Uncategorized

Western Addition Residents Launch City’s Biggest Rent Strike Since 1978

Published

10 years ago

September 6, 2015

By The Save Midtown Tenants Committee

Three short weeks ago, a group of tenants at Midtown Park Apartments in San Francisco’s Fillmore District launched the city’s biggest rent strike in nearly 40 years, highlighting the ever-growing tensions over affordable housing in the Western Addition neighborhood.

On Aug. 3, more than 60 households showed up at the office of their property manager, San Francisco-based Mercy Housing, to protest rent increases ranging from 30 percent to 300 percent.

At a press conference led by Midtown’s long-time legal representative, civil rights attorney Joshua Arce, residents and their supporters announced that they would withhold their monthly rent until the city Rent Board, and potentially a court of law, render a final decision on whether the rent increases violate the city’s rent control regulations.

At first glance, there is no question that Midtown should be protected by rent control, which would prohibit rent increases that average 100% for the 65 households participating in the rent strike.

The 139-unit affordable housing community was built in the 1960s, just as Redevelopment Agency bulldozers prepared to rip the Western Addition apart, and residents received rent increases limited to the amount allowed by the 1979 San Francisco Rent Ordinance, until only recently.

There is a twist in the Midtown rent control debate, however: Midtown is owned by the City and County of San Francisco.

City leaders have asserted that Midtown, San Francisco’s only city-owned affordable housing site, is thus exempt from rent control and eviction protections that would otherwise be unquestioned if Midtown’s owner were a private entity.

Midtown’s attorneys at the AIDS Legal Referral Panel and Brightline Defense have filed for a determination of the rent control question at the Rent Board hearing on Sept. 15, and an appeal to the California Superior Court is likely regardless of what the Rent Board decides.

Supporting the Midtown residents are Dr. Espanola Jackson, Aboriginal Blackmen United, Our Mission No Eviction, the Holly Courts Public Housing Resident Council, Laborers Union Local 261, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 648.

A weeklong series of actions followed their Aug. 3 rent strike announcement, including protests at the Mayor’s Office Housing, rallies at the corner of Geary and Divisadero streets, visits to the offices of Mayor Ed Lee and District Supervisor London Breed, and broad media coverage on television and in print.

Midtown residents’ attorney Arce has presented the residents with a blueprint for a rent strike that he had worked on with civil rights legend Ambassador Andrew Young.

“I had the chance to spend an evening with Ambassador Young in which he told me about a successful rent strike that he organized with Dr. King in Chicago in 1966,” recalled Arce. “We tailored a plan that we thought would work at Midtown in 2015.”

The Midtown rent strike, which began on a Monday, ended in victory four days later on Friday, when the City and Mercy agreed to postpone rent increases for all 65 families pending the outcome of the rent control determination process. In the meantime, families have the ability to petition for rent decreases and re-evaluations.

“Each and every family had to stay strong each and every day of the rent strike,” said Midtown Board Vice-President Donald Griggs, a Midtown resident for the past 33 years. “We’re all concerned about our neighbors and together we have the strength to win. Plus we have ourselves one heck of a lawyer in Joshua Arce.”

Griggs recounted “The last time San Francisco saw a rent strike of this size was the 1978 Ping Yuen Public Housing Apartments tenants rent strike.. Based our success in 2015, The Midtown residents are clearly ready to handle any challenge that may come our way when the San Francisco Rent Board renders its decision on September 15”.

The Save Midtown Tenants Committee is a coalition of Midtown residents, their community allies, and labor unions committed to safe and secure housing and empowerment for the 139 households of Midtown Park Apartments.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

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

Posts by Oakland Post

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

Posts by Oakland Post

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

12 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.