Oakland CARES Act: Keep Oakland Housed Outcomes

The housing crisis has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and residents are experiencing abrupt life changes – emotionally, socially, and economically.

They are faced with a rapid loss of wages, loss of health insurance or unaffordable healthcare costs, loss of childcare or increased childcare costs, or other emergency financial impacts that put them at a greater risk of displacement from their homes due to an inability to pay rent, make mortgage payments, or other personal and housing costs.

Rental and Homeowner Financial Assistance for Housing Security

The goal of the Keep Oakland Housed (KOH) Program is to assist renters and homeowners who are the most severely impacted by the COVID-19 health pandemic and who are most at risk of losing their home and becoming homeless as a result of COVID-19 health and economic impacts. Program partners accomplished this goal by providing direct emergency financial assistance to address renter and homeowner needs.

KOH Program Partners:

• Bay Area Community Services (BACS)
• Catholic Charities East Bay
• Centro Legal de la Raza
• Housing and Economic Rights Advocates (HERA)

Program Selection Criteria

Applicants for program assistance submitted an application form and required documentation to demonstrate their eligibility. Eligibility requirements were:

• A current Oakland resident
• At risk of losing their home
• A low-income individual or household
• Experienced a COVID-19 related loss of income or increased expenses

Applications were prioritized based on need and severity of COVID-19 impact, targeting the following: 1) previous homelessness, 2) extremely low income (30% of AMI and below), and 3) living in a zip code identified as having experienced high rates of the COVID-19 infection.

KOH partners reported positive outcomes for recipients in preventing displacement and financial hardship when choosing between paying rent to avoid accumulation of massive rent debt and food or medical expenses. One partner indicated that 53% of those assisted had previously experienced homelessness, a predictor of future homelessness.

“When Covid-19 hit, our household lost all of its income in the blink of an eye. We are three generations in one home and my father is extremely vulnerable to COVID infection, which has us living in fear of his exposure. We were sure we would lose our housing due to debts piling up. Rather than sell my car or other belongings in order to pay for food, rent, and other bills, I was able to have my back rent paid by Keep Oakland Housed and feed our family. I thank God for this resource BACS was able to offer me and my family.

• Renters are in need of more than one-time, short-term rental assistance support. (Funds were limited to a one-time maximum assistance of $4,000 per household due to the short-term nature of the program.)
• City staff need to carefully size grant awards to match partners’ capacity.
• Partner reporting metrics should include outcome measures.
• There should be uniformity in terms of application process such as the time people have to respond and submit documentation.
• It's more effective to utilize a single, simple intake format that is accessible in multiple languages.
• A more robust, uniform data collection system must be developed and employed.
• Outreach should include a wide range of activities, employing trusted community partners and innovative methods such as ethnically diverse and paid media.
• Landlord outreach is impactful.
• Campaign signs in front of schools increases visibility.
• Partnering with schools to do robo calls in multiple languages can increase awareness.

Main CARES Act Web Page