Oakland: 11 years later, this homeless housing is ready for occupancy

OAKLAND — After more than a decade of work, hundreds of thousands of dollars raised and multiple city permitting hurdles jumped, a housing development built by homeless people for homeless people is ready to accept new residents.

The four new townhomes on MacArthur Boulevard in East Oakland will house about eight families rent-free after the city recently waived the project’s final hurdle — a $40,000 impact fee. The developer, a grassroots nonprofit group called Poor Magazine, says the project has been ready for occupancy for more than a year, but kept getting caught up in city fees and other bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, members of Poor Magazine and other supporters of the project — dubbed “Homefulness” — gathered in Frank Ogawa Plaza outside Oakland’s planning and building department. They cheered the city’s approval, while also condemning what they said is a convoluted and expensive permitting and construction process that delayed much-needed housing in the midst of a homelessness crisis. Poor Magazine, which hopes Homefulness will serve as an example to other grassroots housing efforts led by homeless people and people in poverty, urged the city to pass new rules to expedite homeless housing projects.

“Today we’re praying and celebrating, and we’re also demanding that they don’t pull this on other people,” said Poor Magazine co-founder Lisa Gray-Garcia.

The city did not respond to a request for comment.

The saga started in 2011 when Gray-Garcia and her team scraped together $89,000 to buy a run-down duplex. The nonprofit, which runs a magazine, radio station, school and aid organization, mostly relies on donations from affluent members of its “Solidarity Family” to fund its projects.

They fixed up the building and Gray-Garcia and her son, who had been homeless, moved in along with several other residents. Then, they started work on four new townhomes on the property. The team instantly ran into hurdle after hurdle as they struggled to navigate the city’s planning and building rules with no experience and little money or other resources, Gray-Garcia said.

Last year, the four new townhomes were finished, but the city wouldn’t let anyone move in until Poor Magazine built three parking spaces on the property. Gray-Garcia said it was a waste, as few residents would have cars. But the group raised the money and built the spaces — it cost $34,000 to level the ground, pour the concrete and move a utility box, she said.

After the work was already done, the city granted their request to waive the parking requirement, said Janelle Orsi, co-founder of Sustainable Economies Law Center, which has been helping Poor Magazine.

“It’s been this harrowing experience,” she said.

The latest hurdle was a $40,000 impact fee, ironically, the bulk of which would go toward helping the city build affordable housing.

Poor Magazine held a protest in March — even barging into the lobby of the city’s building and planning department — filled out the 40-page fee waiver application and reached out to local officials for help. Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan and Councilmember Carroll Fife gave their support, Gray-Garcia said.

Kaplan “is a huge proponent of getting people off of the streets and getting them housed,” said Kimberly Jones, Kaplan’s chief of staff. “And so this project resonated with her for that reason.”

When asked about the hurdles Poor Magazine faced in building the project, Jones said “we see their point, and it is among the things that we would like to work with them on in the future.” Kaplan’s office is working on a city-wide resolution that would end parking requirements for small, affordable housing developments, Jones said.

Gray-Garcia also wants to see high permitting fees lowered or waived for homeless housing projects built by people who are homeless or living in poverty themselves. Her team also suggested the city hire a liaison to help grassroots developers like Poor Magazine through the process.

Those reforms could help Poor Magazine with its second housing project — 14 accessory dwelling units on another lot the nonprofit recently purchased on MacArthur. They hope to submit plans to the city within the next few months