Housing
In a recent survey , San Pablo residents and commuters made one thing abundantly clear: They want more opportunities to own a home in the city. Dyett & Bhatia Urban and Regional Planners, consulting for the city, conducted the survey from December to late February, asking respondents to rank economic and business priorities in San Pablo. Homeownership was the second-highest priority among both residents and non-residents, just behind well-paying jobs. Among solely non-residents who work or go to school in…
Richmond voters are being asked on the November ballot to boost rent control measures so that tenants in controlled units would experience no more than a 3% rent hike. If Measure P is approved, it would keep those tenants from potentially receiving a much higher rent increase that is based on the consumer price index. In Richmond, landlords can raise the rent to 100% of inflation, which is the percentage increase in the consumer price index — currently, 5.2%. Measure…
Kevin Canamore wants answers. He wants his community to get the services it was promised. But more than anything, he just wants to live in a real house. Canamore was living on Rydin Road, one of the largest homeless encampments in Richmond until it was cleared last weekend. According to Contra Costa County’s Homeless Point-In-Time Count for 2022, Richmond is home to 632 unsheltered people. That number is 90% higher than the 2019 figure. While the city is in the…
“People of Richmond” is a regular series in which reporters pose a question to people in the community. Answers are presented verbatim, though sometimes edited for brevity. Q: Should Richmond create an RV parking area for people who live in vehicles? And if so, where? “Absolutely, there should be designated areas for people that have no choice but to live in their vehicles due to housing crises and the unavailability of places for people to rent, and the high cost…
By Saturday, the last 28 people living in vehicles on Rydin Road were relocated by Richmond’s Public Works and Police departments. Non-functioning vehicles and the remaining recreational vehicles were moved to Safe Organized Spaces, under Interstate 580. Residents are temporarily being housed in motels in the surrounding area including in Pinole, Pittsburg, and Brookside Shelter in Richmond. Former Rydin Road residents can work on their vehicles from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily at SOS. “I have been informed by…
In a move reminiscent of the recent migrant stunt pulled by Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott, Richmond Mayor Tom Butt listed the home addresses of his opponents on the City Council as “RV-friendly parking spots” in an email to advocates for the unhoused community. On Sept. 19, Darcy Crosman, a member of the Alliance for Action on Homelessness and Fire Safety, emailed Butt and other council members for alternative locations that residents who wanted to live in their…
Rydin Road residents have been given a reprieve. The Richmond City Council approved a contract amendment at its Tuesday meeting that will extend the sunset date for some Rydin Road residents. The extension allows the RV encampment to keep providing shelter for residents who need more time to transition. The council voted 5-2 to push back the closing date from Sept. 30 to Oct. 21 for those with special circumstances and to allow $50,000 to be equally distributed among residents…
Point Molate, a scenic stretch of San Francisco Bay shoreline, has faced one legal battle after another over its ownership and development potential. A new lawsuit, filed on May 27 in Contra Costa County Superior Court, seeks $20 million from the City of Richmond and threatens to tie up the 425-acre plot indefinitely. Winehaven Legacy LLC, a subsidiary of developer SunCal, has accused the city of breaching its contract and breaking the Brown Act, which governs public meetings in California. …
Last month marked the end of the application period for the COVID-19 Rent Relief Program in California, pushing tenants who struggle to pay rent back into the path of eviction. The program, which closed after a year on March 31, has helped 2,428 Richmond households so far, providing $11,507 in assistance, on average. That amount is slightly above the average amount distributed across the state, which has processed more than 286,000 applications. A bill that passed on the same day…