Innovative initiative combines employment, housing support, job training, and case management to create permanent pathways out of homelessness
Mayor Barbara Lee announced on Tuesday a $1 million grant from a Kaiser Permanente fund at the East Bay Community Foundation to launch the Workforce Development and Interim Housing Pilot Project. The initiative combines low-barrier employment with housing support to strengthen Oakland’s homelessness response while cleaning public spaces throughout the city.
Grant funding provides recipients with:
- Part-time paid work focused on citywide sanitation and trash clean up, with pathways to permanent, full-time employment
- One year of interim housing support
- Comprehensive job training and wrap-around supportive services
- Tailored case management designed to transition participants into permanent housing
“This pilot program gives us an essential tool to drive change for all of our neighbors affected by homelessness, including our Black and African American population who are disproportionately impacted,” said Lee.
Data show that having a job is critical to housing stability and preventing homelessness. This pilot provides unhoused residents with job opportunities that keep public spaces throughout the City clean, directly supporting the mayor’s goal to reduce unsheltered homelessness in Oakland by 50%.
Achieving these goals requires unified City operations backed by new philanthropic and private sector investments. With Kaiser Permanente’s support, this project brings together the Mayor’s office, City Administrator’s office, Office of Homelessness Solutions, Housing and Community Development, Human Services, and Economic and Workforce Development.
The pilot is modeled after a similar program in Portland, Oregon, that offers low-barrier employment in sanitation services and housing support to people experiencing homelessness. Program results include a high percentage of participants moving to temporary or permanent housing and cleaner public spaces.
“We’re proud to support this innovative project because it creates meaningful opportunities for people experiencing homelessness while strengthening the health and vitality of the entire Oakland community,” said Yvette Radford, vice president of external and community affairs for Kaiser Permanente Northern California. “By providing job training, paid employment, supportive services, and a pathway to stable housing, this program offers people the tools to move forward with dignity and hope—while creating cleaner, safer, and healthier public spaces for everyone.”
The Communications Department of the Oakland Mayor’s office is the source of this report.
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