Our new Rental Subsidies Pilot will Stop Displacement, Prevent Homelessness
Walking around Oakland, it is clear our city is facing a housing crisis. We have one of the largest populations of unhoused people in the country and Alameda County has the third highest rate of unsheltered people nationwide. People born and raised here are at risk of losing their homes because we have a deep lack of affordable housing for people who are low income and extremely low income.
The reality is, people journey into homelessness is a product of a system that is pushing people out of housing. Oaklanders are being deprived of housing and the dignity it offers, something we at the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation consider to be a basic human right and an essential component to justice.
That’s unacceptable.
For too long, a lack of affordable housing has threatened the livelihoods of low income and extremely low-income Oaklanders. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has only made matters worse for Black and indigenous people of color, this issue has existed for decades. As housing prices continue to skyrocket in the Bay Area, it’s high time we try new solutions to old problems.
So, that’s what we’re doing. We’re trying something different.
The only way to eradicate homelessness is to help prevent people from experiencing homelessness in the first place. There is a vulnerable group of low-income Oaklanders on the verge of losing their housing. Shallow subsidies — given in the amount of $500-$800 — can help keep people in their home, out of shelters and off the street.
On November 16, 2021, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and community partners joined us to announce a new Shallow Subsidies Pilot program that will provide 200 households a portion of their monthly rent to stop their displacement from Oakland and prevent them from experiencing homelessness. These funds will support families who live in Oakland’s most vulnerable communities, where rent has in some neighborhoods increased by as much as 90 percent. This program will help decrease rent burden to below 50 percent to support those who are a mere crisis away from falling out of housing.
Before this launch, assistance in this form didn’t exist in Oakland. But, we know from in-depth research that shallow subsidies work. A report published earlier this year by Alameda County’s EveryOne Home, “Centering Racial Equity in Homeless System Design”, identified shallow subsidies as a critical unmet need, and one of the only proven strategies to keep people housed.
For this initial pilot, we selected households in neighborhoods where data shows people are most at risk of losing their homes. These are mostly black and brown households, and incidentally, also the communities with the highest rates of positive COVID-19 cases in the area. Many are essential workers with low-paying jobs, who live in overcrowded spaces, which only increases their likelihood of contracting the virus.
We’re focused on areas with high rates of gentrification and the corresponding displacement of people of color. We know that Black people make up 20 percent of Oakland’s overall population, yet account for 70 percent of Oakland’s homeless population. This pilot will promote economic mobility so more Oaklanders of color stay housed and have the opportunity to thrive.
Our community partner, Jonathan Russell, who joins us in this effort, has spent his career looking for creative solutions to Oakland’s housing crisis. As Chief Strategy Officer at Bay Area Community Services, he works at the intersection of homelessness, behavioral health, and racial and housing justice.
“What brings me to this work is an overall sense that this is part of a broader struggle for social justice we need as a community,” Jonathan said. “Housing, and a lack thereof, has been one of the main perpetrators of the gross economic and social injustices we have in our country and the world. Righting the system is essential to fixing all of our systems.”
We know there’s no time to waste.
We’ve already begun to distribute funds to families the city identified as being in real crisis. These 200 households are eligible to receive their “shallow subsidies” for 18 months, but some may not need the subsidy each month, depending on financial health.
Our top priority for these subsidies is to keep people housed. That said, we’re eager to see what other positive outcomes emerge from supplemental income in households that need it most. By relieving this financial burden, we expect these subsidies will improve overall household health, allowing Oaklanders to invest more in medical needs, employment support, groceries and family time.
We’re proud to work at the intersection of government and philanthropy to support families who need help now, and we know this will make a difference. But, there is so much work to be done. For the 920 families in Oakland who were identified in the County’s report as the most vulnerable households, it’s estimated that it would cost $10 million a year to prevent them from becoming homeless.
At OFPI, we’re stepping in as an innovative government partner to try something new, see what works, then scale it up to policy and permanence. As with all of our work, we’re determined to learn from this pilot and create real change to larger policy to tackle homelessness head on and end Oakland’s housing crisis.