Condo Conversion Vote Tonight

Tonight, the Oakland City Council will vote to create an affordable housing fund, and then vote to allow a limited number of condo conversions with a fee paid to the housing fund. Councilmembers Nadel, Quan, and now Brunner have come out against it. Councilmembers Brooks, Reid, Chang, and de la Fuente support it. Pat Kernighan told the Trib yesterday that she is undecided. If she votes against it, the 4-4 tie will be the same cast as the one over creating an Inclusionary Zoning task force.

As I noted before, many of the opponents of condo conversions have opposed efforts to expand Oakland's rental housing stock, and therefore have little credibility as tenant advocates. Others provided volunteers for Aimee Allison's losing Council campaign, and so have little crediblity as political voices. The East Bay Express blog reports that Quan is considering an abstention, which she seems to think would kill the bill. Ms. Brunner has suggested a few amendments. We'll see what happens, tonight.