IN THE HEART of downtown Oakland, across the bay from the San Francisco World Cup tourists see, there exists an inspiring community of hope amid deep struggle and hardship.

While the global tournament continues apace, in Oakland there exists a haven for those facing addiction and homelessness. 

On Washington Street, in an authentic part of this gritty but vibrant and diverse area, there is a safe, supportive environment that fosters a culture of honour, respect and belonging.

Forget about the World Cup stadium in the town of Santa Clara, surrounded by tech giants and billionaires along the arid ridges of Silicon Valley, 40 miles to the south and a world away, here in Oakland survival is key. Then healing.

The organisation is called CityTeam. Their group of dedicated, caring volunteers combine to give people here in Oakland a new start in life, free from the grip of homelessness and drug addictions.

Tracey Lu is an administrative co-ordinator, who has worked tirelessly for the non-profit organisation for nearly three years. She says it is her first job away from the private sector.

“I’m really glad and thankful to be working here every single day and night,” she tells me in the centre, adding with pride: “You get to work with super friendly professional staff. 

She explains: “Everyone has their own journey, and their own story of sobriety, and the fact that they came so far along, and the different lives they used to lead, and the transformations that have taken place has been amazing to see. 

“It’s really amazing. When people come here, whether they are here for volunteering for community service hours, or here because they wanted to help out the East Bay community, we get such excellent feedback about coming to volunteer here.

“We are a welcoming, friendly place.” 

There are around 8,000 homeless people in the area. While that is roughly 10 per cent of Los Angeles’s total — estimated at about 80,000 — it is still far too high. While the latest figures available underline that vital work has been done by various agencies including CityTeam to reduce the numbers of people left homeless, there is still plenty to do.

A couple of blocks away from CityTeam’s building, I find a number of tents and the detritus of homelessness, on the corner of Gerry Adams and Martin Luther King Jr Way. 

A jumble of shopping trolleys filled with rusting cans and mangled pipes line up against rotting sofas and fraying tarpaulin, all of it broken and left unused, their bulk used almost as a bulwark on the pavement. They reside alongside threadbare weather-beaten wooden panels that appear to have been part of a wardrobe. A man in black rags stirs inside his dirty blue tent, as the general air of neglect and malaise is palpable. The World Cup seems a long way away.

More than a decade ago I reported from the Jungle Camp in Calais, France, a city of thousands of makeshift tents, peopled by immigrants escaping war zones everywhere from north Africa and east Africa to the Middle East. A temporary community where people’s aims were of reaching Britain to make a better life for themselves and their families. Yet, there was hope there, however flickering.

None seemed to exist here in this wretched scene that shames those in the White House for even allowing such conditions to exist here in Oakland.

The people I saw in this Californian makeshift camp were lost. There was no feeling of hope. 

It was a stark contrast to the positivity and determination to rebuild lives that was so startlingly evident around the corner at CityTeam.

At the site in the heart of Oakland, I meet another volunteer, Mike Moore, who has a strong passion for helping people. He tells me: “We have found some people have come here because they lose their jobs and don’t have a safety net. Due to the high cost of living, many people and families are only a single paycheque from being on the streets.”

Mike added: “We try and help everyone, we don’t judge anyone. We help people from mothers and young children to older people. 

“We don’t ask and we don’t judge anyone. Why would you take a sticking plaster off a wound? We want to show kindness and love and help people try and get back on their feet.”

CityTeam Oakland has been serving the community since 1998. In association with other partners, CityTeam also runs 18 different mobile pantries throughout the county, with plenty of links with other food banks and agencies in the region, along with partnerships with big supermarkets and retailers. 

Yet, as Mike told me, it is not just people suffering with addictions that face the challenge of homelessness. It is also people who are a single pay cheque away from destitution. With the cost-of-living crisis acute here in California, the struggle to stay afloat is an all-too-real issue. 

Tracey explains: “Here in Oakland there is a high percentage of people and families on low incomes. People are at risk of falling into poverty. 

“Partly the reason why we have been here so long is that people are trying to survive on a daily basis.”

It is a hard thing to restore hope, and restore lives in that way. But that is exactly what the team are doing.

This is part one of Layth’s Oakland diary. His adventures continue in part two, in tomorrow’s edition.