Oakland Affordable Housing Impact Fee Campaign

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Oakland Affordable Housing Impact Fee Campaign

About the Campaign

As part of the Oakland Community Investment Alliance (OCIA) Public Advocates fought for and won a strong housing impact fee on new market-rate development to help fund affordable housing. Between August 2014 and March 2016, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Oakland increased by 40%. This sharp increase led the Oakland City Council to declare a housing emergency, and OCIA is hopeful that the impact fees will be one part of the solution.

However, the proposal that was ultimately approved by the City fell short of what OCIA believes is necessary. The fee was ultimately much lower than the $24,000 proposed by OCIA, and will be implemented in a phased approach. It redirected some of the funds away from low-and-very-low-income housing to moderate-income housing. It incentivized off-site units for moderate-income households as an alternative to paying the fee, and it included a reduced fee for large swaths of the City that are poised for major new development, potentially steering market-rate development to communities that are already particularly vulnerable to displacement.

However, through successful organizing, advocates have made the City’s ordinance stronger by:

Increasing the fee above what staff initially proposed;
Increasing the fee that developers would pay when building in communities threatened with gentrification;
Moving the fee’s start date to September 2016, back from December;
Increasing the amount of affordable housing required for onsite mitigation;
Limiting the share of fees that can be used for moderate-income housing to 15% of total fees; and
Ensuring that there would be no exemptions for high-rise construction.