The City of Oakland and the East Bay have a serious housing shortage and are faced with seeking ways to encourage affordable housing and renovate blighted areas in their city center. In addition, they are concerned with maximizing density as they redevelop.

There are literally thousands of lots zoned for residential usage that are either vacant or currently occupied by substandard dwellings in California. These lots can be zoned for single-family detached housing or for multiresident occupancy.

Oakland Community Housing, Inc.(OCHI), a nonprofit developer, is working within the East Bay communities with a pioneering approach to infill development. “We are constantly looking at innovative ways to allow more people to remain here, in their own community, near family and friends, and to actually buy a home if at all possible. We think we have come up with a combination of ideas that will have a very successful outcome,” said Dwight Dickerson, OCHI’s Executive Director.

OCHI purchases small, vacant lots that have been left dormant and constructs affordable housing units with a combination of onsite building and manufactured housing. The result is housing that takes full advantage of higher density urban lots and the cost saving benefits of manufactured housing. Many lots would be cost prohibitive to improve with sitebuilt construction.