Oakland’s temporary refuge for homeless

Tiny homes planned on lot set for development

For six years, Oakland officials have waited for a local developer to break ground on 361 homes — including 108 affordable units — in two buildings near Oakland’s Lake Merritt — a project that would bring muchneeded housing and boost the city’s tax revenue.

During that time, the cityowned lot went from being an empty 1acre parcel to the home of at least a dozen people at a sprawling homeless encampment.

While the developer insists construction on the cityowned lot could begin in less a year, the city plans to use the lot temporarily to create a tiny home village for the homeless.

“We want to make sure that we are hearing from everyone as we move forward.”

Lia Azul Salaverry, policy analyst and community liaison for Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas’ office

“For every parcel of land that has yet to have construction start or a permanent development ... it shouldn’t just sit there, it should actually be used for the public good, for an interim homelessness solution,” said City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas.

The saga of the Lake Merritt site reflects the dynamics of the Bay Area’s housing crisis. The region’s struggle to build homes — with marketrate and affordable projects often taking years because of complicated approvals, resident opposition and high construction costs — has contributed to a skyrocketing homeless crisis. At times, encampments have taken over vacant sites that could accommodate homes.

Bas is proposing creating 60 tiny homes for people who currently live on the parcel and in nearby encampments. Each home — pallet shelters with electricity — would house one person unless the occupant wants to room with someone. Toilets, showers and wraparound services would also be available. The city has funding for the project — the pallets cost about $5,000 each to build, and services would cost around $1.5 million — though the total cost of the project isn’t yet known.

Officials recently chose Pallet Shelter, which designs the structures specifically for emergency housing for the homeless, to build the project, which could be ready at the end of summer.

Margaretta Lin, a lecturer in the urban planning department at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, said it makes sense for cities to use vacant land parcels to create temporary housing in the form of tiny homes or mobile homes for the homeless until developers are ready to break ground. Lin said she has been urging city officials in Oakland for years to use public land in this way.

Lin noted that available vacant parcels owned by the city, school district and BART can be used for development and in the interim, for temporary solutions like the one Bas is proposing.

The tinyhome project would join the city’s other attempts to address homelessness, including leasing and purchasing hotels and opening more safe RV parking programs.

In 2019, the most recent data available, Oakland counted more than 3,200 unsheltered people on city streets out of a total homeless population of more than 4,000. That number has probably increased during the pandemic.

Housing production was booming before the pandemic, but nearly all construction ground to a halt during the last year or so, and even before the pandemic very few homes for lowincome and verylowincome households were built.

The state is asking Oakland to issue permits for 6,949 lowincome and moderate units by 2023, but the city has met only 22% of that goal so far. Oakland was also asked to issue permits for 7,816 units for abovemoderateincome households and has met 174% of that goal, according to city staff.

Shola Olatoye, the city’s director of housing and community development, said any housing, including the project proposed for East 12th Street and Second Avenue, is desperately needed.

“We do not have enough units for the people who are in need and we certainly don’t have enough units at the lowest end of the income scale,” Olatoye said.

Housing developers and city officials identify development costs as the biggest

barrier to creating housing, Lin said.

As the plan for tiny homes moves forward, Bas plans to create a community council of unsheltered people who will live at the site and housed neighbors. The council would then create a code of conduct “for what we want the culture to be like and what will be allowable at the site,” said Lia Azul Salaverry, a policy analyst and community liaison for Bas’ office.

“We want to make sure that we are hearing from everyone as we move forward and especially as we flesh out all of the various elements,” Salaverry said.

Bas has buyin from the developer to use the land before construction begins.

“We support that because it will obviously clean up the site, bring some order and will also make the relocation process when we are ready to start easier for the city,” said Michael Johnson, president of UrbanCore Development, which is planning the tower.

But there are still two big hurdles to Johnson realizing his vision for the project, which will cost a combined $305 million to build. First, Johnson still needs to raise nearly $85 million out of a total project cost of $236 million for the tower.

Then Johnson and his partner on a 91unit, sixstory affordable midrise building need to raise more money to build the $70 million project, which will have units for those making 30% to 60% of area median income. Nonprofit builder East Bay Asian Local Development Corp. and UrbanCore have secured more than $18 million in public subsidies and plan to use taxexempt bonds and tax credits, but don’t have the full amount yet.

Beyond the financing, Johnson needs to secure yet another extension from the city, which first approved the project in 2017.

The most recent extension lasts until Aug. 15 and Johnson said he expects to receive another extension in August for six months and insists that construction will begin before that time is up.

But with the extension, Johnson might need City Council approval to make changes to his development agreement with the city. Bas said it’s not clear that will happen because of the project’s complex history and how long it’s taken to get anything built on the site.

Johnson is optimistic he’ll get the extension.

“Anybody else would have to go back to square one and that would take another three to four years before the project could even get approved,” he said. “We are making every effort for that not to happen.”

Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas (right) speaks with Krystal, a resident of the encampment.

Photos by Nina Riggio / The Chronicle Mtulazaji lights an incense stick in front of his tent. He has been residing at the site near Lake Merritt on and off for five years. The lot has been slated as the future home of 361 homes.

Photos by Nina Riggio / Special to The Chronicle Above: City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas speaks with Aideen, a homeless man, about plans for a project to be built at the Oakland lot on which he has lived for the past year. Right: Bas examines a makeshift tent with Krystal, who also resides at the encampment near Lake Merritt.