Those same families have lived in or kept the tiny homes since then, relocating when necessary, but staying around Peralta and 7th streets for the last several years, according to the residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not what compassion looks like,\u201d said East Oakland Collective founder Candice Elder, in a Facebook post<\/a> that\u2019s been shared and commented on dozens of times.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said her organization has been providing regular maintenance and support at the homes, which \u201cbelonged to two unhoused mothers who had been living curbside and trying to create some measure of safety, dignity, stability, and hope for themselves and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n Sean Maher, a spokesperson for the city, said Oakland closed the encampment \u2014 which included several tents, RVs, and other structures in addition to the tiny homes \u2014 after receiving numerous reports of crime associated with it, including drug deals and sex work, and because it was blocking the sidewalk and a park entrance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the operation, the City\u2019s tow provider determined the trailers housing the tiny home structures could not be safely moved with the structures in place,\u201d he wrote in an email. \u201cBased on that assessment and attempts to contact residents at the site, the team made the operational decision to deconstruct the structures to the extent necessary to allow the trailers to be removed.\u201d<\/p>\n He noted that the city posted notices telling residents to move, and announcing a closure operation between Sept. 21 to Oct. 9, 11 days in advance \u2014 more than city policy requires.<\/p>\n The two women who lived in the tiny homes had not been staying there full-time. One, Markaya Spikes, secured an affordable apartment at Brooklyn Basin a few years ago, after a city employee urged her to apply.\u00a0<\/p>\n But her family\u2019s time there has been tumultuous, she said; there are frequent maintenance concerns, they\u2019ve had four bikes and a moped stolen, and she\u2019s seen blood and other bodily fluids in common areas. So they often sleep at the tiny home instead, which she said feels \u201cway safer\u201d than her apartment. She hasn\u2019t yet brought herself to tell her 15-year-old daughter, who \u201cspent multiple Christmases and birthdays\u201d in the home, about the demolition.<\/p>\n Vanessa Trinidad, the resident of the other house, gave birth two months ago to a baby girl. For her child\u2019s safety, she moved with her and her 7-year-old son \u2014 whom she was pregnant with when she first moved into the tiny home \u2014 to a family shelter in Richmond. She said she doesn\u2019t know what the future holds and was hanging onto the tiny home as an option to return to.<\/p>\n Both women said they were aware of the city\u2019s move-out notice. They said they\u2019ve been through this push-and-pull with Oakland in a number of other locations over the years, including their first spot on High Street. They said they move when required to, but have always been given until the end of the closure period to figure out the complicated logistics.<\/p>\n \u201cThey knew it was our houses \u2014 we\u2019re always working with them,\u201d said Spikes about the city\u2019s homelessness team.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very sad and at the same time scared,\u201d said Trinidad. \u201cJust the way everything was handled \u2014 I wasn\u2019t expecting it to go down like that, it\u2019s always been different. My son, he grew up in that tiny house, and he was sad about it too.\u201d<\/p>\n Spikes had been at work early Tuesday morning, the second day of the closure period, and got to Peralta Street a few hours after the city crews arrived. By then, she said, they\u2019d already smashed the home and a number of belongings inside of it, including a microwave, a TV, and photos of her daughter.<\/p>\n The city is adamant that it allowed the women to collect their personal items and store them, in line with its policy. The residents insist it was too late to recover most things.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sitting here reeling on all the stuff that\u2019s gone, all the money that\u2019s wasted,\u201d said Spikes when we spoke with her on Thursday. \u201cI\u2019m thinking about all the kids that built the house, the parents that paid for the materials.\u201d A number of those parents popped up in the comments of Elder\u2019s Facebook post, expressing outrage.<\/p>\n According to the city, its outreach contractor Operation Dignity made numerous visits to the encampment over the past year and directly ahead of the closure, offering spots in a range of city shelters, including group and private spaces, the \u201ccommunity cabins\u201d sites, RV lots, and family shelters.\u00a0<\/p>\n In his email to The Oaklandside, Maher said the city closed the camp in response to requests from both the District 3 council office and neighbors.<\/p>\n Councilmember Carroll Fife rejected that framing. She told The Oaklandside that councilmembers are asked to provide the city\u2019s homeless services team with a monthly list of the top five locations they\u2019re hearing concerns about. This one was on Fife\u2019s list, but she said she didn\u2019t expect the city to demolish the tiny homes.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tiny-home-elder-2.jpg\")
Oakland School for the Arts students building one of the tiny homes eight years ago. Credit: Courtesy Candice Elder<\/p>\n