A surprise announcement from the governor puts a hold on a $1 billion statewide grant, including $24 million for Oakland shelters.
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
Oakland explores new model for funding affordable housing development
The City Council voted to explore an “enhanced infrastructure financing district,” or EIFD, but it’s just the first step.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland loan program helps homeowners convert illegal second units into ADUs
The Accessory Dwelling Unit Loan Program is accepting applications from East Oakland and West Oakland homeowners.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
New film depicts life on Oakland’s streets—from homeless filmmakers’ perspectives
“We R Here” started as an experiment and ended as a revealing 55-minute portrait.
Posted inCity Hall & Policing
Oakland’s election is heating up: Big spending by PACs, strategic alliances, and tweet backlash
A Kanye comment lands a candidate in hot water. Astonishing spending from unions and coal terminal developers. And more twists and turns.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Housing on your Oakland ballot: 3 measures tackle social housing, infrastructure, and eviction protections
Here’s what you need to know about Oakland measures Q, U, and V.
Posted inArts & Community
Omni Commons community space in Temescal at risk of foreclosure
The volunteer-run collective is scrambling to raise $900,000 by December to hang onto the grassroots venue and meeting site.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Displaced from Wood Street, homeless residents set up protest camp at Oakland City Hall
And at another tense meeting, the City Council voted to pursue new shelter sites for affected residents, but most are far-off prospects.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland’s mayoral candidates on housing and homelessness
The next mayor faces a crisis of thousands of people living without permanent housing and a mandate to build thousands of new apartments.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
They grew up in family homes in Oakland. Now, they can’t afford their own
These residents long to follow in their parents’ and grandparents’ footsteps, but are priced out of homeownership in the neighborhoods where they were raised.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland councilmembers and city administration clash over proposal to use army base for homeless shelter
Councilmember Carroll Fife called the need for space to house Wood Street residents “an emergency.” City staff say there are legal and environmental issues with her request.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Landlords argue in court to end Oakland and Alameda County eviction moratoriums
A federal judge is expected to issue a decision soon about the legality of pandemic eviction bans meant to prevent homelessness.
Posted inCity Hall & Policing
Election 2022: Meet the Oakland City Council candidates for District 2
Nikki Fortunato Bas and Harold Lowe share their approaches to public safety, housing, and business in Chinatown, San Antonio, and Grand Lake.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Audit: Oakland homeless shelters, services falling short
Despite spending $69 million over three years, the city failed to sufficiently track contractors’ work, an audit found.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland’s outgoing head of housing talks evictions, buying buildings, and red tape
Shola Olatoye, who’s leaving the city to join an affordable housing developer, reflects on her three years on the job.
Posted inHousing & Homelessness
Oakland to return land rights to Indigenous group
The proposed agreement between the city and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust involves a woodsy five-acre section of Joaquin Miller Park.
Posted inCity Hall & Policing
Election 2022: What Oakland District 2 voters want
Community members in Chinatown, Grand Lake, San Antonio, and Eastlake shared their priorities ahead of the November election.
Posted inCity Hall & Policing
Oakland mayoral candidate threatens Jewish community in mass emails
A fringe candidate, angry at being excluded from an upcoming forum at a Jewish temple, emailed antisemitic messages to local reporters and public figures.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Toilets? Cannabis grows? Rising temps? We looked into theories and history behind the Bay Area algae bloom
Questions swirl as carcasses rot at Lake Merritt and beyond. We talked to experts and explored 100 years of local fish-kills.
Posted inCity Hall & Policing
Allyssa Victory can run for Oakland mayor, city says
It’s a victory for Victory, but the other candidates are still disqualified because of the city’s communication error.