City Government

Oakland Considers Steps to Protect Low-Income Residential Hotels

Published

9 years ago

September 29, 2016

Oakland is considering passing regulations to protect residential hotels for low- and very-low income residents.

“Increasingly, speculative real estate investors have begun to target Oakland’s residential hotels as potential lucrative conversion projects,” according to a city staff report approved unanimously at Tuesday’s Community and Economic Development (CED) meeting.

The investors are converting these buildings into “boutique hotels” that cater to the affluent, and some have become Airbnb rentals, according to affording housing advocates.

Residential hotels, often called Single Room Occupancies or SROs, are an “essential option” for low-income Oaklanders who would otherwise face displacement or end up homeless and on the street, the city report said.

“(SROs) don’t require credit checks, proof of income or a long-term lease that may disqualify some from accessing other forms of long term housing,” making them an important source of housing for low-income people, the report said.

About 25 percent of residential hotel tenants have lived in their units for more than five years and many of those who live in the SROs are elderly African American and Chinese residents.

According to the city report, there are 18 residential hotels in downtown Oakland, with a total of about 1,200 units.

Council members and community affordable housing advocates are concerned that the staff report gives the city only six months to come up with options for preserving residential hotels.

During that period, they said, investors have the opportunity buy up residential buildings and convert them. Housing advocates are asking the city to pass a moratorium on such conversions until protections are enacted by the council.

Proposals include requesting that the City Planning Commission amend the Planning Code to preserve residential housing for low-income residents.

Staff is also asking that the amount of relocation assistance be increased for residents.

The staff report also requests that the City Administrator look into whether Oakland could purchase or lease residential hotels.

Speaking at the meeting, Elissa Dennis, senior affordable housing finance consultant of Community Economics, said many of the city’s SROs are privately owned and not in very good condition.

“But they are providing housing of last resort,” she said. They are “being rehabbed…and it’s happening very rapidly.”

“Put a moratorium on conversions,” Dennis said. “You don’t want your efforts to exacerbate the conversions.”

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

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January 2, 2026

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 24 – 30, 2025

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December 25, 2025

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Alameda County

Oakland Council Expands Citywide Security Cameras Despite Major Opposition

In a 7-1 vote in favor of the contract, with only District 3 Councilmember Carroll Fife voting no, the Council agreed to maintain its existing network of 291 cameras and add 40 new “pan-tilt-zoom cameras.”

Published

4 weeks ago

December 21, 2025

Oakland Post

At the International Association of Chiefs of Police Conference, Flock Safety introduces new public safety technology – Amplified Intelligence, a suite of AI-powered tools designed to improve law enforcement investigations. Courtesy photo.

By Post Staff

The Oakland City Council this week approved a $2.25 million contract with Flock Safety for a mass surveillance network of hundreds of security cameras to track vehicles in the city.

In recent weeks hundreds of local residents have spoken against the camera system, raising concerns that data will be shared with immigration authorities and other federal agencies at a time when mass surveillance is growing across the country with little regard for individual rights.

The Flock network, supported by the Oakland Police Department, has the backing of residents and councilmembers who see it as an important tool to protect public safety.

“This system makes the Department more efficient as it allows for information related to disruptive/violent criminal activities to be captured … and allows for precise and focused enforcement,” OPD wrote in its proposal to City Council.

According to OPD, police made 232 arrests using data from Flock cameras between July 2024 and November of this year.

Based on the data, police say they recovered 68 guns, and utilizing the countywide system, they have found 1,100 stolen vehicles.

However, Flock’s cameras cast a wide net. The company’s cameras in Oakland last month captured license plate numbers and other information from about 1.4 million vehicles.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Council meeting, Fife was critical of her colleagues for signing a contract with a company that has been in the national spotlight for sharing data with federal agencies.

Flock’s cameras – which are automated license plate readers – have been used in tracking people who have had abortions, monitoring protesters, and aiding in deportation roundups.

“I don’t know how we get up and have several press conferences talking about how we are supportive of a sanctuary city status but then use a vendor that has been shown to have a direct relationship with (the U.S.) Border Control,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Several councilmembers who voted in favor of the contract said they supported the deal as long as some safeguards were written into the Council’s resolution.

“We’re not aiming for perfection,” said District 1 Councilmember Zac Unger. “This is not Orwellian facial recognition technology — that’s prohibited in Oakland. The road forward here is to add as many amendments as we can.”

Amendments passed by the Council prohibit OPD from sharing camera data with any other agencies for the purpose of “criminalizing reproductive or gender affirming healthcare” or for federal immigration enforcement. California state law also prohibits the sharing of license plate reader data with the federal government, and because Oakland’s sanctuary city status, OPD is not allowed to cooperate with immigration authorities.

A former member of Oakland’s Privacy Advisory Commission has sued OPD, alleging that it has violated its own rules around data sharing.

So far, OPD has shared Flock data with 50 other law enforcement agencies.