Home is safety. Home is health. Home is the workplace. Home is the classroom.
Over the coming weeks we are going to share stories and data collected over the last two years about what it means to Keep Oakland Housed. The work we do is about More than a Roof. Through this campaign, we will share the stories and realities of this work so we can come together for the community and each other.
Check back here every week for new stories and follow our organizations on Facebook: Bay Area Community Services, Catholic Charities East Bay, and East Bay Community Law Center.
We hope you will join us to Keep Oakland Housed by learning, donating and sharing these stories.
Small investments make a big difference for people facing homelessness. Just ask the father who was furloughed due to COVID-19. In addition to rent, we helped him apply for unemployment. Today, he and his 8-year old son continue to have more than a roof.
Keep Oakland Housed is the innovative initiative designed to prevent #homelessness before it starts.
OUSD’s 37,000 kids start remote education this week. For them, staying housed is about more than a roof: it’s about having a place to learn, grow, and connect with their community.
Distance learning just doesn’t work without safe, stable, healthy housing. That’s why Keep Oakland Housed provides rental relief to parents who are out of work due to the pandemic, helps them to apply for unemployment, and works to ensure that Oaklanders can stay put during shelter in place and beyond.
In Oakland, 184,000 people are unemployed - up from 42,000 before COVID-19.
The Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation - providing an additional $600 per week to unemployed Americans - was not renewed.
At the start of the pandemic, Keep Oakland Housed saw a huge increase of people who suddenly could not keep up with their rent, and we are expecting another wave of people experiencing housing insecurity.
KOH is tightening the safety net through direct support, emergency financial assistance, and legal advocacy.
Since Shelter-in-Place started, Keep Oakland Housed has prevented 885 households from becoming homeless.
In May, BACS got a call from a single mother in West Oakland who was running out of options. She was laid off because of the pandemic, and since her 7 year old son's school was closed, she could not find another job without childcare. She was really fearful of ending up on the streets. BACS was able to help her make the rent and close the gap until she could find work.
Keep Oakland Housed started in 2018. When the pandemic hit, we were ready - we deployed every available resource and used our infrastructure to keep people housed.
Prevention is a necessary component of ending homelessness. KOH is ready to be scaled up and replicated across the country.
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