New bill draws inspiration from Moms 4 Housing

Senator introduces measure to penalize companies that let houses remain vacant

Just weeks after a group of homeless moms moved into an empty house in West Oakland and ultimately won the right to buy the property through a nonprofit, an East Bay lawmaker on Wednesday introduced a bill to limit the number of vacant homes in California and give tenants and cities the opportunity to buy them.

“Moms 4 Housing shined a light on the fact that while over a 150,000 Californians are now homeless, right now in our own neighborhoods, there are more than 1 million vacant homes,” Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, said in a statement. “Many of these affordable homes were snatched up during a foreclosure by corporations who then kept the houses vacant or flipped them for hefty profits.”

Senate Bill 1079, Skinner’s proposal, would let local governments fine corporations that own multiple single-family homes if they let them sit empty for more than 90 days. The money then would go toward rental assistance, homelessness prevention efforts and other affordable housing programs. It also would allow cities to use eminent domain to buy the vacant homes for affordable housing.

The bill also would also give tenants the first chance to buy homes if they go into foreclosure. If they decline, cities, counties, community land trusts and nonprofit affordable housing groups would have the opportunity to buy the properties to create affordable housing.

Although cities and counties right now have that right in many places, they often decline and houses often are bought by corporations at auction. SB1079 would aim to encourage corporations to either rent out or sell the homes to local governments by allowing cities and counties that are relying on eminent domain to use the lowest appraised value of a property.

Last year, a group of mothers formed Moms 4 Housing, and the mothers moved with their children into a home on Magnolia Street owned by Wedgewood, a company that regularly flips and sells houses in the area.

Amid intense pressure, including from Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, the company agreed to negotiate the sale of the home with the Oakland Community Land Trust.

Skinner’s bill isn’t the first proposal to result from Moms 4 Housing’s efforts. Oakland City Councilwoman Nikki Fortunato Bas also has proposed enacting an ordinance aimed at encouraging landlords to give tenants, land trusts and affordable housing developers the first chance to buy property if they decide to sell.

On Thursday, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin outlined an ordinance, the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, which is expected to come up for a vote next month.

It would give renters the right to purchase apartment buildings and nonowner- occupied, singlefamily homes that are put on the market.

“We need to build more affordable housing,” Arreguin, who supports Skinner’s proposal, acknowledged. But he said the area needs to “preserve” existing housing so that long-time tenants, particularly African Americans, aren’t priced out of the city altogether.

East Palo Alto also is considering a similar concept.

Arreguin spoke in front of a home on 10th Street in Berkeley that recently was purchased by the Northern California Land Trust after the landlord announced plans to sell and longtime residents organized in protest. Dominique Walker, a member of Moms 4 Housing, now resides in the home.

“It feels like this is the beginning of a movement,”

Walker said Thursday.

Leah Simon-Weisberg, a leading tenants rights attorney in the state, called Skinner’s bill a “great step forward,” adding that she hoped a statewide effort ultimately would help boost funding to help tenants and nonprofits take ownership of more housing.

Census data suggests there are just under 6,000 vacant homes in Oakland — more than the city’s 4,000 or so homeless residents — and about 46,000 vacant homes in the five- county Bay Area.

“There is no excuse for a vacant home when so many of our neighbors are homeless,” Skinner said. “And helping tenants buy foreclosed homes rather than be evicted will keep people housed.”