On November 18th, a group of working mothers without shelter reclaimed possession of a vacant investor-owned house in West Oakland. Moms 4 Housing is a collective of homeless and marginally-housed mothers who have come together to reclaim housing for community. There are four empty houses in Oakland for every person without shelter, and we believe it is a crime to keep homes vacant while people suffer on the street from the California housing crisis.

We have been living at 2928 Magnolia Street with our children and fixing up the house ever since we moved in. On December 3rd we received an eviction notice from Wedgewood LLC, the company that has been holding this house vacant. Wedgewood is notorious for forcing families from their homes through predatory lending practices and they would rather see #MomsHouse sit empty than allow our children to be safely housed there.

We won’t give up without a fight. We have been trying to reach Wedgewood to negotiate with them, but they won’t talk to us. Instead they just sent us an eviction notice.

Join us in urging absentee owners Wedgewood LLC and Catamount Properties to return this formerly vacant home to community control. Twenty-nine percent of Oakland’s homeless population are children like ours. Enough is enough. Help us stay in our new home!

Please note: M4H does NOT receive donations made here. To contribute to their efforts, go to Moms4housing.org/donate