California housing crisis - Homeless mothers, activists take over vacant Oakland house

OAKLAND — Sick of struggling with homelessness under a system they say hasn’t helped them, two Oakland mothers took matters into their own hands Monday — by taking control of a vacant West Oakland house.

In front of a crowd of supporters, community members and media, 34-year-old Dominique Walker and 41-year-old Sameerah Karim moved their belongings into a house on Magnolia Street that they say has been sitting empty for two years. It was the first step in what they hope will snowball into a larger movement to take back vacant, investor-owned houses in the neighborhoods where single, working mothers like themselves grew up but can no longer afford.

“This is my home,” Karim, a second-generation Oakland resident, said of the city. “I was born and raised here. I deserve to be here.”

The women, who founded a collective called Moms 4 Housing to support their mission, do not have permission to be in the house and declined to say how they got inside. The home has functioning water and power, they said.

Representatives from the city of Oakland and the Oakland Police Department did not respond to questions about what legal ramifications, if any, the mothers might face.

The property is owned by Catamount Properties 2018 LLC, according to the Alameda County Assessor’s Office. That company is part of Wedgewood, a Redondo Beach-based real estate investment company that does business throughout the Western U.S. and Florida. “The flip business is the backbone of Wedgewood,” according to the company’s website. Wedgewood did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/11/18/homeless-mothers-activists-take-over-vacant-oakland-house/