Oakland residents at risk of homelessness could qualify for emergency rent checks and legal representation under a new program announced Monday by Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and three Bay Area nonprofits.
At a City Hall news conference, Schaaf and executives from the East Bay Community Law Center, Catholic Charities of the East Bay and Bay Area Community Services presented a $9 million pilot plan called Keep Oakland Housed, which is designed to provide support services for low-income city residents.
The program is the first of its kind in the city, which has an estimated 2,761 homeless people and has grappled with a roughly 25 percent increase in homelessness from 2015 to 2017, according to a survey by EveryOne Home, a nonprofit that seeks to end homelessness.
Schaaf said the new resource will keep households stable and “bring the gift of security to people throughout Oakland.”