Carroll Fife

After Carroll Fife was evicted and displaced from her Oakland district, she said she would come back. She made good on that promise.

One of the masterminds behind the Moms 4 Housing movement is now council-member elect and vows to combat the housing crisis from inside City Hall. 

The community organizer was the mastermind behind the grassroots collective launched after a group of homeless and marginally housed mothers occupied a vacant West Oakland house that was owned by a real estate investment company. The cause reverberated throughout California and around the country. 

The message that housing is a right struck a chord during a time when rents remained untenable for many and was amplified from the growing distrust and frustration with investors who left properties vacant when housing was most sorely needed. Long-lasting change followed.

Legislation was enacted that makes it harder for corporate homebuyers to go on a shopping spree at a foreclosure auction and tenants now can advocate for themselves in ways they never could before by having the opportunity to purchase their building if it goes up for sale, or designate a housing organization or land trust dedicated to affordable housing to become the new landlord.