Pallet Houses Could End Homelessness

In this video we visit one of the most unique homeless encampments in the United States. Cob on Wood is a community of housed and unhoused people who came together to create practical solutions for the homelessness crisis. They used wooden pallets insulated with straw, clothes, and waste products to build these extremeley affordable "cobins" on Wood Street in Oakland. These structures are easy to build, incredibly cheap, transportable, fire-proof, and beautiful. Could this be the solution to the homeless crisis in the US?
Video credits: Kelsey Oliver (@kelseykee) , Hana Beach (hana_pretty_girl), & Miguel Cobalot

[@TheLindbergbill]

I hate my corporate life but don't know how to escape. I'm ready but my family depends on me and I'm their sole provider. I work in modern slavery, no time is truly mine. I can be called to work at any time. The company expects to be put first. Even my vacation tho promised is often lost due to use or lose policy. My mortgage takes most of my money and I have to work till 77 to pay it off. I have no guarantee of retirement. Ya I feel you guys. God bless I hope that one day we can simply live in peace and community. The man said "life is too short". Freedom is freedom to just live. The land belongs to no one person or organization. The land belongs to us all.

[@jessitaran763]

Do the family thing first. They eventually grow up. Once you're reasonably sure that they have what they need, that they have a stable base, and are no longer totally dependent on you - go do whatever the hell you want...even if it means leaving safety and comfort behind in favor of freedom. In the meantime, 1) don't buy anything with credit 2) don't buy anything new 3) go to city council meetings 4) speak up for the voiceless/vulnerable while you are still in a position of 'respectability'

[@naturalbuildings]

Thank you for your understanding and insight. Keep spreading your light 🌞

[@jessitaran763]

@@naturalbuildings Thank you. I really appreciate that you understand.

[@lucymorgan8859]

Sell your house, and take the money you make, and buy yourself a piece of land...even better if you can find one with a livable cabin on it

[@mizb.9170]

😢

[@victoriousgray5479]

Wow. I'm so glad they were able to have their houses intact and move somewhere else! This is how I plan to live. Whether the government likes it or not, I do NOT plan to spend my whole life slaving for a house that I may never be able to afford. Like the one guy said, this movement will continue to grow into something bigger and more beautiful!

[@semrayildiz6970]

This Made me cry. It doesn't look like they care about the people. At all. Living in a close knit neighbourhood lifestyle should come back. Feeling for each other should come back.

[@brigidteehan6414]

Cob buildings like you have made are beautiful and should be replicated as a self-build for simple, soulful living for all who wish to live this way. There will always be the high tech modular homes but laws should allow the alternative earth buildings too..Thank you for sharing your powerful truth. ❤

[@naturalbuildings]

100%

[@rashb3994]

This so productive, clean, organized and connected. This is how it should be done. Im really feeling this, and also loving the concept of making use of trash for insulation. I bet this place is more environmentally friendly than the modern day housing.

[@GodiscomingBhappy]

God bless your soul. the houses are amazing... cant believe these initiatives arent allowed

[@Highlander.7]

What a beautiful thing. I am honored to have seen this in person. May it be the seed

[@naturalbuildings]

🙏🙏

[@AnnetteChiniquy]

My deepest condolences for the loss of a such a beautiful little community. The Cobb houses are lovely and remind me of Gingerbread houses in a fairy Kingdom. God bless everyone! Xoxo❤❤❤

[@JoseGonzalez-pf7md]

Honestly I feel these guys spiritually

[@naturalbuildings]

100%. We can build communities that are sustainable and holistic 🙏💙

[@nikkimarland87]

Oh wow this is amazing, i really hope they rebuild bigger in as many homeless camps as possible

[@NellGeisslingerOfficial]

I'm working my way through all the videos on this channel, and loving them all. Thank you for showcasing alternative building styles and passionate, well-spoken advocates. I am moved and inspired by your work. Thank you!

[@fredk4136]

Everyone in this video sounded educated and peace loving.

[@zerok-matheskrivy9190]

Great documentary. Sad story. Big up from Germany .

[@naturalbuildings]

💙🙏

[@professormph]

As antiquated as everyone in this video describes this "style" of living, in my opinion, it is the only way back to our humanity. Stress is killing most of us, whether we want to admit that or not. Instead of balking at communities like this, we should be trying to find more ways to emulate the ethos, in cities, in suburbs, etc. It is possible.

[@struggle2375]

Hi Copper, we are doing a non profit video to the Mayor of Oakland. She was formally homeless and may have some empathy for the residents of wood st . I hope its ok to use some footage from your video as broil. I would really appreciate it ! Will give full credit and put a link to your video in the description and encourage people to watch your video and channel. I think people should watch your video, its really good! I was talking to Jared and he gave me the link. Cheers Martin

[@naturalbuildings]

Of course no problem! Thank you

[@jnac8857]

I believe that the people who live in this community are on the right path moving out of the system that enslaves us and not prioritizing our own sovereignty and happiness, they are so wise and brave but living under the freeway is not a healthy life at all, maybe they can petition the local government to allocate them a piece of land that they can use to expand this project...the pallet homes are genius but you have to create a good water source and waste disposal, and both don't take much to have as well. I hope that this project takes off in more places, the US needs this now more than ever.

[@naturalbuildings]

🙏🙏

[@daryllect6659]

1:34 "I don't think they hate us. I'm sure some people do." You have no idea how much you're hated.

[@karmafunk2008]

Haters really just hate themselves. Psychologically proven.

[@josiesteed7573]

hopefully they have an idea of how much they are loved

[@berthahust3038]

It's about time. Have to start somewhere. Government wake up and do something.

[@mocabarro6878]

Thank you Cooper for documenting and sharing this beautiful and free experience with us. It's hateful how the State and the P0l1c3 work against the citizens who chose happiness and not necessarily wealthiness, who chose to live in freedom and not under the capitalism slavery system. This kind of resistance movement is what we need all around the globe.

[@naturalbuildings]

🙏🙏🙏

[@joshuakerce57]

Speechless. Very well made.

[@naturalbuildings]

Thank you 🙏

[@shannonmaire]

But they make you live on unsafe streets. Our society is so cruel.

[@ridingtoantarctica8886]

This is beautiful

[@ryanbuckley3314]

People take care of each other when they aren't red taped. There are places in my own country of Canada where it is illegal to feed hungry people in a public space. It is shameful, and beneath us to stop people from feeding each other.

[@jessitaran763]

Cobb on Wood is a beautiful community. The people there should be honored/respected for their unique/amazing accomplishment. The city of Oakland should be offering to help/support these people - not evict/punish them simply because they have chosen to pursue an alternative lifestyle. America is supposed to be 'the land of the FREE'! What California cities are trying to do -including Oakland - is to create laws that define people who do not have access to a certain amount of money, as 'criminals'. The people at Cobb on Wood are soldiers fighting on the front lines of a socio-economic revolution. These people are NOT criminals. They are patriots, and True American Heroes.

[@murielwhite9472]

Can't believe l came across this video as I tried to do something similar hete in Australia. Put forward a detailed project and got nowhere. I guess the good practical ideas don't count for some reason

[@SevtapThurston]

I am soo with you. I hope you get enough publicity to stay there where you are and even grow there. What you are doing so precious ❤️ but unfortunately majority of people are in the caves of Platon. Please let us know more about.

[@romanbalashov2153]

Всем привет я Роман, строю такие же дома. Мне бы хотелось с вами поделиться опытом. У меня на канале все стройки,если нужно могу отдельно для вас снять видео.

[@97Zeedo]

I would love to join this homeless building coalition, where do I sign up?

[@MatthewAbbottHighskies]

The modern world is so fucking depressing

[@leonardobonacci8238]

Actual society is broken...something new is happening, all the veils are falling... don't desperate!!!

[@naturalbuildings]

💙🙏

[@michaelgonzalez7866]

It doesn’t look like that anymore, look into it

[@RumbleCo]

Seek gainful employment, pool your resources, buy a piece of land, and live however you like...more power to ya ! Currently, you're trespassing. Don't cry when you're forced to leave. This "I deserve a free ride" mentality is a cancer...and we need to cut it out now, before it kills us all.

[@denalinefertari942]

Buy land. Where, exactly? And with zoning and coding laws as they are, even on land that they would hypothetically own, it is against the law to live in a structure that has no plumbing. Then there is the matter of property tax, regardless of lack of revenue generated by said property. Cheap but strong and sustainable building is rendered unnaturally expensive for fees, permits, inspections, etc.

[@jutaloopiedo]

@@denalinefertari942 There are plenty of areas throughout the US with minimal building codes. You are making poor excuses for their chosen vagrancy. They dont want freedom per se, they just want a free ride (eg welfare, etc)

[@denalinefertari942]

@jutaloopiedo normally I would agree with that sentiment, but California, particularly the bay area, has few such places. We were forced out due to the abysmal cost of living, and blessed enough to be able to afford to do so. Not everyone can afford to high tail it out of the city or out of expensive states. I am not making excuses for the consequences of irresponsible behavior but that is not how everyone becomes homeless. I do not understand how you can be so callous especially in this post covid society. For the same price as rent on a three bedroom house where we are now, that would get you a small room shared in a house with strangers. A better question is, why is it no longer possible to afford a place to live or food to eat even with a full time job as say an assistant store manager or a teacher without becoming a "welfare leech"? How did it come to this? How did we become ok with this? Without realizing it, you are making excuses for the same billionaire class thugs who are robbing our country blind right now, the same ones funding policies I am sure you disagree with. We racing towards neo feudalism, and it's happening more or less the same way as it has happened in the past. The leaders continue to push for legislation that imposes fees, taxes and restrictions that only the already wealthy can afford, coupled with the "mystery" of inflation, and yet we marvel and click our tongues when a person working two jobs lives out of their car having to park in a different place every night. Property ownership has been artificially rendered unattainable for most. I get it. We don't like human filth in the streets or drug needles at the playground or DAs who don't deal with crime. But when you come down to the corrupt systems that have led to this act of protest, I think we would agree more than we would disagree.

[@jutaloopiedo]

@@denalinefertari942 I lived for several years in the Bay Area, myself. The conditions you described is why I left. You blew my mind with the neo-feudalism comment. I share the exact same sentiment, but have heard few others ever discuss it. The issue here is that bums/druggies/vagrants are too often conflated with those who are truly seeking a better way. In the video, one vagrant being interviewed had a bottle of Naked Juice, an absolute luxury. Part of the Neo-Feudalism plan is to pay people such as him via welfare, creating a burden against those who are productive. He and his kind offer nothing to society, and the only reason they want to be in the city, is because the city pays them to be there

[@waitaminute2015]

​@@jutaloopiedo you don't know if naked juice is in the bottle, or if he's just reusing the bottle. You don't know if he paid for it, or it was a gift, but regardless, it's more important that he's putting quality food into his body instead of cheap soda. It shouldn't be a luxury to treat yourself to healthy things and I doubt saving that extra dollar would change his life. It's like you're trying to prove it's all his fault and the juice is proof. A little kindness won't kill you.

[@amythinks]

I live in the Bay Area. I wish nothing but the best for all these folks. But let's not glorify homelessness. It's not beautiful. It's not just about live and let live. It's a dangerous lifestyle, sometimes driven by mental illness, sometimes drugs, sometimes elected. Oakland is dangerous and crime-ridden. Homelessness in Oakland is not to be glorified. If you live somewhere nice and cozy and safe and you think this statement is ignorant, you don't live in Oakland.

[@themothjam]

empathy for these people is not "glorification". homelessness is a symptom of how society fails humanity and is a fate held over our heads to keep us working. You say you wish them the best but if you mean you hope they are able to return to society and get a job and etc etc then you completely misunderstand natural building and natural living! This work is revolutionary and necessary because it rejects the fear of homeless held over every worker's head and asserts that every single human deserves a home, and the right to craft that home if they have to; so they face displacement because it's in the state's interest to disallow that kind of freedom. Care and cooperation is a stronger deterrent to crime than state-enforced displacement. And natural building and natural living should be accessible to everyone! these people do not deserve to be sequestered away and disappeared from their homes! The people are not the problem.

[@b0utch]

why in the hell would you build there? plan on the long term... this ain't no place to build for something you wish to last...

[@scratch3406]

Because they don’t want to live “outside the system” they want to live right in the middle of it. They don’t want to live off the land. They want to mooch off the working class. They want all the benefits of civilization without contributing to it. Look at a satellite map of earth at night. Everywhere you don’t see city lights a camp like this wouldn’t be bothered. In the darkest areas, a camp like this wouldn’t even be noticed for decades or more.. but there’s no one to beg from there

[@jessitaran763]

To the residents of Cobb on Wood: DO NOT GIVE UP. EVER. Send out letters of introduction to every civil rights legal organization you can find - including those located in other states (as this is a Federal issue, it doesn't matter where the attorney's office is based, as long as it's in the US). Include a summary of the situation, photos of your settlement to call Cobb on Wood an 'encampment' does not do justice to everything that you all have achieved there), as well as a link to this video. I myself was recently evicted from Rydin Road in Richmond, CA. After innumerable inquiries, I eventually managed to convince a civil rights legal advocacy group that my case has sufficient merit to be worth pursuing. Unfortunately the group I am working with does not have enough attorneys/resources to allow them to call to account every municipal government in California that has crafted policies specifically intended to violate the 8th amendment of the American Constitution (the one banning the use of 'cruel and unusual punishment'). However - your case has enough merit that I believe that eventually you will succeed in finding an attorney willing to represent you, provided that you take it upon yourselves to ACTUALLY LOOK - and don't stop looking until you finally succeed in getting someone to represent you. Remember: this fight is not just about your rights. You are fighting in defense of American freedom, and protecting our country from those who use economic manipulation as a tool for enslavement. Most people will never understand, but please know that there are people who see what you are doing, and view your efforts as nothing less than heroic. Thank you.