Bay Area

State Sen. Nancy Skinner Alerts Voters on COVID-19 Relief for Renters

As chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, I’m proud to report that the state Legislature, with assistance from the federal government, has now authorized financial relief for both tenants and landlords. Eligible renters and landlords in Contra Costa County and most of Alameda County can apply now for that assistance and will be able to soon if they live or own property in Oakland.

Published

4 years ago

March 25, 2021

Mia Lane

Nancy Skinner State Senator, District 9

District 9 State Senator Nancy Skinner wrote a letter to constituents on the relief now available for rental payments to help landlords and tenants. The text of the letter is below.

Dear Constituent,

The economic impacts of COVID-19 have made it difficult for millions of Californians to afford their rent payments. In fact, without local, state, and federal action barring evictions, untold numbers of Californians may have faced eviction.

Senate Bill 91, approved earlier this year by the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom, greenlights the distribution of $2.6 billion in federal funding for rental assistance to ensure that low-income California tenants who were unable to pay all or part of their rent over the past year may have their entire rental debt erased, and their landlords will be able to receive 80% of what is owed in back rent.

Here is how tenants and landlords impacted by the pandemic can apply for relief in Contra Costa and Alameda counties and in the city of Oakland:

Alameda County

Alameda County has launched its own renter-landlord relief program, Alameda County Housing Secure. Alameda County’s program mirrors the Housing is Key program in how it works, although it prioritizes very low-income residents and small landlords who depend heavily on their income from a rental property.
Tenants and landlords in Alameda County are able to apply for relief using Alameda County Housing Secure – NOTE: renters who live and landlords who own property in Oakland must apply to the City of Oakland’s program (see description below for application process).

Contra Costa County

Contra Costa is using Housing Is Key, the state-run program for tenant-landlord relief.

Here are the key components of Housing Is Key:

Landlords owed back rent because their COVID-impacted tenants were unable to pay full rent since last year must fill out an application on the Housing Is Key website.
Renters who were unable to pay their full rent since last year must also apply on Housing Is Key.
Once both the landlord and tenant have applied and met the criteria under the Housing Is Key program, landlords will be paid by the state 80% of the back rent they’re owed from March 2020 through April 2021 (based on the availability of funding).
Eligible renters will have the rental debt they accumulated from March 2020 to April 2021 erased and be protected from eviction through June 30, 2021, as long as the renter pays at least 25% of their rent each month in April, May, and June 2021.
Depending on the availability of funding, renters who are accepted into the program will be reimbursed for up to 25% of their rent for the months of April, May, and June.
Funding under SB 91 will be prioritized for low-income tenants, based on their 2020 earnings or their monthly household income at the time of the application. All renters who have been unable to pay some or all of their rent in the past year are encouraged to apply.
Renters of landlords who decline to participate in the program can still be eligible for the rental assistance dating back to April of last year. To obtain this assistance, the renter must submit their application to Housing Is Key website and must pay at least 25% of their monthly rent for April 2020 through June 2021 to be protected from eviction through June 30.
Landlords may not apply a tenant’s security deposit to cover the rental debt, cannot charge late fees, and may not take legal action to seek recovery of COVID-related rental debt until July 1.

Oakland

Starting soon, Oakland tenants and landlords who own property in Oakland will also be able to apply through the state program Housing Is Key, as laid out above.
Oakland tenants whose landlords do not apply to Housing is Key, may still receive rental assistance through the City of Oakland’s own program Keep Oakland Housed. Applications under Keep Oakland Housed rental assistance funding are scheduled to be available beginning April 1. Keep Oakland Housed is a rental assistance program designed for very low-income tenants and is not limited to the rules detailed in the description of Housing is Key listed above.

As a reminder, here in the East Bay, all tenants who have been unable to pay their full rent due to the pandemic, regardless of whether they meet the income eligibility requirement for the rental assistance described above, are protected from eviction thanks to bans enacted by both Alameda and Contra Costa counties.

Alameda County’s ban on evictions impacted by the pandemic remains in effect until 60 days after the county’s health emergency is lifted. That health emergency is in effect indefinitely. Contra Costa County’s eviction ban extends until June 30. NOTE: the eviction ban only covers inability to pay due to the pandemic and not other actions that would otherwise qualify for a just cause eviction.

Also, for homeowners, Biden recently announced the extension of the nationwide ban on foreclosures through June 30. Biden’s order also extended the enrollment window for mortgage payment forbearance until June 30.

I hope you find this information helpful. It’s an honor to serve you in the state Senate.

Sincerely,

Nancy Skinner
State Senator, District 9

Mia Lane

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Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of May 21 – 27, 2025

Published

2 days ago

May 25, 2025

Oakland Post

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Chevron Richmond Installs Baker Hughes Flare.IQ, Real-time Flare Monitoring, Control and Reduction System

While the sight of flaring can cause concern in the community, flares are essential safety systems that burn pollutants to prevent them from being released directly into the atmosphere. They activate during startup and shut-down of facility units or during upsets or equipment malfunctions. The typical flare stack is about 200 feet high so that vapors are well above street levels.

Published

1 week ago

May 19, 2025

Oakland Post

Image courtesy The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

Chevron Richmond recently installed flare.IQ, a real-time, automated system that will improve the facility’s flaring performance.

The technology, developed by Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, uses sensors to monitor, reduce and control flaring in real time. It collects and assesses data on refinery processes, such as temperature, pressure, gas flow and gas composition, and adjusts accordingly to ensure flares burn more efficiently and cleanly, leading to fewer emissions.

“The cleaner the flare, the brighter the flame can look,” said Duy Nguyen, a Chevron Richmond flaring specialist. “If you see a brighter flame than usual on a flare, that actually means flare.IQ is operating as intended.”

“A key element in Baker Hughes’ emissions abatement portfolio, flare.IQ has a proven track record in optimizing flare operations and significantly reducing emissions,” said Colin Hehir, vice president of Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business. “By partnering with Chevron Richmond, one of the first operators in North America to adopt flare.IQ, we are looking forward to enhancing the plant’s flaring operations.”

The installation of flare.IQ is part of a broader and ongoing effort by Chevron Richmond to improve flare performance, particularly in response to increased events after the new, more efficient hydrogen plant was brought online in 2019.

Since then, the company has invested $25 million — and counting — into flare minimization. As part of the effort, a multidisciplinary refinery team was formed to find and implement ways to improve operational reliability and ultimately reduce flaring. Operators and other employees involved in management of flares and flare gas recovery systems undergo new training.

“It is important to me that the community knows we are working hard to lower emissions and improve our flaring performance,” Nguyen said.

Also evolving is the process by which community members are notified of flaring incidents. The Community Warning System (CWS), operated by Contra Costa County is an “all-hazard” public warning system.

Residents can opt-in to receive alerts via text, e-mail and landline. The CWS was recently expanded to enable residents to receive notifications for “Level 1” incidents, which are considered informational as they do not require any community action.

For more information related to these topics, check out the resources included on the Chevron Richmond, CAER and Contra Costa Health websites. Residents are also encouraged to follow @chevronrichmond and @RFDCAOnline on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), where additional information may be posted during an incident.

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Oakland Hosts Town Hall Addressing Lead Hazards in City Housing

According to the city, there are 22,000 households in need of services for lead issues, most in predominantly low-income or Black and Latino neighborhoods, but only 550 to 600 homes are addressed every year. The city is hoping to use part of the multimillion-dollar settlement to increase the number of households served each year.

Published

1 week ago

May 18, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Magaly Muñoz

The City of Oakland’s Housing and Community Development Department hosted a town hall in the Fruitvale to discuss the efforts being undertaken to remove lead primarily found in housing in East and West Oakland.

In 2021, the city was awarded $14 million out of a $24 million legal settlement from a lawsuit against paint distributors for selling lead-based paint that has affected hundreds of families in Oakland and Alameda County. The funding is intended to be used for lead poisoning reduction and prevention services in paint only, not water or other sources as has been found recently in schools across the city.

The settlement can be used for developing or enhancing programs that abate lead-based paint, providing services to individuals, particularly exposed children, educating the public about hazards caused by lead paint, and covering attorney’s fees incurred in pursuing litigation.

Most of the homes affected were built prior to 1978, and 12,000 of these homes are considered to be at high risk for lead poisoning.

City councilmember Noel Gallo, who represents a few of the lead-affected Census tracts, said the majority of the poisoned kids and families are coming directly from neighborhoods like the Fruitvale.

“When you look at the [kids being admitted] at the children’s hospital, they’re coming from this community,” Gallo said at the town hall.

In order to eventually rid the highest impacted homes of lead poisoning, the city intends to create programs and activities such as lead-based paint inspections and assessments, full abatement designed to permanently eliminate lead-based paint, or partial abatement for repairs, painting, and specialized cleaning meant for temporary reduction of hazards.

In feedback for what the city could implement in their programming, residents in attendance of the event said they want more accessibility to resources, like blood testing, and information from officials about lead poisoning symptoms, hotlines for assistance, and updates on the reduction of lead in their communities.

Attendees also asked how they’d know where they are on the prioritization list and what would be done to address lead in the water found at several school sites in Oakland last year.

City staff said there will be a follow-up event to gather more community input for programming in August, with finalizations happening in the fall and a pilot launch in early 2026.