8 22-0567 Subject: Place An Affordable Housing Infrastructure Bond On The November 2022 Ballot
From: Finance Department
Recommendation: Adopt A Resolution On The City Council's Own Motion Submitting To The Voters At The November 8, 2022, General Municipal Election, A Proposed Ordinance To Authorize Issuance Of $850 Million In General Obligation Bonds To Fund Affordable Housing And Housing Preservation Projects, Transportation Projects, And Various City Infrastructure; And Directing The City Clerk To Fix The Date For Submission Of Arguments And Provide For Notice And Publication, And Take Any And All Actions Necessary Under Law To Submit This Measure To The Voters At The November 8, 2022 General Municipal Election
Thank you for addressing much needed affordable housing and transportation infrastructure with Measure KK.
I am requesting that you update the measure to require street safety when a road is repaved by updating 2.a:
(a) Street paving and reconstruction, which must implement current City of Oakland pedestrian and bicycle safety plans wherever and whenever street paving and reconstruction is performed, as mandated by the City of Oakland’s Complete Streets Policy.
Since May I have organized four vigils for people killed by preventable traffic violence. Thank you Councilmembers Kalb, Fife, Bas, and Taylor for attending these vigils.
- Jonathan Waters was killed at 55th and Shattuck making a left turn, it is still dangerous to take left turns on Shattuck today.
- Emelia Martinez was killed at 16th and International walking to church, it is still dangerous to walk to her church today.
- Dmitry Putilov was killed at 14th and Jefferson while biking with his kids, it is still dangerous to bike with kids today.
- Lolo Soakai was killed at 54th and International while eating a burrito on the sidewalk, it is still dangerous to stand along International today.
Their deaths were determined when we originally decided to pave our roads for fast car travel without including sufficient safe infrastructure for people.
Today we have the opportunity to do better. The best time to build safe streets was before our neighbors were killed, the next best time is now.
Please approve this item, Oakland desperately needs funding for affordable housing preservation.
I am a Stewardship Coordinator at the Oakland Community Land Trust, a recipient of Measure KK housing preservation dollars. These funds have been essential for purchasing and preserving tenant occupied homes, particularly ones where tenants are at risk of displacement due to landlord harassment, refused maintenance, & steep rent increases. To date these funds have helped OakCLT and other mission-aligned organizations to acquire 420 units of housing and keep them permanently affordable.
Housing preservation, as opposed to new construction, is a cost-effective strategy for not just maintaining Oakland's dwindling supply of unsubsidized affordable housing but is essential for keeping people rooted in place. This strategy is critical especially in this moment of rising costs and increased insecurity for low-income Oaklanders (and all Oaklanders!)
OakCLT receives calls weekly from tenants who are receiving rent increases, or whose landlords are selling their properties, and fear that they will be displaced with no place to go. We also hear from landlords who care about their tenants and want their property to be responsibly stewarded. Because these funds no longer exist we have to turn people away. If this bond measure were renewed in November, it would greatly expand our ability to keep people in their homes and off our streets. Please approve this item.
Case in point a clear-cut definition of affordable housing. As per HUD Sec. 6932 Income limits 2021. Acutely Low - 13200, Extremely Low - 28800, Very Low 47950, MEDIAN - 87900, for one person. Most developers and do not make units available to this sector of people. The developer's target is usually 50%, 76%, 80% and 120% of MEDIAN INCOME LIMITS. 2022 INCOME LIMITS ARE HIGHER!
I would like to request that item 2.a be amended to directly tie repaving and road reconstruction efforts to Oakland's safe streets mandate.
Two years ago I was just starting to organize to get much needed traffic calming on 8th Street in Prescott, because drivers were ripping through at 60, 70, 80 miles per hour and more. In the short time I’ve been here, I witnessed the aftermath of four car crashes into yards and homes in a three block area. Neighbors who had lived here decades were exasperated and resigned to the problem. When I contacted OakDOT they told me that even though 8th Street was scheduled to be paved via the paving program, they couldn’t add desperately needed traffic calming elements like speed humps or traffic circles as a part of the paving. We went to great lengths with our campaign to highlight the problem and we’re grateful the city has awarded 8th street the CIP funds to implement traffic calming on the one mile segment of 8th between Market and Pine. But Oaklanders shouldn’t have to go to those lengths for basic safety.
We can’t just smoothen wide, dangerous streets so reckless drivers can turn them into drag strips and keep killing and injuring Oaklanders. I am asking before this measure is finalized, the language in item 2.a be amended once more to ensure when we pave, we also improve the safety on our streets by implementing the already approved Oakland bicycle and pedestrian plans. Thank you.
Two things. The council has mixed infrastructure and maintenance expense together in what this bond measure will be used for. Much of the flurry around this says it is not a tax increase. So what is: The City's best estimate of the ad valorem tax rate required to be levied on all taxable property in the City to pay debt service on the total amount of the proposed bonds ($850 million) is projected to average $71 per year per $100,000 of assessed property valuation while bonds are outstanding. Such estimation shall not be construed to limit the power and duty of the City Council to cause to be levied and collected a tax sufficient to pay debt service on the bonds in any fiscal year, which are secured by an unlimited ad valorem tax on all eligible property in the City. As an example of "not a tax'" this fails. This is the part where we just put it on our children's tab, I guess.
Thank you council members for bringing this to the ballot.
I would like to request that item 2.a be amended to directly tie repaving and road reconstruction efforts to oaklands safe streets mandate.
Given the high rate of killings by drivers on oakland's streets, it's of paramount importance at this time that council speak to traffic violence by ensuring that expensive road reconstruction efforts do not lock into amber dangerous road conditions and instead use these construction opportunities to implement already planned street safety interventions.
Thank you for addressing much needed affordable housing and transportation infrastructure with Measure KK.
I am requesting that you update the measure to require street safety when a road is repaved by updating 2.a:
(a) Street paving and reconstruction, which must implement current City of Oakland pedestrian and bicycle safety plans wherever and whenever street paving and reconstruction is performed, as mandated by the City of Oakland’s Complete Streets Policy.
Since May I have organized four vigils for people killed by preventable traffic violence. Thank you Councilmembers Kalb, Fife, Bas, and Taylor for attending these vigils.
- Jonathan Waters was killed at 55th and Shattuck making a left turn, it is still dangerous to take left turns on Shattuck today.
- Emelia Martinez was killed at 16th and International walking to church, it is still dangerous to walk to her church today.
- Dmitry Putilov was killed at 14th and Jefferson while biking with his kids, it is still dangerous to bike with kids today.
- Lolo Soakai was killed at 54th and International while eating a burrito on the sidewalk, it is still dangerous to stand along International today.
Their deaths were determined when we originally decided to pave our roads for fast car travel without including sufficient safe infrastructure for people.
Today we have the opportunity to do better. The best time to build safe streets was before our neighbors were killed, the next best time is now.
Please approve this item, Oakland desperately needs funding for affordable housing preservation.
I am a Stewardship Coordinator at the Oakland Community Land Trust, a recipient of Measure KK housing preservation dollars. These funds have been essential for purchasing and preserving tenant occupied homes, particularly ones where tenants are at risk of displacement due to landlord harassment, refused maintenance, & steep rent increases. To date these funds have helped OakCLT and other mission-aligned organizations to acquire 420 units of housing and keep them permanently affordable.
Housing preservation, as opposed to new construction, is a cost-effective strategy for not just maintaining Oakland's dwindling supply of unsubsidized affordable housing but is essential for keeping people rooted in place. This strategy is critical especially in this moment of rising costs and increased insecurity for low-income Oaklanders (and all Oaklanders!)
OakCLT receives calls weekly from tenants who are receiving rent increases, or whose landlords are selling their properties, and fear that they will be displaced with no place to go. We also hear from landlords who care about their tenants and want their property to be responsibly stewarded. Because these funds no longer exist we have to turn people away. If this bond measure were renewed in November, it would greatly expand our ability to keep people in their homes and off our streets. Please approve this item.
Case in point a clear-cut definition of affordable housing. As per HUD Sec. 6932 Income limits 2021. Acutely Low - 13200, Extremely Low - 28800, Very Low 47950, MEDIAN - 87900, for one person. Most developers and do not make units available to this sector of people. The developer's target is usually 50%, 76%, 80% and 120% of MEDIAN INCOME LIMITS. 2022 INCOME LIMITS ARE HIGHER!
I would like to request that item 2.a be amended to directly tie repaving and road reconstruction efforts to Oakland's safe streets mandate.
Two years ago I was just starting to organize to get much needed traffic calming on 8th Street in Prescott, because drivers were ripping through at 60, 70, 80 miles per hour and more. In the short time I’ve been here, I witnessed the aftermath of four car crashes into yards and homes in a three block area. Neighbors who had lived here decades were exasperated and resigned to the problem. When I contacted OakDOT they told me that even though 8th Street was scheduled to be paved via the paving program, they couldn’t add desperately needed traffic calming elements like speed humps or traffic circles as a part of the paving. We went to great lengths with our campaign to highlight the problem and we’re grateful the city has awarded 8th street the CIP funds to implement traffic calming on the one mile segment of 8th between Market and Pine. But Oaklanders shouldn’t have to go to those lengths for basic safety.
We can’t just smoothen wide, dangerous streets so reckless drivers can turn them into drag strips and keep killing and injuring Oaklanders. I am asking before this measure is finalized, the language in item 2.a be amended once more to ensure when we pave, we also improve the safety on our streets by implementing the already approved Oakland bicycle and pedestrian plans. Thank you.
Two things. The council has mixed infrastructure and maintenance expense together in what this bond measure will be used for. Much of the flurry around this says it is not a tax increase. So what is: The City's best estimate of the ad valorem tax rate required to be levied on all taxable property in the City to pay debt service on the total amount of the proposed bonds ($850 million) is projected to average $71 per year per $100,000 of assessed property valuation while bonds are outstanding. Such estimation shall not be construed to limit the power and duty of the City Council to cause to be levied and collected a tax sufficient to pay debt service on the bonds in any fiscal year, which are secured by an unlimited ad valorem tax on all eligible property in the City. As an example of "not a tax'" this fails. This is the part where we just put it on our children's tab, I guess.
Thank you council members for bringing this to the ballot.
I would like to request that item 2.a be amended to directly tie repaving and road reconstruction efforts to oaklands safe streets mandate.
Given the high rate of killings by drivers on oakland's streets, it's of paramount importance at this time that council speak to traffic violence by ensuring that expensive road reconstruction efforts do not lock into amber dangerous road conditions and instead use these construction opportunities to implement already planned street safety interventions.