Key Strategies

The City of Oakland has developed an innovative system to address homelessness at every step in the cycle.

Posted: January 27th, 2021 12:28 PM

Last Updated: January 27th, 2021 4:16 PM

Prevent

Prevent

Keep Oakland Housed is an innovative prevention and intervention program and public/private partnership initiated by the Mayor's Office and currently funded through private donations.

Keep Oakland Housed provides:

  • Legal representation
    Legal assistance, counseling, eviction defense
  • Emergency Financial Assistance
    Targeted prevention for those on the brink
  • Supportive Services
    Targeted interventions to keep people in their homes
Visit the Keep Oakland Housed Website

Stabilize

The Holland

Oakland's proactive stabilization strategy is moving people from the streets and encampments to innovative programs like community cabins and Safe RV parking sites, and from the traditional shelter model to more effective rapid re-housing programs.

Programs include:

  • Community Cabins
    The City's Community Cabins program provides temporary shelter to meet the crisis.
  • Safe RV Parking
    Supports unsheltered Oaklanders who live in cars and RVs, who make up 45 percent of Oakland’s homeless population.
  • From Shelter to Re-housing
    The Holland and the Henry Robinson are SRO-style buildings with a 252 bed capacity to serve adults with transitional housing and support services.

House

An increase in deeply affordable, permanent supportive, and subsidized housing is critical to reducing homelessness.

Affordable Housing
These forms of long term and supportive housing are critical to reducing homelessness over time. Much of this is implemented with federal, state, and county funds.

  • Permanent Supportive Housing
    Housing with support services (job training and retention, mental health, substance abuse recovery) either on site or brought in.
  • Deeply Affordable Housing
    Housing serving those who are on very low incomes but who don't necessarily require other services for recovery
  • Rent Subsidies
    Rental support for people who can pay some but not all of their rent
  • Rapid Re-Housing
    Short term rental assistance and services to help people exit homelessness and access housing quickly.

Oakland’s Housing Initiatives
Oakland is exploring a number of strategic housing initiatives.

  • Flex Funding
    A strategic use of funds to make each of the City’s sheltering and emergency response programs more housing-oriented and enable program guests to overcome some financial barriers to getting rehoused, like security deposits and move-in costs.
  • Homekey
    A major shift for the City, the Homekey initiative sees the City taking an ownership role in permanent housing projects for the formerly homeless.
  • OPRI
    Under this flagship effort, Oakland is leveraging HUD funding for housing subsidies by providing the costs for services associated with it.