On Wednesday September 6th, The Oakland Planning Commission is considering a small project at 581 El Dorado Avenue. This is part of the Piedmont Avenue area which is one of the more expensive neighborhoods in the region. The neighborhood is generally zoned RM-2 which allows for a project of this size.
Zoning Map of the El Dorado Avenue neighborhood
The proposed project is to take an 8,000 sqft empty dirt lot and build three luxury detached single family homes.
The problem isn’t that housing is getting built on an empty lot.
The problem is that the housing is not enough!
Immediately across the street from 581 El Dorado lies a large apartment building that houses hundreds of people. These three single family homes can only house the few people lucky enough to pony up the cash to buy one of these. Average home prices in the neighborhood are upwards of $1,300,000 and show no sign of stopping. When the cost of a single family home on an 8,000 sqft lot is that high a missing middle apartment building is obviously a more efficient use of the land.
A luxury single family home means $108,000 in just land costs per person for three families of four. An apartment building with just 15 units? Just $21,000. In addition, at 15 units, the project enters the sweet spot of affordable unsubsidized below market rate housing. This is all in a neighborhood that prides itself on its low-rise exclusionary character which caters to the high wealth land-owning class.
Come to the Oakland Planning Commission on Wednesday night around 6pm. Support this project and demand that the City of Oakland takes steps to ensure a valuable housing opportunity like this empty lot is not lost to luxury housing again. If you’re unable to make it, please write a letter to councilmember Dan Kalb (dkalb@oaklandnet.com) and let him know that sharing the city doesn’t just stop at the affordable housing trust fund; it means erasing economic segregation across all neighborhoods.
On Wednesday September 6th, The Oakland Planning Commission is considering a small project at 581 El Dorado Avenue. This is part of the Piedmont Avenue area which is one of the more expensive neighborhoods in the region. The neighborhood is generally zoned RM-2 which allows for a project of this size.