Social and Racial Equity

Addressing Homelessness, Health,

& Safety in Downtown Oakland

Carlos Escalante, Gaelle Boussaroque, Rudi Skowronski

Cp 116 Spring ‘21

We analyzed aspects like health conditions, homelessness, and looked at what specific resources the city of Oakland is providing to its citizens, specifically the houseless population to assess social and racial equity in Downtown Oakland. These observations were also supported through a site visit to 6th street in Downtown Oakland. Looking at the broader health and homelessness conditions in Oakland, inequality is what immediately stands out throughout the datasets we analyzed. Homelessness in Oakland has doubled in just a span of four years (2015- 2019). Today over 68% of houseless individuals in Oakland identify as Black or African-American. We used homelessness as a critical point of reference in Downtown Oakland to highlight the lack of social and racial equity in the area. In the topic of race and its relation to its built environment, some of Oakland’s largest inequities are tied to health and safety. Black Oaklanders are twice as likely to be killed or severely injured in a crash and three times as likely to be killed or severely injured while walking compared to all other Oaklanders. Safety standards are uneven throughout the city with race as a major distinguishing factor on outcomes. In the Downtown specific area, asthma is nearly twice as common in comparison to Alameda county. These broader points of inequities led us to establish three research questions focused on the specific area: 

1) How would the redevelopment of 6th Street impact people suffering from homelessness in the area? 

2) How can 6th Street improvements actively bene"t the many diverse ethnic groups in downtown Oakland? 

3) How can the 6th Street area become more pedestrian, transit, and bike safe?