While Black Friday encourages consumerism, local second-hand shops offer an alternative place to pick up workout gear, coffee tables, or even a wedding dress, without the waste.
Author Archives: Natalie Orenstein
Natalie Orenstein covers housing and homelessness for The Oaklandside. She was previously on staff at Berkeleyside, where her extensive reporting on the legacy of school desegregation received recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists NorCal and the Education Writers Association. Natalie’s reporting has also appeared in The J Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere, and she’s written about public policy for a number of research institutes and think tanks. Natalie lives in Oakland, grew up in Berkeley, and has only left her beloved East Bay once, to attend Pomona College.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
New program will help 200 Oakland tenants pay rent for 18 months
Mayor Libby Schaaf’s “shallow subsidy” pilot, funded by philanthropy, is intended to prevent homelessness.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
‘Hella Town’ explores Oakland’s divided history through the lens of its built environment
From malls to shipyards to housing in the hills, Mitchell Schwarzer’s book is a sweeping history of development and power.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
With a second COVID-19 winter coming, will unhoused people have more options for staying warm?
Some traditional homeless shelters are staying closed or at reduced capacity. Others are trying something new.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Tiny-home shelter to open on a contentious Eastlake development site
Dozens of people will soon get access to heating and privacy through the temporary program. What happens next is less clear.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Alameda County gears up for major homeless count
Canceled last year for COVID-19 safety concerns, this year’s Point-in-Time assessment “counts more” than any before it, organizers say.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Rent control for RVs? Policy could extend protections to nontraditional tenants
The rent control policy is part of a package of laws that could make it easier to build, and live in, new types of housing in Oakland.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Nonprofit run by homeless people says it was unfairly taxed for trying to build housing
Oakland’s vacant property tax is meant to encourage housing on empty lots. Is there a loophole that does the opposite?
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland Home Histories: Wartime housing, mink scarves, and making room for change
An Adams Point triplex owner asks: Which parts of the past are worth preserving?
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
With $6.6 million grant, homeless youth in Alameda County will design programs for their community
Young unhoused people in Oakland and surrounding cities will lead the decision-making process about how to use the federal grant.