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The Last Residents of Oakland’s Wood Street Commons

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An African American man with a yellow rain jacket and dreadlocks records an eviction notice with his phone.
Wood Street Commons resident John Janosko records a live video to Instagram announcing that the eviction notices had been posted, on March 30, 2023. (Erin Baldassari/KQED)

The city of Oakland plans to evict the 60 remaining residents of the Wood Street encampment on Monday, April 10. This comes after months of ramping up sweeps in order to move forward with plans to build 171 affordable housing units.

At its height, Wood Street was a self-sustaining community of about 300 people and spanned several city blocks. The remaining residents, some of whom have lived there for more than a decade, are feeling an immense sense of loss and uncertainty about whether they can rebuild their community. 

Episode transcript

Guest: Erin Baldassari, housing affordability correspondent for KQED


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