Nurses Also Donate $10,000 for Aid Effort

The horrid loss of life in the Oakland warehouse fire Saturday night should be a call for first grieving followed by action on the broader problem plaguing Oakland and similar Bay Area communities – inadequate affordable housing, said the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United today.

CNA is also donating $10,000 for the fire victims and aid effort.

“This tragic fire is a bitter reminder that there are serious health consequences from a community’s failure to assure safe and affordable housing for all its residents,” said CNA co-president Deborah Burger, RN.

The Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S., augmented by public policies that encourage development and gentrification over affordable housing.

The result is sharp reductions in available affordable housing while rental prices are skyrocketing; average one bedroom rental prices alone increased by 19 percent to $2,190 in the past year in Oakland, reported SFGate.

Burger called on Oakland elected leaders to require developers of luxury condominiums and other higher cost housing to also subsidize lower income housing: “they have to give something back to the community.” CNA supports community benefit programs, taxing the 1 percent, and support for the artisan community, Burger added.

Tenant activists in Oakland have long raised concerns about city policies that fail to provide adequate protection for low income and vulnerable people.

Burger echoed statements by grieving artists quoted in the UK Guardian today who called on the city to ensure that ‘live work’ warehouses and overcrowded homes, a reaction to the housing crisis, are “safe without shutting down venues and evicting tenants.”

The Guardian quoted María Poblet, executive director of Causa Justa, a housing rights group who criticized those “blaming the victims” of the fire. “We shouldn’t have to choose between affordable housing and safe housing. If you can’t afford to buy a million-dollar home, then you can’t afford to live in this city unless you’re willing to risk your safety. And that’s unconscionable.”