Owner wants to use ‘Moms 4 Housing’ house to help local youth

OAKLAND — Creating a new twist in the controversial “Moms 4 Housing” saga, the owner of the West Oakland home that a group of homeless mothers took over last month wants them out so the property can be put to a new use — helping disadvantaged local youth.

Wedgewood, the real estate company that owns the house on Magnolia Street, on Monday announced that it plans to use the home to provide training and job opportunities to at-risk Oakland youth, as well as a purchase opportunity for a first-time homebuyer. All that’s standing in the way, a representative for Wedgewood said, is the home’s occupation by a group of homeless mothers who moved in without permission Nov. 18 in an attempt to call attention to Oakland’s homelessness crisis and vacant, investor-owned houses in the city.

Wedgewood has served the women an eviction notice. On Monday, the company said it wants to use the house for a project with Shelter 37, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that works with children and young adults whose lives have been affected by crime, violence or abandonment. Shelter 37 would renovate the house using young, local workers ages 18 to 35 who need a “second chance” and may have a hard time finding work elsewhere. Those workers would receive wages as well as training that they can take with them to future jobs, Shelter 37 founder James Washington said Monday during a small news conference in a private room at Oliveto restaurant in Oakland.

Once the renovations are complete, the home will be sold on the open market, giving priority to first-time home buyers, Washington said. Half the proceeds from the sale will go to Shelter 37.

On Monday, Washington sent a letter to the mothers asking them to voluntarily move out of the house. Wedgewood and Shelter 37 have offered to pay the women’s moving expenses.

“Shelter 37 is really crying out and asking this group to step aside,” Washington said.

But the plea did nothing to sway Leah Simon-Weisberg, an attorney with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, who represents the mothers.

“It’s totally disingenuous,” she said of Wedgewood’s partnership with Shelter 37.

A local land trust has offered to buy the home on behalf of the homeless women, but Wedgewood has refused to negotiate a deal, she said. If Wedgewood wants to help at-risk young adults, she asked, as well as first-time homebuyers, why not sell the property to the women?

Simon-Weisberg said it appears Wedgewood announced its partnership with Shelter 37 in response to increasing pressure from activists and community members as the homeless women, who formed a group called Moms 4 Housing, have garnered more and more publicity.

“This is a company that has no interest in working with the community or being part of the community,” she said of Wedgewood. “And this is just more of the same.”

The Moms 4 Housing members will appear in court Dec. 30 to argue why they should be allowed to stay in the house.

In the end, the women will be evicted, said Sam Singer, spokesman for Wedgewood. But he said he hopes they will move out voluntarily before then.

“I think there’s a real opportunity here for everyone to have a positive end to the year,” he said, “and the situation.”