Moms for housing might have inspired

MOM’S FOR HOUSING MIGHT HAVE INSPIRED A SHIFT IN OAKLAND’S REAL ESTATE MOM’S FOR HOUSING MIGHT HAVE INSPIRED A SHIFT IN OAKLAND’S REAL ESTATE

DON DUNBAR

The group of women who took over an empty West Oakland property in November may have accidentally created a new wave of revolution in housing. Galvanized by Moms 4 Housing standoff that drew a lot of public eye to the region’s affordability crisis, the county officials will soon have to overhaul the way homes are bought and sold. Oakland councilwoman introduced a new measure that would help the renters in the region keep their home when the building is sold. Other Cities in the Bay Area are also considering the same.

The policies would give tenants or the affordable housing nonprofits the first bid to buy certain residential properties for market values. This move is intended to beef up the strained local supply of low-income units, while at the same time controlling the influence of real estate speculators on the overheated housing market that is pricing most long-term residents out.

Under the new law, landlords are required to give the tenants notice before listing the property for sale on the open market. If the tenant is interested in the property, the landlord would then be required to negotiate a deal with him or her- however, the owner isn’t required to accept the tenant’s offer. If the landlord gets another better offer for the house, the tenant would be granted to set a number of days to match that price.

“It just creates more opportunities for tenants to stay in their homes permanently,” said Miya Saika Chen, Fortunato Bas’ chief of staff. “Not just as renters, but also as homeowners.”

The county’s push for a right of first refusal policy is a novel approach, however, not without precedent. San Francisco is one of the city to adopt such a policy which went into effect in September and Berkeley and East Palo Alto are considering

similar rules. Washington, D.C., has had such a policy on the books for more than a decade.

The county activists say that they have been lobbying for such measures and policies behind the scenes for quite some time but they’ve only recently picked up speed and the needed momentum to finally propel them into law.

“The housing crisis has gotten so much worse that people are ready to embrace the policies that will actually address it,” said Leah SimonWeisberg of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, which has been working with Oakland officials on the new policy.

This ordinance was prompted by Moms 4 Housing - who squatted in an empty, investorowned house in West Oakland for two months before they were evicted and arrested. Their actions garnered a lot of attention even generating praise from the Governor. In January, Wedgewood agreed to negotiate a deal to sell the house to the nonprofit Oakland Community Land Trust. Once the deal is sealed, Moms 4 Housing is expected to move back in. The company has also agreed to give land trust or other nonprofit organization in the area a chance to buy a dozen of homes it owns in Oakland. Earlier in January, Council President Rebecca Kaplan called on the city to buy properties at county auctions and convert them into affordable housing. Both Kaplan’s and Fotunato Bas’ proposals come after Moms 4 Housing protests.

Sources and Works Cited https://www.marinij.com/2020/01/30/oaklandcouncilwoman-to-introduce-moms-4-housing-inspiredordinance/ https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/09/new-policiescould-shake-up-some-bay-area-housing-markets/