Laserfiche WebLink
11/8/2018 Oakland Voters Appear to Favor State's First Vacant Property Tax, Richmond Poised to Defeat Similar Measure | The California Report | … <br />https://www.kqed.org/news/11702378/oakland-voters-appear-to-favor-states-first-vacant-property-tax-richmond-poised-to-defeat-similar-measure 4/11 <br />The Oakland City Council first approved Measure W for the <br />ballot this summer. Richmond followed with a similar <br />proposal to voters a few weeks later. <br />Exemptions for the tax include low-income property <br />owners and people who are in the process of obtaining <br />permits or building up their properties. In Richmond, lots <br />that are used for community gardens or agriculture <br />wouldn't have been subject to the levy. <br />Tents in a homeless camp in East Oakland sprawl next to a vacant lot on Aug. 24, 2018. Homeless <br />advocate Candice Elder, 34, said vacant properties dot the area. “A lot of properties were vacant <br />when I was growing up, and they are still vacant now,” said Elder, a native of the city. (Farida <br />Jhabvala Romero/KQED) <br />The population living in encampments on sidewalks and <br />under freeway passes has ballooned in Oakland and <br />Richmond in recent years. <br />Money from the tax in Oakland is earmarked for sanitation <br />of homeless encampments, navigation centers, job training <br />and emergency rental assistance programs, among other <br />purposes.