Uncategorized

City Rescues $200,000 For Laid-off Workers

Published

13 years ago

April 25, 2013

Oakland Post

Bill Patterson

City Rescues $200,000

Mayor Jean Quan

By Ken A. Epstein

The City of Oakland is almost two years behind in spending its federal jobs money for unemployed workers and is rushing to spend $200,000 and maybe more before June 30, when it will have to send unused funds back to the state, which oversees the jobs program, according to a city official.
“We’re reaching a time when we not only have to just obligate those funds but spend them by June 30, or they state will take them away, and we don’t want to go there again,” said Al Auletta, a workforce development manager under City Administrator Deanna Santana.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the council’s Community and Economic Development (CED) Committee, Auletta asked council members to pass a resolution to allow the Oakland Private Industry Council (PIC) to help additional laid-off (displaced) workers and spend the money by the deadline, he said.
“The purpose of this action is to make sure that we are thoughtful, effective and timely in the use of these funds. We have a real need in the One-Stop Career center for dislocated worker training,” Auletta said.
“We appreciate the PIC for coming forward. We gave the opportunity to other adult service providers, and they declined, because they had funding they hadn’t spent yet.
“We still think there may be other funds at risk,” he said. “We still need some more time to figure out if that is the case. We’re hoping that it is not.”
The failure to spend the 2010-11 federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) jobs money can be tracked back to 2009-2010 when the city received federal stimulus funds.
The city had to spend the stimulus money by a federal deadline, which resulted in the city’s decision not to expend regular WIA funds within the usual timeframe. The city has sole authority to decide which funds to use and when to use them.
Because of the timetable for using stimulus money, the regular WIA funds “were pushed into the next fiscal year, and they have a two-year life cycle,” Auletta said.
The city’s review of unspent funds are “indicative of our due diligence,“ according Karen Boyd, spokesperson for the City Administrator’s Office,
“We began the process of reconciling unexpended funds in February to ensure that we are able to disperse funds and thereby provide services to the community by the June 30 deadline,” she said.
Bill Patterson, a longtime WIB member and leader of the Oakland NAACP, says he is happy that the city has been forthright about the urgent need to spend the money and has sought the help of agencies to get itself out of the jam.
At the same time, however, he sees this latest crisis as the result of continuing problems in the city’s administration of job funds.
“The PIC is bailing the city out again. They have done it in the past, and they did it again,” said Patterson. The whole program has not worked well since the administration of it was taken over by the city in 2011.
“It’s been more of the same, ever since the Dellums people were doing it.”
“We’re behind in contracting for services and in spending. Jobs programs, especially small nonprofits that serve youth, have suffered because they have not been paid,” Patterson said.
As part of the fallout, programs for young people in West Oakland and Spanish-speaking youth in central East Oakland have fallen by the wayside, Patterson added.

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Uncategorized

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

6 months ago

June 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Special to The Post

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department (Oakland HCD) announced its awardees for the 2024-2025 New Construction of Multifamily Affordable Housing Notice of Funding Availability (New Construction NOFA) today Five permanently affordable housing developments received awards out of 24 applications received by the Department, with award amounts ranging from $7 million to $28 million.

In a statement released on Jan. 16, Oakland’s HCD stated, “Five New Construction Multifamily Affordable Housing Development projects awarded a total of $80.5 million to develop 583 affordable rental homes throughout Oakland. Awardees will leverage the City’s investments to apply for funding from the state and private entities.”

In December, the office of Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 City Councilmember, worked with HCD to allocate an additional $10 Million from Measure U to the funding pool. The legislation also readopted various capital improvement projects including street paving and upgrades to public facilities.

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is the media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Activism

Oakland Housing and Community Development Department Awards $80.5 Million to Affordable Housing Developments

Published

11 months ago

January 30, 2025

Oakland Post

Rebecca Kaplan, interim District 2 city councilmember. File photo.

Special to The Post

The following Oakland affordable housing developments have been awarded in the current round:

Mandela Station Affordable

238 Affordable Units including 60 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $15 million + previously awarded $18 million
Developer: Mandela Station LP (Pacific West Communities, Inc. and Strategic Urban Development Alliance, LLC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 1451 7th St.

Liberation Park Residences

118 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $28 million
Developer: Eden Housing and Black Cultural Zone
City Council District: 6
Address: 7101 Foothill Blvd.

34th & San Pablo

59 Affordable Units including 30 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $7 million
Developer: 34SP Development LP (EBALDC)
City Council District: 3
Address: 3419-3431 San Pablo Ave.

The Eliza

96 Affordable Units, including 20 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $20 million
Developer: Mercy Housing California
City Council District: 3
Address: 2125 Telegraph Ave.

3135 San Pablo

72 Affordable Units including 36 dedicated for Homeless/Special Needs
Award: $10.5 million
Developer: SAHA and St. Mary’s Center
City Council District: 3
Address: 3515 San Pablo Ave.

The source of this story is media reltations office of District 2 City Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan.

Oakland Post

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Alameda County

Oakland Acquisition Company’s Acquisition of County’s Interest in Coliseum Property on the Verge of Completion

The Board of Supervisors is committed to closing the deal expeditiously, and County staff have worked tirelessly to move the deal forward on mutually agreeable terms. The parties are down to the final details and, with the cooperation of OAC and Coliseum Way Partners, LLC, the Board will take a public vote at an upcoming meeting to seal this transaction.

Published

11 months ago

January 11, 2025

Oakland Post

Alameda County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Haubert. Official photo.

Special to The Post

The County of Alameda announced this week that a deal allowing the Oakland Acquisition Company, LLC, (“OAC”) to acquire the County’s 50% undivided interest in the Oakland- Alameda County Coliseum complex is in the final stages of completion.

Oakland has already finalized a purchase and sale agreement with OAC for its interest in the property. OAC’s acquisition of the County’s property interest will achieve two longstanding goals of the County:

The Oakland-Alameda Coliseum complex will finally be under the control of a sole owner with capacity to make unilateral decisions regarding the property; and
The County will be out of the sports and entertainment business, free to focus and rededicate resources to its core safety net

In an October 2024 press release from the City of Oakland, the former Oakland mayor described the sale of its 50% interest in the property as an “historic achievement” stating that the transaction will “continue to pay dividends for generations to come.”

The Board of Supervisors is pleased to facilitate single-entity ownership of this property uniquely centered in a corridor of East Oakland that has amazing potential.

“The County is committed to bringing its negotiations with OAC to a close,” said Board President David Haubert.