Oaklanders build complex with shower, kitchen, and CLINIC for homeless
Cob on Wood is a small village center along Wood Street in West Oakland, beneath Interstate 880, which has transformed a patch of one of the city's biggest homeless encampments.
www.dailymail.co.uk
Oaklanders sick of the housing crisis build a complex below an underpass complete with a hot shower, fully stocked kitchen, outdoor pizza oven and CLINIC for around 300 homeless residents at nearby encampments
- Cob on Wood is a small village center along Wood Street in West Oakland, beneath Interstate 880
- It has transformed a patch of one of the city's biggest homeless encampments into a community area
- Between 150 and 300 homeless people access the services and facilities including small huts known as 'cobins' for homeless people to safely shelter
- There's also a communal kitchen, hot shower and compostable toilet, and a free store full of donated clothing
- The center has a free health clinic with on-site practitioners, vegetable gardens and a cob pizza oven
- It also provides opportunities such as construction training, cooking classes and careers development
- Unhoused residents told DailyMail.com they finally have a place 'that I can call home'
- Local organizers began the project in December in response to the city's inadequate response to the homelessness crisis
Dubbed Cob on Wood, the small village center sprung up in recent months along Wood Street in West Oakland, beneath Interstate 880, transforming a patch of one of the city's biggest homeless encampments into a community area that residents can make their own.
It was developed back in December by a group of local organizers who decided to take matters into their own hands to tackle the homelessness crisis and provide much-needed support for the city's homeless population, who were especially hard hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, it serves anywhere between 150 and 300 homeless people in the area with a focus on the residents having stewardship and governance of the land and offering opportunities for their future such as construction training, nutrition and cooking classes and careers development.
Unhoused residents making use of the center's facilities told DailyMail.com they finally have a place 'that I can call home' as they said people from all walks of lives and professions have fallen into homelessness in the community.
Organizers plan to develop the site further with a GoFundMe campaign reaching more than $57,000 in donations by Saturday morning.
+34
+34
An inside view of a tiny home, called a cobin, at Cob on Wood in Oakland, California, made from foraged materials
+34
Vibrant murals add color to the area and there's even a cob pizza oven for people to enjoy their dining experience
+34
+34
+34
+34