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Kaiser Permanente, Habitat for Humanity, Oakland Community Land Trust Create More Affordable Housing Options

Families will soon move into two newly rehabilitated single-family homes on Manila Avenue near the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center

Published

4 years ago

October 5, 2021

Isabelle Price

Oct 18, 2019 Oakland / CA / USA - Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in East San Francisco Bay Area; Kaiser Permanente is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland

Two newly renovated homes on Manila Avenue in Oakland will provide families with more affordable housing options and help transform the surrounding neighborhood near the Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, the health organization announced on October 1.

Kiet Dang and his family will be moving into one of the two homes later this year. The family of three is now living with seven other people in a single-family home with one bathroom. The family sleeps in one bedroom, takes turns in the kitchen, and has little privacy. They are looking forward to finally having a home to call their own and a separate bedroom for their 12-year-old son to study and draw.
“This is very exciting for us,” Dang said. “With this house, our family can have more time together. That’s very important to me.”

In 2005, Kaiser Permanente purchased four single-family homes on Manila Avenue while constructing the Oakland Medical Offices on Broadway. The homes were later donated to Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley and Oakland Community Land Trust as part of Kaiser Permanente’s commitment to provide more stable, affordable housing in the communities it serves. Since 2019, Kaiser Permanente Northern California has invested $41 million to build and preserve affordable housing for low-income residents.

“Kaiser Permanente recognizes that it’s impossible to maintain good health without a safe and stable place to live,” said Carrie Owen Plietz, FACHE, president of Kaiser Permanente Northern California’s region. “We are excited to be a part of this effort, and to help residents find permanent housing where they can raise their families. We know the places where we live, learn, work and play have the greatest influence on our physical, mental and social well-being.”

Kaiser Permanente partnered with Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley and Oakland Community Land Trust because of their commitment to establishing permanent affordable housing for communities that have been disproportionately excluded from home ownership as a result of income, unfair lending practices, and housing discrimination. The two non-profit organizations have been making significant improvements to two of the four homes for several months. Volunteers have worked to renovate the homes while maintaining the quality and character of the neighborhood. Those who purchase the Habitat homes must also put in hundreds of hours of sweat equity work into the construction and rehabilitation.

“It’s incredible to see, firsthand, the stability achieved, and opportunities gained by families who are able to own their own homes,” said Janice Jensen, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley. “Homeownership has been this family’s dream for many years. We’re so grateful for this generous donation from Kaiser Permanente, and to be a part of this family’s dream.”

The homes are sold through stable, affordable mortgages to families typically priced out of the market. Families earning low and moderate incomes are eligible to purchase the homes. Renovations on the remaining two homes will begin in the coming months, with families moving in early next year.

“We are excited to be nearing the completion of the rehabilitation of the first of our two homes,” said Steve King, executive director of the Oakland Community Land Trust. “This partnership has enabled us to provide deeply affordable ownership for low-income families in a high opportunity neighborhood – something that is increasingly difficult to do as home prices in Oakland continue to exceed what is affordable for most households.”

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Poll Shows Support for Policies That Help Families Afford Child Care

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

Published

7 days ago

March 2, 2026

Oakland Post

By First Five Years Fund

New national polling shows persistent voter concern about the affordability and availability of child care for working parents, alongside broad support across key demographic groups for federal child care policies that help families afford care.

The national survey was conducted by UpOne Insight on behalf of the First Five Years Fund from January 13–18, 2026.

Key findings include:

• Parents need help: 80% of voters say the ability of working parents to find and afford child care is either in a state of crisis or a major problem.

• This is an affordability issue: 82% believe federal child care funding will help lower costs for working families — including 69% of Republicans, 84% of Independents, and 94% of Democrats.

• And there continues to be strong support (62%) for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a federal program that makes it possible for hundreds of thousands of families to afford safe, quality care for their children while parents work or go to school, including a majority of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 72% of Democrats.

• Support for funding child care programs remains strong: 75% believe child care funding should be increased or kept at current levels — including 75% of Republicans, 85% of Independents, and 97% of Democrats.

• 74% say funding for child care is an important and good use of tax dollars, including a majority of Republicans, three-quarters of Independents, and nine in ten Democrats.

FFYF Executive Director Sarah Rittling said, “Voters across the country are sending a clear message: federal child care and early learning programs work. These investments help parents stay in the workforce, strengthen families, and support healthy child development. They have also long had strong bipartisan support in Congress. At a time when affordability is top of mind for families, continued federal funding is essential to ensure child care remains accessible and within reach.”

First Five Years Fund works to protect, prioritize, and build bipartisan support for quality child care and early learning programs at the federal level. Reliable, affordable, and high-quality early learning and child care can be transformative, not only enhancing a child’s prospects for a brighter future but also bolstering working parents and fostering economic stability nationwide.

We work with Congress and the Administration to identify federal solutions that work for families with young children, as well as states and communities. We work with policymakers to identify ways to increase access to affordable, high-quality child care and early learning programs for children. And we collaborate with advocacy groups to help align best practices with the best possible policies. http://www.ffyf.org

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Oakland Post: Week of February 25 – March 3, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 25 – March 3, 2026

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1 week ago

March 1, 2026

Oakland Post

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Trump’s MAGA Allies are Creating Executive Order Plan to Steal the 2026 Midterms

NNPA NEWSWIRE — The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

Published

1 week ago

February 27, 2026

Oakland Post

By Lauren Victoria Burke, NNPA Newswire Correspondent

A group of MAGA pro-Trump activists, who say they are working in coordination with the White House, are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that would claim without evidence that China interfered with the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential to President Joe Biden by over 7 million votes. Since Trump lost to Biden in 2020, he has repeatedly claimed that the election was “stolen” without evidence. The report of a group of “Trump allies” preparing an executive order to give Trump power over elections was first reported by The Washington Post.

The lies around the right-wing campaign that pushed falsehoods that the 2020 election was stolen was trafficked through right-wing media, particularly Fox News. Fox News was then sued for defamation for the claims by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox lost the case and had to settle for the largest defamation amount on record of $787.5 million in April 2023.

The document that could lead to an executive order proposes using the claim that China interfered with the 2020 elections as grounds to “declare a national emergency.” The move would be an unprecedented step that would grant Trump new authority over the voting systems in the U.S.

The story in The Washington Post arrives as Trump increasingly signals that he may take actions that would alter the result of the 2026 midterms. The Republicans are widely expected to lose as their approval ratings plummet as a result of a failing economy under Trump. Over 50 members of Congress have announced they will retire this year and not return in 2027.

The Trump Department of Justice, which now has a large image of Trump on the side of it, “sued five new states Thursday [Feb. 26, 2026] demanding access to their unredacted voter rolls — escalating a campaign that has been rejected by multiple federal courts and faces resistance from Republican-led states as well,” according to Democracy Docket, a group that works to protect voting rights.

Trump claimed back in late 2020, the last year of his first term, that he had the authority to issue an executive order related to mail-in voting for the 2020 elections — which he would then lose. But the Constitution states that control of elections lies with the states. As the GOP works to place hurdles in front of voting, Democrats worked to make voting easier.

In March 2021, President Biden signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to expand voting access as part of the Biden Administration’s effort “to promote and defend the right to vote for all Americans who are legally entitled to participate in elections.”

Trump’s focus is clearly on altering the November 2026 midterm elections. Trump’s polling numbers and the elections and special elections that have taken place around the U.S. over the last year clearly indicate that Republicans are about to be hit by a blue wave of Democratic victories.

Lauren Victoria Burke is an independent investigative journalist and the founder of Black Virginia News. She is a political analyst who appears on #RolandMartinUnfiltered and hosts the show LAUREN LIVE on YouTube @LaurenVictoriaBurke. She can be contacted at LBurke007@gmail.com and on twitter at @LVBurke