Oakland mayor asks homeowners to rent to the homeless
OAKLAND, Calif. (Allie Rasmus/KTVU) - Oakland’s mayor is asking homeowners to help the homeless in an unconventional way: to open up a spare room or rental unit to someone in need.
It’s an idea Mayor Libby Schaaf referenced earlier this month in her State of the City speech, where she introduced a formerly homeless woman to the audience, explaining that she'd been given a second chance at a better life thanks to an Oakland landlord who had offered her a spare room.
She encouraged people "give up their Air bnb’s and fix up that back unit."
She said that more than 100 Oakland landlords were helping alleviate the city's problems with homelessness by taking this unconventional approach.
According to a county survey done earlier this year, there are more than 5,000 people in Alameda county without permanent shelter, and homelessness in Oakland was up 25 percent from the year before.