ago

August 15, 2026

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George Jackson wrote two books: “Soledad Brother,” and “Blood in My Eye” before her was killed in an attempt to escape prison on Aug. 21, 1971.

By Jana Lang, Propel Youth Reporter

Study. Train. Fast. Fight.

These are the four tenets of Black August, a month dedicated to commemorating the sacrifices of political prisoners and Black revolutionaries in the struggle for Black liberation.

Observers are urged to study the history of the Black struggle for freedom, train their bodies for health and self-defense, fast to cleanse the mind, body, and spirit, and fight ongoing oppression alongside their communities and local political organizations.

Beginning in 1979 in San Quentin State Prison, the Black Guerrilla Family called for the remembrance of political prisoner George Jackson and his brother Jonathan Jackson who were assassinated in the early 1970s. George Jackson was considered a political prisoner in that it was the anti-Black justice system that led to his incarceration for armed robbery with a sentence of one year-to-life in 1960.

While in prison, George befriended fellow prisoner W.L. Nolen, who introduced him to the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Frantz Fanon. This radicalization coupled with his experiences of violence while imprisoned led to him writing and publishing two books, “Soledad Brother” (1970), and “Blood in my Eye” (1972). In January of 1970, George and two other prisoners were charged with murdering a corrections officer at Soledad State Prison in Monterey County.

On Aug. 7, 1970, Jonathan Jackson burst into a Marin County courtroom armed with a shotgun to demand the freedom of the Soledad Brothers. He, along with the inmates he freed, was shot and killed while driving away. This involved one of the Black Panther Party’s most notable associates, Angela Davis, because the shotgun was registered in her name. She was later acquitted of charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and murder in 1972.

On Aug. 21, 1971, George Jackson was assassinated by a corrections officer after attempting to escape and free other inmates. As a result, there were uprisings and protests within prisons all over the country that year, calling forth resistance against racial oppression and mass incarceration.

Since its outset, Black August has evolved across the country, taking many forms to honor this history and embody the four tenets.

In Oakland, the upcoming Black August Experience, hosted by Youth Alive! and the East Oakland Boxing Association (EOBA), is a free, family-friendly event celebrating the legacy of Black August. Activities include free food and drinks, a kids’ activity zone, interactive workshops, live cooking and boxing demonstrations, and more.

Happening on Aug. 21 from 4-8 p.m. at the EOBA Patio, Carolyn Flynn, director of administration at EOBA, said the event, in its second year, will be an opportunity to engage with people in person through food, shared space, and education.

“We do regular classes in education, and those are ongoing programs that we offer, but we wanted to have [an opportunity] for our neighbors to utilize this space.” Combined with Youth Alive’s work in community violence prevention and youth leadership, this event surely aims to bring the Oakland community together to capture what Black August means today.

Here are additional Black August events happening in Oakland:

Forum and Community Discussion hosted by the Oakland Liberation Center, 1499 Fruitvale Ave., Aug. 14, 7 p.m.

“George Jackson/San Quentin” Screening hosted by Nostalgic for Nothing Cinema at Moments Co-Op, 410 13th St., Aug. 16, doors at 6 p.m., show at 6:30 p.m. (Masks required and scent-free)

Commemorating the Struggle, Building the Altar for Liberation: Black August at Bandung Books, 2269 International Blvd., Aug. 23rd, 1-5 p.m.

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS), will host “Black August: The Arc of Liberation” at Oakland City Hall on Sat. Aug. 29, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.