Transform
Housing
Program
In order to resource unhoused people in Oakland with high-quality, climate-resilient housing, we must first create those homes.
High-quality, climate-resilient housing does not already exist at the scale we need to permanently house our 5,490 unhoused neighbors in Oakland. The majority of our city's - and California’s - housing stock was built before 1979 and 42% of all Oakland households live in homes built before World War II. While an old building can contain high-quality, climate-resilient homes, most landlords have neglected to do the renovations, climate retrofitting, and regular upkeep that makes that possible. The few homes that exist that are high-quality and climate-resilient are, for the most part, not affordable for low-income and very low-income people, which means they are deeply inaccessible to unhoused people. When unhoused people are offered housing, it is often poor quality, unhealthy, and climate-risky, making it difficult for them to rest and heal, let alone build economic power and live lives of joy and well-being.
In order to resource unhoused people in Oakland with high-quality, climate-resilient housing, Just Homes must first create those homes. Our Transform Housing Program is focused on transforming the city’s old, climate-vulnerable, unhealthy housing stock into beautiful, green, healthy homes that are permanently affordable and an asset to both residents and the larger community. The program will do this by acquiring old vacant apartment complexes and renovating and retrofitting them to meet our high standards for:
Health & Disability Justice
Climate Resilience & Sustainability
Comfort & Beauty
As a Community Land Trust, Just Homes will also transform the economic nature of the housing we acquire by permanently removing it from the housing market, so it can remain deeply affordable for community members forever.
