In State of the City Speech, Oakland Mayor Schaaf Says Tackling Homelessness a Priority

OAKLAND (KPIX) -- Mayor Libby Schaaf made tackling homelessness a priority in her state of the city address Friday. 880 people in the city went from homeless to housed in 2019 and the mayor vowed to double that number this year.

"I believe it's time that the fifth richest economy in the world take responsibility for reducing homelessness until this travesty of human suffering is taken to an end," Mayor Schaaf said.

Schaaf reflected on the accomplishments of the past year and introduced success stories like Debra Ross. Ross spent a year living in her car before she got her own place, only to be given an eviction notice.

"If it wasn't for Keep Oakland Housed, I would've been in the streets. I am so grateful for this program. Now, to anybody out there, keep fighting to Keep Oakland Housed so we can keep our family in Oakland and keep them safe with a roof over their head," Ross said.

In the past year and a half, the program Keep Oakland Housed has kept more than 2,100 families -- or more than 4000 Oaklanders -- in their homes, according to the mayor.

Schaaf also highlighted a 50 percent reduction in shootings and homicides in five years in Oakland.

In the next three years, the city says residents will see $100 million pave 100 miles of roads.

Outside the theater at the Oakland Museum of California, housing advocates held signs including one that read: "housing is a human right."

"Essentially what Libby Schaaf did tonight was present herself as solving homelessness as the number-one priority and we can't lie that the services have expanded in the city of Oakland in the last two years, but, at the same time, homelessness has gone up 47 percent in that same time," said Dayton Andrews of United Front Against Displacement.

The activist group United Front Against Displacement says they want real solutions to the housing crisis.

"Housing --actual housing not Tuff Sheds, not RV parks. These are just supplemental solutions that are not really going to provide people with housing," said Cole McLean of United Front Against Displacement. "There's not enough access for everybody, there's no guaranteed path toward housing."