HOUSING JUSTICE
Housing is a Human Right
We are the richest state in the richest nation on the planet. It’s time we recognize and affirm that housing is a human right. It is our responsibility to provide accessible and permanent housing solutions for our unhoused population. To push Oakland towards this goal, I plan to:
Institute aggressive city-wide affordable housing requirements and labor standards for any and all new developments.
Convert existing empty housing into deeply and permanently affordable housing.
Incentivize small landlords to keep their property long-term affordable through subsidies and/or tax relief.
Increase ownership in the flatlands by both: a) subsidizing home loans in areas historically affected by redlining, and b) working with local Community Land Trusts to remove property from the volatile market and curb displacement by creating long-term stable housing.
Advance a debt forgiveness and rent abatement policy, paired with mortgage relief. We need more affordable housing at 0-25% area median income (AMI) to give everyone shelter as they get back on their feet—not just those who can afford 75% AMI.
People who are currently unhoused should be given temporary housing through hotels, RVs or small homes, and be granted services such as a job pipeline (into positions funded, for example, by a Black New Deal). Oakland must be replete with affordable and equitably managed housing so that people transitioning back into housing have a safe place to land.
We also need to take care of our unhoused neighbors now, providing people experiencing homelessness with shelter, mental health support, and hygiene services.
It will take a strong and principled leader to make city leadership commit to policy changes that will affirm that housing is a human right. I’m ready to take on that fight.