On September 25th, after months of a fierce struggle on behalf of Candice King, her family, her community and the other tenants on the Almaden St. alley, the residents were evicted early in the morning in the pouring rain, and their belongings stolen by the state.

In July, Candice was initially evicted from the Almaden St. alley after beginning a rent strike in the Spring. She regained access to her home, and her community stepped up to provide a robust eviction defense throughout the rest of the summer, with another household of tenants joining the rent strike in August. With 24 hour eviction defense and the Almaden tenants leading the strike, their absentee landlord became willing to negotiate selling them the property. Despite a downpayment being secured, and plans to join a community land trust and turn the property into a tenant owned cooperative, the landlord stalled out on the negotiations, and instead pursued another eviction.

The September eviction has been devastating: it displaced Candice and her children, and rendered 3 other people homeless. Many of the families’ belongings were stolen during the raid and we don’t know if they’ll get them back. The family and tenants are in urgent need of funds for basic necessities and housing stabilization. Please donate: @gingerandcalypso and circulate this widely.

We won’t give up on the longer term community driven solution of creating a lasting tenant co-owned housing solution for Candice and her family, and the other displaced tenants– stay tuned. In the meantime, please support those impacted by donating via Venmo: @gingerandcalypso