Housing
The Wood Street homeless encampment closed last week, forcing many who lived there into city-run shelters. But more permanent housing solutions are a long way off, including the development planned for the 3-acre lot where the encampment has sat for years. Thursday marked the end of the month-long sweep of the encampment near 18th Street, one of the city’s largest, where people had been living in tents, trailers and recreational vehicles. The city said about 70 people were living at…
Oakland’s COVID-19 eviction moratorium is set to expire on July 15, the council decided Tuesday, passing an ordinance that also will add permanent tenant protections to address housing instability in the city. The City Council voted 7-1 for the ordinance, which will sunset the moratorium that prohibited landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent. Authored by Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas and Council President Pro Tempore Dan Kalb, the ordinance adds new and permanent protections to keep evictions from…
Dozens of displaced Coliseum Connections Apartments residents protested Wednesday, the 95th day of their displacement from a Jan. 1 flood, calling on the city and landlord to do more to get them back into their homes. Chanting “Home, not hotel” and carrying placards that read “No More Lies,” they rallied in front of the West Oakland Senior Center and demanded to know why the apartment complex is still not repaired and why they are being pushed out of the temporary…
Davina Brown was awakened on New Year’s Eve by a car horn that was continuously honking outside her home in Coliseum Connections Apartments on 71st Avenue in Oakland. Looking out the window, she could see flooded streets from the storm that would pound the Bay Area for the next couple weeks. Soon she would find out that the building’s garage, where her car was parked, was flooded too, and that she and her 9-year-old son would have to evacuate. “The…
When Richard Cruz was released from prison after 30 years, he thought he was free. But when he arrived at an assigned reentry home in Hayward, his family was not allowed inside. He lived with 31 other residents, all sharing one bathroom. And even though he worked as a drug and alcohol counselor in prison, he was required to attend substance abuse classes and treatment five days a week. If he didn’t abide by the rules, he would lose his…
In between bites from a chicken and veggie sandwich, Oakland resident Connor Hunter, 9, read aloud from a poster he had just signed at Lincoln Summer Nights, a community event hosted by a coalition of local organizations. The prompt: “If you were an elected official in Oakland, what would your first act be?” “I wrote that if I was elected mayor, I would give $500,000 to businesses in Oakland because it would help the community and businesses grow. I could…
The Bay Area Local Initiatives Support Corp., a community development nonprofit based in Oakland, announced on Tuesday that it has received a $500,000 grant from Wells Fargo to help churches develop affordable housing units on their properties. The grant will be used for LISC’s Faith and Housing program, which centers on faith-based organizations serving communities of color. The Faith and Housing program, which trains organization leaders, enrolled its first cohort in 2020 and takes two years to complete. The program…
Oakland tenants of rent-controlled buildings will no longer see their rent raised above 3% annually. City Council passed an ordinance Tuesday, ensuring that annual rent increases will be capped at either 60% of the Regional Consumer Price Index or 3%, whichever is lower. The landmark measure, which was introduced last week, won on a 6-1 vote, with Noel Gallo voting no and Loren Taylor abstaining. “Thousands of Oakland residents will rest a little easier knowing their housing is secure,” Councilmember…
Citing environmental concerns, Oakland City Council on Tuesday again pushed back its decision on Golden West, an eight-story complex that would provide 222 housing units with ground floor retail and work space across from the West Oakland BART Station, at 1396 Fifth St. The project has already been delayed for over a year. After the Planning Commission unanimously approved it in March 2021, it was brought before City Council in September when East Bay Residents for Responsible Development, a coalition…