Wood Street Commons

Mutual Aid. Community Power. Dignified Futures.

We provide mutual aid to unhoused communities in Oakland, CA, and do advocacy to help our unhoused relatives have a better quality of life.

Our story

Wood Street Commons was born out of displacement — and shaped by resistance. After the 2008 housing crash, the Oakland Police Department began directing unhoused residents to the fringes of West Oakland, along the Wood Street corridor. In the face of relentless instability, people came together and created something powerful: a self-governed community rooted  in mutual aid, love, and care.

We call it Wood Street Commons, and our motto is From the Streets, for the Streets.

Here, people built homes with their own hands and kept each other alive. Residents formed outreach teams, shared food and medical supplies, and cultivated a culture of belonging in a world that treated them as disposable. Wood Street Commons became one of the largest unhoused encampments in the Northern California  — a testament to community resilience and solidarity.

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Our community partners

What OUR COMMUNITY SAYS

  • Tone

    “think outside the box. Just because you're homeless doesn't meant you have to act like it or look like it. I live outdoors like I live in doors. Stop putting us all in the same box!!! We all can't fit...”

  • Veronica

    The most beautiful thing is seeing diverse people, despite their varied backgrounds and traumas, coming together. Moments like tonight, with everyone gathered, sharing food and conversations about growth and the future, are truly beautiful.

    Witnessing families and babies thriving in the midst of chaos is especially heartwarming.

  • Moose

    No one housing situation is right for everyone. I do know that at Wood Street, people who couldn’t get what they needed for the next day– we tried to provide.

    We understood they just needed to make it to the next day, just like anybody else. And that’s one way that our community helped that I haven’t seen any other program work with.

GET INVOLVED

Your support can make a real difference. Whether through volunteering your time, donating resources, or spreading the word – every action counts. Help us continue our mission of Homeless Helping Homeless and create a brighter future for all.