By Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland City Councilmember At-Large–
On March 21, the Oakland City Council passed two resolutions to improve the landscape of affordable housing in our community. The first resolution, which was authored by myself and Councilmember Fife, allocates $18 million of the 2022 Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond Funds, otherwise known as Measure U funds, for the construction of the Mandela Station Affordable Development in West Oakland.
The Mandela Station Affordable Development is a mixed-use, mixed‐income transit-oriented development at the West Oakland BART station, which includes a proposed 240 units of affordable housing, with 60 dedicated units of homeless housing, and approximately 16,000 square feet of neighborhood retail space, deep community involvement, and racial equity with quality local jobs.
We were also pleased to stand united with Mayor Sheng Thao, Council President Bas, Councilmembers Fife and Jenkins, along with myself, in advancing $63,000,000 of city financing for loans to additional affordable housing developments identified through the Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD) New Construction of Affordable Multifamily Rental Housing Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) process. These funding commitments would be enabled by $13,000,000 of existing funding sources, and by the forward commitment of $50,000,000 of Measure U Affordable Housing Bonds.
Passed by the voters last November, Measure U provides $850 million in bond funding to invest in public infrastructure, preserve and build affordable housing, and improve the quality of life in all neighborhoods throughout Oakland. Of the funds, $350 million are dedicated to the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of interim and permanent affordable and social housing.
As the city undertakes a robust process to advance further projects through Measure U and other funding sources, these resolutions provide immediate action to allocate a small fraction of the total funds in a time-effective way to allow existing projects in our affordable housing pipeline to be funded and built. They also provide the funding in time for urgent state funding application deadlines—so that our local projects can have committed a local match to be able to bring millions more of state and other funding into our communities.
We have the vital goal to build more affordable and workforce housing, and the urgent need to do so to help remedy homelessness and stop losing essential workers. To accomplish this, we must act locally while also ensuring that state funding resources for affordable housing are allocated equitably, and that communities that are promoting environmental sustainability, transit-oriented development, racial justice, and quality local jobs are supported. An important part of how we do that is to put our own money where our mouth is, and Oakland has stepped up to ensure this urgent need is addressed. We urge state funding partners to do so too.
Councilmember At-Large and Council President Rebecca Kaplan, who is the Vice Mayor of Oakland, was elected in 2008 to serve as Oakland’s citywide Councilmember; she was re-elected in 2016 and 2020. She also serves on the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC). Follow Councilmember Kaplan on Twitter @Kaplan4Oakland (https://twitter.com/Kaplan4Oakland) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Kaplan4Oakland/).
Out of the Closet and into City Hall
Published on April 4, 2023
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