Wood Street, the award-winning documentary from Oakland filmmaker Caron Creighton, follows a group of un-housed organizers fighting against the closure of the Wood Street encampment. The Wood Street community in West Oakland began in the early 2010s and at its peak was home to 200-300 residents. For years, it was where police sent un-housed people when they kicked them out of other encampments.
The film highlights the support that residents were able to provide for each other within the village-like encampment, which was formed by a mix of RVs and handmade structures. Despite limited funds, residents worked together to build a community garden, shared kitchen, free store, and medical supply shed. Clips from social media created by John Janosko, one of the community leaders, are interspersed in the film and show a joyful, lively space, with barbecues and holiday parties. By maintaining a stable, long-term location, residents were able to link up with outside agencies to get access to health care, help with paperwork, and to receive almost daily donations of food.
Although the film does not shy away from the struggles faced by un-housed people, such as drug use and mental health issues, the film also does not focus on people’s backstories. As director Creighton explained, “people don’t need to justify why they’ve become homeless.” Many people had jobs while living at Wood Street and simply weren’t paid enough to stay housed amidst the Bay Area’s skyrocketing rents.
When the city’s eviction notice ultimately arrived in 2022, residents organized themselves in an effort to save their community. Wood Street brings the viewer into the heart of their organizing meetings, where all voices are valued and collective self-determination is the goal. Residents brought in legal counsel and sued both the city and state, attending hearings via a laptop set up outside. They shared their story with the media, and worked with their housed neighbors living nearby to address their concerns. The film even shows residents driving a bus to Mayor Sheng Thao’s inauguration party in an effort to be heard by city leaders.
At the climax of the film, we are faced with the gut-wrenching scenes of residents refusing to leave their community until the bulldozers and police physically remove them. Although the land has since been developed into an “affordable” housing complex (where studio apartments start at $1,775/month), Wood Street community members are still organizing. They are taking what they learned to other encampments, to share their experience with fighting against displacement.
Wood Street premiered to sold-out showings in the Bay Area, and the director plans to offer the film in a freely accessible format after finishing a nationwide festival circuit. As the gap between wages and rents pushes more people onto the streets, we stand with our un-housed neighbors as they organize for housing as a human right.
