Help OakCLT preserve the Warriors House
Help OakCLT Preserve the “Warriors House”
Keep the Canamore family home in community hands
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The Canamore Family Home Story
Predatory lending has extracted hard-earned generational wealth from Oakland’s Black Community and led to the dispossession of many families’ land and homes.
Lloyd Canamore’s mother, Ms. Clemmie Canamore, purchased the home at 815 35th Street over 50 years ago. In 2008, Ms. Canamore was sold a reverse mortgage.(1) She passed away in 2019 and the home has been stuck in probate (2) ever since. In that process, Lloyd and his brother were given predatory probate advance loans (3) that have pushed them further into debt. Lloyd is on disability, but can’t pay back the loans on his own. The house is currently set to be sold at a foreclosure auction in early April, and without an intervention, Lloyd is at risk of losing his family’s home.
The Canamore’s situation is emblematic of many Black families in Oakland who have experienced land loss in the wake of the foreclosure crisis and as a result of dramatically increasing housing costs. Older homeowners, who may have wealth through homeownership but have low or no incomes, are often targeted for complex financial products like reverse mortgages and probate loans that have high interest rates and often force families to sell their property. This increases displacement, homelessness, and hinders the development of intergenerational wealth.
Preserving the “Warriors House” will keep Lloyd Canamore in Oakland. Lloyd has been a huge fan of the Golden State Warriors his entire life, painting the house blue and gold to celebrate his hometown heroes. His house has become an important site for Warriors fans throughout the Bay, and the Warriors have used Lloyd and the house in promotional materials in the past. Steph Curry even shot a music video at the house (with Lloyd!). The Warriors organization, foundation, and its players, have all supported Lloyd in the past by donating legal services and promoting a GoFundMe that has raised almost $300,000 to support Lloyd’s ongoing stability, but the funds to actually purchase and preserve the house over the long term are still not there.
That’s why we need your support to save the “Warriors House,” keep Lloyd housed with supportive services, and prevent another home from being lost at the hands of predatory lenders and speculators! We currently need approximately $300,000 to purchase the property, and an additional $400,000 to fully rehabilitate the home. We ask that donations be directed to the Oakland Neighbors Fund, OakCLT’s community acquisition fund.(4) Donations to the Oakland Neighbors Fund give OakCLT the resources we need to acquire homes in the community and keep them permanently affordable. If you have any questions, please send us a note via the contact form below.
- Reverse mortgages are most often made to elderly homeowners who have little or no outstanding debt on their homes. A reverse mortgage lender provides a loan to a property owner with the expectation that the loan will be paid back – often with compounding high interest – once the borrower dies and the home is sold. Reverse mortgages frequently leave heirs few viable options to preserve family homes.
- Probate is the legal process by which a court transfers property when the owner passes away with no will. The process is often long and is a means for settling debts, including outstanding taxes and loans.
- Probate loans are predatory cash advances on an anticipated financial gain resulting from a successful probate process. They are largely unregulated and often carry exorbitantly high interest rates.
- OakCLT cannot yet guarantee that we will be able to purchase the Warriors House. If we are unsuccessful with this specific purchase, donations will remain restricted in the Oakland Neighbors Fund to support future community real estate acquisitions.