Reports say that the City of Oakland sent a press release to deliver more details regarding the funds Eliane Brown secured for her housing project. According to the latest reports, Oakland received a $17 million award from the State of California as financial support of Project Homekey funding. As part of the Project Homekey Initiative, Oakland’s money is for two innovative housing projects. The completion of this scheme is to provide shelters as it will offer 104 units of housing for folks experiencing or at-risk of homelessness, including those recently out from imprisonment.
A 22-unit hotel will be placed at Temescal, located at Telegraph Avenue and MacArthur Blvd. The Inn will be close to BART station and other service facilities near downtown Oakland, making for an accessible residential area.
Acquiring the property to build the units, for-profit developer Danco Communities and community-based organization Operation Dignity have agreed on a Purchase and Sale. They acquired the assets by the combination of City funds and Homekey grant funds from the State Housing and Community Development Department. Residents will have the welfares of direct services, and affordable housing opportunities as soon as the project is done. Operation Dignity will give a chance to homeless people to stay with the units, working with them to secure a login partnership with the Oakland Housing Authority and the Department of Veteran Affairs.
By the middle of December 2020, the site must be acquired as the Sponsor team plans to begin with the construction. The Inn at Temescal is service-enriched housing for currently poor people, specifically homeless folks, that will offer 21 units for occupants and one unit for a service manager.
An 82-unit Single Room Occupancy hotel at 392 Franklin St. will provide housing for persons recently released from nearby prisons, which are the most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak and are at risk of homelessness. Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency or BOSS will work with the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office as service providers to provide homes to those rapidly released because of overcrowding and the accelerating spread of COVID-19 in the State’s prison amenities.
The City will provide their support and partner the funds with Homekey Project with Oakland and The World Enterprises, Inc., a local nonprofit organization, McCormack Baron Salazar, Memar Properties, Inc., and FPI Management to acquire the property.
Mayor Libby Schaaf said, “With these two projects, Oakland just created more than 100 new units of housing for our unsheltered residents, and with a special priority to take care of our American heroes.” Mayor Libby added, “Our City staff works tirelessly to end homelessness in our streets, and I am grateful for Gov. Newsom’s leadership and his partnership, as we all work together to urgently address this crisis.”
Shola Olatoye, Housing and Community Development Director of the City, provided his thoughts that “These two projects are excellent examples of how state and local funding merge with projects rooted in a community organization to support sustainable solutions for combating the homeless crisis,”
The projects are projected to finish and will open to welcome every homeless people in early 2021.
