Uncut grass, peeling paint, and illegally dumped garbage characterized the foreclosed house in East Oakland.  But Monday morning a crowd of about two dozen people gathered in front of the house to mark the beginning of its transformation.  In about two months time this house will be a completely rehabilitated home with new owners thanks to Oakland Community Land Trust and its partners.  

The house at 8000 Olive St. & 80th Ave. is the first of 200 homes targeted for rehabilitation in West and East Oakland, neighborhoods that have been the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.  The Oakland Community Land Trust (OakCLT), whose motto is “Housing Families and Building Communities,” works with various partners to acquire, rehabilitate, then resell foreclosed properties to low- and moderate-income (50%-80% of area median income) Oakland residents.  

The Oakland Community Land Trust received just over $5 million through the City of Oakland (via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program) in HUD funds to be dedicated to such projects.  The mission of OakCLT is to help provide permanently affordable homes and to stave off blight in Oakland’s neighborhoods.

A few dozen people crowded around the front porch of the house in East Oakland to listen to OakCLT Interim Executive Director Anne Griffith announce the meaning of the day’s event.

“We are providing more than just a house,” Griffith said.  She spoke of the on-going home ownership counseling and support buyers receive and the building upgrades the targeted houses will undergo.

The homes purchased through the OakCLT process will not just be rehabilitated, they will be green-rehabilitated.  That means, among other things, that zero-VOC paint will be applied, energy efficient measures and appliances as well as low-flow showerheads and toilets will be installed, and bamboo floors will replace linoleum.  

Though the OakCLT officially formed in April of last year, the Urban Strategies Council (founding partner of OakCLT) started brainstorming about ways to address the housing crisis in 2007.  They looked at the community land trust model as a way to create a stock of permanently affordable housing in Oakland.

Griffith cited a study from last year that reported the nationwide foreclosure rate of CLT homes is just one half of 1%, as compared to 3.3 % with homes on the regular housing market. 

“It’s been a long haul.  We started this process over 2 years ago. Now it’s finally here.” Urban Strategies CEO and OakCLT Boardmember Junious Williams said.

The launch was well-attended by Oakland residents, politicians, and partners alike, including Oakland City Councilmember Desley Brooks, who spoke of the OakCLT program giving "stability, hope, and quality of life." Also present were Councilmember Jean Quan, OUPD Captain Paul Figueroa (Commander Area 3), staff from Mayor Dellum’s office, and representatives from other OakCLT partners, Turner Group Construction and Bay Area Home Buyer’s Agency.

A neighbor named Bertha who lives just a couple blocks away, testified in Spanish to the problems such as dumped trash and crime that vacant houses like this one cause in her community and the benefits OakCLT will bring. "We work hard, we don't want these kind of problems here.  We want home owners in this neighborhood."

Community land trusts (CLT) are a growing model of ownership across the Bay Area and the nation, one in which the price of the house is separated from the price of the land.  A community land trust is nonprofit organization that owns the land in perpetuity, thereby preventing market forces from driving up the cost.  CLTs typically sell the houses to low- and moderate-income residents at affordable prices, while retaining ownership of the underlying land.  In the Bay Area there is the San Francisco Community Land Trust, the Northern California Land Trust, the Bay Area Community Land Trust, and the North Oakland Community Land Trust.  

Crew members of Turner Construction immediately set to work removing the illegally dumped garbage and discarded furniture from the yard.  According to the foreman of Turner Group Construction, the plan is to put 10-15 union workers on each site and do a complete rehabilitation in 45-60 days.

While 200 homes is a small fraction of the thousands of foreclosed homes in the area, the OakCLT program is a stable way of building assets among Oakland residents.  If it were not for OakCLT, it is likely this house—and many others--would remain vacant for months, if not years, to come.

Griffith said that she expected to hear "within the hour" about their second acquired property--just a few blocks over at 1822 88th Ave.  And so it goes, house by transformed house, leading to transformed neighborhoods.

Take Action:

Visit Oakland Community Land Trust.

OakCLT is also offering home-ownership and credit repair information workshops on a monthly basis.

What: OakCLT Homebuyer Informational Workshops
When: 5:30 pm on the 4th Thursday of the month (January 28th, Febuary 25th, March 25th)
Where: Spectrum Credit Union: 8301 Edgewater Drive, Oakland (map)

For more information or to make a workshop reservation, call (888) 572-1222 x125.