Moms 4 Housing, a collective of homeless and marginally housed mothers, reclaimed a home purposefully held vacant to drive up the price. After tremendous community support promising large numbers to join Moms 4 Housing to resist an impending eviction served by real-estate investment company Wedgewood LLC, the City of Oakland has delayed the eviction for at least 15 days and will schedule a hearing in the next few weeks.

Developers like Wedgewood profit from a housing market that pushes people onto the streets through high rents and private-property rights backed by police terror. The police, courts, prisons, and other state institutions of coercion do not protect us, but instead protect the right of the rich to profit. When the sheriffs regularly evict mothers and children from their homes, this is the role they are playing.

Real-estate investment companies like Wedgewood LLC keep homes vacant while people sleep on the streets because they are solely interested in the profit potential of their holdings. Homelessness is a symptom of an exploitative system that produces and distributes housing to further enrich the already rich instead of to fulfill human needs.

Under capitalism, basic necessities — like health care, food and housing — aren’t guaranteed. People die from preventable illnesses every day because they cannot afford treatment. People go hungry while food is destroyed to artificially inflate prices.

“Housing is a human right. Being homeless is very violent, and has so many harmful effects both physical and mental. I am taking a stand,” described Moms 4 Housing organizer Dominique Walker. “Oakland CAN house ALL unhoused folks. There are four times as many empty homes in Oakland as there are homeless people. We have lost our humanity. There are children sleeping on the streets — we should be outraged! I am. I will continue fighting for the unhoused until we all have shelter!”

The heroes behind Moms 4 Housing need our support — please take a moment to sign and share the petition demanding NO EVICTION!