Redondo Beach-based company sells home occupied by group protesting housing speculation
A group of homeless mothers who were living in an abandoned Oakland house but were evicted by the Redondo Beach-based home-flip company that owns it announced Monday that they have reached an agreement in principle to purchase the house through an Oakland-area nonprofit.
Moms 4 Housing announced it would purchase the West Oakland home from Wedgewood of Redondo Beach just over a week after two mothers, Tranni King and Misty Cross, were arrested during an eviction order by the Alameda County Sheriff's Department.
The purchase is being facilitated by the Oakland Community Land Trust, a nonprofit that purchases homes with the goal of providing housing for low-income renters. Under the trust's model, the land is not resold but held in trust. According to its website, the land trust owns 22 single-family homes and three multifamily/mixed-use properties, as well as 10 parcels of community land. The homes will be sold at prices not to exceed appraised values, which have yet to be determined.
The announcement was made during a Jan. 20 meeting shortly before the group took part in a march in Oakland to reclaim King's radical legacy.
“This is what happens when we organize and come together to build beloved communities,” Dominique Walker, a member of Moms 4 Housing, said in a statement. “Today, we honor Dr. King's radical legacy by taking back Oakland from the banks and corporations.”
In November, Walker and other members of M4H moved into a formerly vacant house on Magnolia Avenue in West Oakland, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood near the Bay Bridge where century-old homes sit alongside warehouses and shipping containers. They occupied the house in part to draw attention to the relationship between housing speculation and homelessness in the East Bay: According to M4H, there are four vacant houses for every homeless person in Oakland.
Tarani King, a member of Moms 4 Housing, said she and others in the organization aren't sending the message that people should buy homes, but rather standing up to housing speculators and saying housing is a human right.
“We tell people, if you feel like you have to do something on your own, do whatever you can to keep yourself and your family housed,” King said.
In a phone interview with media, Walker said that since she moved back home from Mississippi with her young children, the Oakland she grew up in is unrecognizable. Four blocks southwest of Mathers' house, a nearly finished four-story apartment building rises above a community park and gardens that attract young families. The one-bedroom, 520-square-foot apartment sells for about $2,200 a month. The new home on Mathers' block is listed for sale for $799,000. The listing website says that a second home on an adjacent lot is also for sale, making it perfect for families, “where you can live in one and rent out the other for income.”
Many of the homes on the block are decades old: The Mums' home was built in 1908, according to Zillow records.
“This city has a rich history of black culture and resistance, and we're resisting now. We're not going anywhere,” Walker said. “I love this city, and we belong here.”
Alameda County sheriff's deputies arrived at the house before sunrise on January 14, equipped with bulletproof vests, military-style rifles and armored vehicles. Police used a remote-controlled robot to scout the house for threats, according to witnesses in the crowd of nearly 100 who were alerted through a text-message network.
The eviction raid came less than 24 hours after police first attempted to evict the family and were met by more than 300 protesters. Video of that protest showed dozens of people standing on the sidewalk outside the home, holding banners in support of the mothers and chanting slogans in solidarity with them.
“It must have been 5:30 a.m., and I got a text that the sheriff was at the door. I jumped out of bed and ran over, and it was still dark,” said Anya Svanow, an activist with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which has offices across the state and works to prevent evictions of long-time residents. “It was one of the most violent reactions I've ever seen, especially considering the mothers said they were there for nonviolent civil disobedience. They didn't want a violent confrontation.”
The next day, the mothers' belongings were thrown onto the street and removed by workers hired by Wedgwood.
Wedgwood's position was that Moms for Housing should not have violated its private property rights. The home was purchased by Wedgwood in August.
“We have always said we sympathize with the plight of squatters, but we do not tolerate trespass or theft of property,” Wedgwood spokesman Sam Singer said.
The tentative agreement reached by Wedgwood, the Oakland Community Land Trust and Moms for Housing gives the land trust first preference in purchasing Wedgwood-owned properties in Oakland. Wedgwood owns more than 50 properties in Oakland, Singer said.
Wedgwood is known for being a disruptive activist. Its business model revolves around “buying, rehabbing and reselling distressed single-family homes.” The homes purchased are often in foreclosure. The company was named Redondo Beach's Firm of the Year in 2015, shortly after opening a new office on Manhattan Beach Boulevard.
In 2015, the company was sued by the Kamaal family of Rialto, who claimed Wedgwood decided to evict them despite proving they qualified for a loan to buy a home. The Kamaals lost their case at trial and on appeal in 2019. At the time, protests against the company were held at Wedgwood's Redondo Beach offices and CEO Gregory Geiser's Manhattan Beach home.
In 2016, the Manhattan Beach City Council considered an ordinance that would have banned “targeted residential picketing,” but the ordinance was killed due to concerns it could violate First Amendment rights to assembly.
In December, Wedgewood's Redondo Beach office was the target of a protest led by Moms 4 Housing, during which members of the group submitted a letter addressed to Geyser.
At Monday's meeting, Moms 4 Housing members argued that the military-style evictions could have been prevented, and that people power had caused Wedgwood to change course.
“The question is, are they doing this because they want to have a positive impact on the housing crisis, or are they doing it because they feel pressured that their brand will be negatively affected?” Delgado said.