Housing

Oakland pushes for Ellis Act reform

Oakland city councilmembers are seeking a permanent protection for the city’s residential hotels, also known as Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels, by asking the state legislature to amend an over three-decade-old state law: the Ellis Act. But whether the state legislators and governors will listen remains unclear.

BOSS graduates celebrate changing their own lives

Stay the course. That was the message given to those sitting in the front row of Oakland’s city council chambers Friday night, when friends and supporters gathered to watch 29 men and women graduate from the BOSS Career Training and Employment Center, in a ceremony that acknowledged the significant hurdles they had overcome to gain employment while under the supervision of the Alameda County Probation Department. BOSS, which stands for Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency, is an East Bay non-profit which…