Housing activists to take to Bay Bridge in support of local tax measures

OAKLAND – Some Bay Area housing activists will ride bicycles across the Bay Bridge Sunday afternoon and drop a banner in support of two tax measures. 

The measures in Berkeley and San Francisco, both identified as Measure M, would tax property owners who choose to leave their rental homes vacant rather than rent them out. 

The activists are taking to the bridge Sunday at 3 p.m. following a report by the San Francisco Budget and Legislative Analyst’s office. The report said the number of vacant homes in that city rose 50 percent between 2019 and 2021 to as high as 61,000.  

“Not another empty unit while mothers with children remain unhoused,” said Dominique Walker, co-founder of Moms 4 Housing and member of the Berkeley rent board commission. “Vacancy taxes are an important tool to making housing available and Berkeley in line with the human right to housing.”

Activists said that according to projections the measures will make thousands of new units available and raise millions of dollars in revenue.