City Government

City Should Declare Housing State of Emergency, Say Speakers at Post Salon

Published

9 years ago

January 29, 2016

Speakers at January’s Post Salon examined what Oaklanders as a community can do to solve one of the largest crises facing the city: out-of-control rent increases and evictions that are driving families out of their homes at an alarming rate.

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Underscoring the critical need for immediate action, a recently released report found that the Oakland area has the largest rental increases in the nation, nearly doubling since 2011.

Carroll Fife, moderator of the Jan. 24 Post Salon at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle and co-chair of the Oakland Alliance, said the question confronting the community is what can tangibly be done right away to relieve the market pressure on renters and low-income home owners – while there are still Black, Latino and other low-income residents who live in Oakland to address these issues.

She said the city report, the “Housing Equity Roadmap,” contains important elements for what can be done, but nothing will happen in time without a sense of urgency.

“Many organizations are fighting the issue of displacement, but the question is whether our leaders have the political will to combat the problem,” she said. “This is an election year, and around election time, candidates tend to have a little more political will. I think that’s something we can leverage.”

She said the city should declare an immediate temporary housing state of emergency, freezing rents and halting evictions, similar to what was done in Alameda. During that time, the city council should pass ordinances that protect the 60 percent of Oaklanders who are renters and other low-income residents.

Brytanee Brown and Tia Hicks of the East 12th Street Coalition spoke about their coalition’s successful fight for “public land for public good,” blocking the city council’s attempt to sell public land at Lake Merritt to a market rate housing developer.

They said they created a community process to propose an affordable housing development at the site and are working with a developer on the proposal. The city has not yet decided which project it favors.

Between 1999 and 2014, over 70 percent of the housing in Oakland was built for people with incomes of over $100,000 a year, said Brown.

“People want to own their own homes, public land should be used for public good and above all, we want a government that is transparent” and engages with the community, she said.

James Vann of the Oakland Tenants Union said his organization is working to put rent control on the ballot for the November election.

“We need the city council to declare a housing state of emergency, with a moratorium on rent increases and evictions,” Vann said. “There are many things we can do to address this issue, but the Oakland City Council has not done it in 35 years.”

Steve King, executive director of the Oakland Community Land Trust, and Robert Maurice Arnold, a management consultant with experience in land trusts, discussed what the city can do to make homes more affordable and protect property from the housing market.

“A community land trust removes land from the speculative market to serve lowincome people in perpetuity,” said King, explaining that the method “grew out of the Civil Rights Movement in the South in Georgia in 1960, as a way to support African American farmers, as opposed to sharecropping.”

Arnold said the central principle of the land trust is to take ownership of land out of the market and to place it in a nonprofit organization.

“The land is forever owned by the community and is taken off the speculative market,” he said. “The community itself can decide who can build on the land for affordable housing, community farms, businesses or nonprofit organizations.”

People will own what is built on the land, but not the land itself, he said.

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City Government

San Pablo Appoints New Economic Development and Housing Manager

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo. Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Kieron Slaughter. Photo courtesy of the City of San Pablo

The Richmond Standard

Kieron Slaughter has been appointed as the economic development & housing manager for the City of San Pablo.

Since 2017, Slaughter has served as chief strategic officer for economic innovation in the City of Berkeley’s Office of Economic Development. Previously, he served in a 2.5-year appointment in the Pacific West Region as one of 10 Urban Fellows in the United States National Park Service.

Before that he was an associate planner in the City of Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department from 2007-2015.

San Pablo City Manager Matt Rodriguez lauded Slaughter’s extensive experience in economic development, housing and planning, saying he will add a “valuable perspective to the City Manager’s Office.”

Slaughter, a Berkeley resident, will start in his new role on Nov. 12, with a base annual salary of $164,928, according to the City of San Pablo.

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City Government

Aaron Osorio Rises Up Ranks to Become Richmond’s Fire Chief

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10. “I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.” Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Richmond Fire Department Chief Aaron Osorio. Courtesy photo

By Mike Kinney

The Richmond Standard

For Aaron Osorio, it started with a ride along on a firetruck at age 10.

“I thought it was the coolest job,” he said, adding, “I knew being in fire service would make a big difference in the community.”

Now a 27-year fire service veteran, Osorio appears to approach his work with the same youthful exuberance. And that’s good for the city as Osorio was recently named chief of the historic Richmond Fire Department.

Osorio is a San Francisco native who rose up the ranks in the Richmond Fire Department over the last 21 years before being elevated to chief.

He joined the department in 2002 and has served in multiple roles including firefighters, engineer, captain, battalion chief, training director and deputy fire chief. He said he truly loves working in this community.

While it isn’t common for a fire department to hire a chief that came up through its ranks, Osorio was credited by the city for serving Richmond well during uncommon times.

The city lauded him for developing internal policies and vaccination clinics during the initial COVID response, for supporting activation of the emergency operations center in response to a potential mudslide disaster in Seacliff last year, helping to draft mutual aid agreements and working to increase fire response capabilities for industrial incidents.

He’s also led departmental hiring and recruitment since 2018.

Osorio said it is an honor to be hired as chief and has big plans for the department moving forward. He said he wants to continue hiring and promoting for vacant positions, and also completing a strategic plan guiding the direction of the organization.

He also aims to replace and renovate a number of fire department facilities placed on the Capital Improvement Plan and create new ways to recruit that will enhance the diversity of the department.

Osorio said his experience within, and love for, the city of Richmond puts him in a good position to lead the department. He says he knows what is needed and also the challenges that are unique to the city.

“I look forward to utilizing that institutional knowledge to move the fire department forward in a positive direction and enhance the services we provide to the community,” the chief said.

Osorio holds a bachelor of science degree in Fire Administration and is also a California State Fire Marshal-certified chief officer, company officer, and state instructor.

He also holds numerous certifications in fire, rescue, hazardous material, and incident command.

The chief has been married to his wife, Maria, for 26 years and they have two sons, Roman and Mateo.

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Bay Area

Oakland Awarded $28 Million Grant from Governor Newsom to Sustain Long-Term Solutions Addressing Homelessness

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program. This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Published

3 days ago

November 4, 2024

Oakland Post

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao

Governor Gavin Newsom announced the City of Oakland has won a$28,446,565.83 grant as part of the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program.

This program provides flexible grant funding to help communities support people experiencing homelessness by creating permanent housing, rental and move-in assistance, case management services, and rental subsidies, among other eligible uses.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and the Oakland City Administrator’s Office staff held a press conference today to discuss the grant and the City’s successful implementing of the Mayor’s Executive Order on the Encampment Management Policy.