Oakland is dropping a serious chunk of change on affordable housing, committing $63.5 million to five developments that together will bring 325 permanently affordable homes online across the city, nearly 100 of them reserved for residents exiting homelessness. The money comes out of an existing pipeline of 23 projects and builds on the Housing and Community Development Department’s earlier funding commitments for the year. City officials say the cash is meant to push these projects closer to shovels in the ground and help them compete for state and county financing, aided by fresh Measure U bond dollars that have started to loosen up local capital for housing and other infrastructure.
In a press release from the City of Oakland, the Housing and Community Development Department said five permanently affordable projects received new awards through its 2025 Pipeline Additional Funding Awards, with individual allocations ranging from roughly $8.2 million to $18.7 million. According to the release, these latest commitments push Oakland HCD’s total awards for 2025 to $144 million so far, and the selected projects are at the same time pursuing County Measure W money and preparing state-level applications. Mayor Barbara Lee is quoted in the statement saying the investment "will create 325 new homes" and calling it concrete progress on the city’s affordability goals.
Bond Sale Unlocks Measure U Cash
The city’s ability to back this latest round of housing awards is tied to a recent move in the bond market. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Oakland priced $334 million in general obligation bonds earlier this month, which in turn frees up Measure U proceeds for housing, street work and public facilities. About $181 million of that sale is targeted for housing projects. City leaders have pointed to the bond issuance as a sign that Oakland’s finances are steady enough to restart or speed up capital projects that have been sitting in neutral.
How The NC NOFA Feeds Projects
Oakland HCD describes its New Construction Notice of Funding Availability, known as the NC NOFA, as the main funnel for channeling city dollars into new affordable housing. Developers typically leverage those local commitments at roughly a 1 to 7 ratio, using city funds to unlock much larger state, federal and private financing packages. Materials from the City of Oakland show that since 2023 the department has awarded about $289.4 million through the NC NOFA, with 486 units now under construction and another 693 projected to start between December 2025 and June 2026. HCD Director Emily Weinstein is quoted as saying, "We now have more affordable housing underway than ever before."
What Comes Next For The Developments
City officials describe Oakland’s local commitments as the crucial first piece of a much larger financing stack, meant to position projects to win tax credits and state-level aid. An earlier NC NOFA round in January committed $80.5 million to five projects, according to a report from California Construction News, and those developments have already been queuing up tax-exempt bond and Low-Income Housing Tax Credit applications to move toward groundbreaking. HCD says the newly funded projects will follow a similar path in the coming months, pursuing County Measure W, tax-exempt bond and LIHTC financing to keep their timelines on track.
For neighborhoods across Oakland, this funding round is supposed to turn voter-approved Measure U dollars into real units instead of just line items on a ballot description, something housing advocates have been pressing for as developers hustle to close their financing gaps. If state and federal awards arrive on schedule, construction activity could ramp up across the city through 2026. Public filings, along with future HCD updates, will show which projects actually break ground and how quickly those 325 new homes start to rise.
