City Government

Oakland Considers Steps to Protect Low-Income Residential Hotels

Published

10 years ago

September 29, 2016

Oakland is considering passing regulations to protect residential hotels for low- and very-low income residents.

“Increasingly, speculative real estate investors have begun to target Oakland’s residential hotels as potential lucrative conversion projects,” according to a city staff report approved unanimously at Tuesday’s Community and Economic Development (CED) meeting.

The investors are converting these buildings into “boutique hotels” that cater to the affluent, and some have become Airbnb rentals, according to affording housing advocates.

Residential hotels, often called Single Room Occupancies or SROs, are an “essential option” for low-income Oaklanders who would otherwise face displacement or end up homeless and on the street, the city report said.

“(SROs) don’t require credit checks, proof of income or a long-term lease that may disqualify some from accessing other forms of long term housing,” making them an important source of housing for low-income people, the report said.

About 25 percent of residential hotel tenants have lived in their units for more than five years and many of those who live in the SROs are elderly African American and Chinese residents.

According to the city report, there are 18 residential hotels in downtown Oakland, with a total of about 1,200 units.

Council members and community affordable housing advocates are concerned that the staff report gives the city only six months to come up with options for preserving residential hotels.

During that period, they said, investors have the opportunity buy up residential buildings and convert them. Housing advocates are asking the city to pass a moratorium on such conversions until protections are enacted by the council.

Proposals include requesting that the City Planning Commission amend the Planning Code to preserve residential housing for low-income residents.

Staff is also asking that the amount of relocation assistance be increased for residents.

The staff report also requests that the City Administrator look into whether Oakland could purchase or lease residential hotels.

Speaking at the meeting, Elissa Dennis, senior affordable housing finance consultant of Community Economics, said many of the city’s SROs are privately owned and not in very good condition.

“But they are providing housing of last resort,” she said. They are “being rehabbed…and it’s happening very rapidly.”

“Put a moratorium on conversions,” Dennis said. “You don’t want your efforts to exacerbate the conversions.”

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Op-Ed: Oakland Schools Need New Leadership

Don't Miss

Torres, Hutchinson and Trenado Run in Oakland District 5 School Board Race

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 1 – 7, 2026

Published

1 day ago

July 5, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Inaugural Juneteenth Awards Ceremony Celebrates the Fillmore’s Black History, Leadership and Resilience

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

Published

1 week ago

June 26, 2026

Oakland Post

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor Emeritus of Third Baptist Church, SF Mayor Daniel Lurie. Photo by Linda Parker Pennington.

By Linda Parker Pennington

The Fillmore Community Ambassadors held its first annual Juneteenth Wesley Johnson White Horse Awards ceremony on June 19 inside the newly reopened Fillmore Heritage Center.

The event featured awards for former San Francisco mayors London Breed and Willie Brown, along with Third Baptist Church Pastor Emeritus, Rev. Dr. Amos Brown.

The Koret Heritage lobby at the newly reopened center at 1330 Fillmore St. held a standing-room-only, culturally diverse and multi-generational audience while the art gallery featured photos of Fillmore community members in action, red Japanese lanterns, art and calligraphy, and Chinese artwork, giving the space a multicultural feel.

Addressing more than 100 Black and Asian attendees, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated “San Francisco is reliant on the Black community, and we must invest in this community.”

District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood acknowledged that “the Fillmore community has had a difficult history. Thanks to Rev. Amos Brown’s continuous focus on accountability and resistance, you hold us accountable and continue to inspire us.”

Mahmoud is referring to the Fillmore’s Japanese residents who were forced from their homes and sent to concentration camps during World War II. Black people occupied those homes until the return of their Japanese neighbors and then gave them back, while homes that had been unoccupied were lost. The presence of the Asian community on Juneteenth is a testament to that shared history.

In receiving his honor, Amos Brown elicited a powerful spontaneous call-and-response, where members of San Francisco’s many Black churches proudly shouted out the names: “Bethel AME! Providence Baptist! Jones Memorial! Glide!”

Awards program Master of Ceremonies Shawn Richards of Brothers Against Guns warmly introduced Breed, highlighting her many accomplishments, particularly on “March 16, 2020, when she became the first mayor to shut down a major U.S. city due to COVID-19, saving thousands of lives.”

The audience was captivated by Breed’s emotional speech touching on past traumas, present conditions, and future hopes for the neighborhood where she grew up.

She recalled another trauma of the neighborhood during the City’s redevelopment era in the 1960s, where Black residents were forced to move with a promise of being able to return that was largely unfulfilled.

“We remember when this land was just a field because they bulldozed hundreds of Victorian homes that Black people owned. They built the Fillmore Center, where most Black people can’t afford to live or start their own business. But we are still here.”