For a long time, building affordable housing in Oakland felt like playing a high-stakes game of soccer where someone kept greasing the grass and moving the goal posts every time you got within striking distance. You’d have the land. You’d have the plans. You’d have the community support. But when it came time to secure the final piece of the financial puzzle, those elusive state tax credits, the rules would suddenly shift.
Based on recent reporting from Hannah Kanik at the San Francisco Business Times, it looks like those goal posts have finally been bolted to the ground.
For developers in the Town, the news isn't just good; it's transformative. Projects that have been gathering dust in the "pipeline" for years are suddenly getting the green light. We’re talking about hundreds of units that are finally moving from blueprints to groundbreakings.
At McFadden Finch Holdings Company, we track these shifts closely because they represent the heartbeat of neighborhood revitalization and sustainable growth. When the red tape thins, the community wins.
The Five-Year Wait: Mandela Station’s Big Win
Take the case of Alan Dones and his firm, SUDA. For years, Dones has been pushing for Mandela Station, a massive, visionary redevelopment project centered around the West Oakland BART station. It’s the kind of project that defines "community impact." It’s transit-oriented, it’s local, and it’s deeply needed.
But the funding didn't care about the vision.
Dones applied for tax credits five different times. Five. Imagine the resilience required to keep a team together and a project viable while being told "no" for half a decade because of technicalities in a state scoring rubric.
In late 2025, the streak finally broke. Mandela Station was awarded $47 million in low-income-housing tax credits. That cash is the engine for 238 units of affordable housing. Because of a literal change in the way the state does math, Dones is finally out of "waiting mode" and into "construction mode."
Construction is slated to start by early June. That’s how you turn a pipeline into a skyline.
Why Oakland Was Losing the "Scoring" Game
To understand why this is such a breakthrough, you have to understand the weird, slightly backwards way the state used to grade these projects.
Affordable housing isn't just built with cash; it’s built with Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC). To get them, you have to compete. The state awards "points" based on various criteria. For a long time, the system heavily favored projects in what they called "high-resource areas."
On paper, that sounds great. Put affordable housing where the good schools and high home values are. But in Oakland, "high-resource" basically means the hills.
Have you tried building a 200-unit apartment complex on a 40-degree incline in a high-fire-risk zone where the neighbors have deep pockets and even deeper legal teams? It’s nearly impossible.
Meanwhile, the "flatlands": areas like West Oakland and East Oakland where the demand for affordable housing is highest and the land is actually buildable: were being penalized. They were deemed "low opportunity" by the state's metrics, which meant they didn't get the points, which meant they didn't get the money.
It was a classic catch-22: you can't get the funding to build in the areas that need it most because those areas don't already have the high-resource markers that the funding requires.
Changing the Rubric: A Policy Victory
This is where local leadership stepped up. Officials within Oakland’s Department of Housing & Community Development, alongside regional advocates, successfully lobbied the state to stop using a one-size-fits-all definition of "opportunity."
They argued that adding permanent supportive housing in areas with high rates of homelessness should be worth just as many points as building near a fancy grocery store in the hills. They pushed for a tie-breaker formula that actually accounts for displacement risks.
Now, if a project includes units for those experiencing homelessness, it gets a significant boost. For a city like Oakland, that’s a game-changer. It levels the playing field for affordable housing development support and ensures that the "benefit" of a project is measured by the lives it changes, not just the zip code it sits in.
The Federal Assist: "One Big Beautiful Bill"
While the state was fixing its scoring, the federal government handed developers another gift.
Part of the federal tax changes: often referred to as the "One Big Beautiful Bill": included a massive tweak to how private activity bonds work. Previously, developers had to fund 50% of their project through these bonds to trigger the 4% tax credits.
The new law dropped that requirement down to 25%.
Think about that math for a second. If you only need to use half as many bonds to get the same amount of tax credits, the total "pot" of available funding essentially doubles overnight.
This change is what allowed projects like Related California’s 430 Broadway (66 units) and the East Bay Asian Local Development Corp.’s East 12th St. project (91 units) to finally see a path forward. The bottleneck has been cleared. The "capital stack" is finally stacking up.
Why MFHC is Optimistic
At McFadden Finch, our focus is on sustainable growth. We believe that professional services and investment management should lead to lasting community impact.
When we see the goal posts stop moving, we see opportunity. Not just for developers, but for the local economy. A project like Mandela Station isn't just about apartments; it’s about the jobs created during construction, the small businesses that will thrive in the ground-floor retail, and the stability that 238 families will have when they aren't worried about being priced out of their own neighborhood.
We’ve long advocated for a vision where "visionary capital" meets "community-centric development." These policy shifts are the infrastructure that makes that vision possible. It proves that when you align state scoring, federal tax law, and local advocacy, you can unstick even the most complicated projects.
What’s Next for the Town?
The clock is ticking, but in a good way. Under the rules for these new tax credits, construction has to start quickly. For Alan Dones and SUDA, that means breaking ground in May.
We expect to see a wave of groundbreakings across Oakland over the next 18 months. The pipeline is finally flowing.
Is the housing crisis solved? No. But the era of the "moving goal post" seems to be behind us. By valuing permanent supportive housing and simplifying the federal bond requirements, we’re actually building for the people who live here.
That’s how you spark a tide that reverses the trend of displacement. That’s how you build a city that lasts.
If you’re looking to understand how these infrastructure shifts impact your own investment strategy or development plans, let’s talk. We’re here to help you navigate the new rules of the game.
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McFadden Finch Holdings Company (MFHC) is a premier holdings and investment management firm dedicated to driving sustainable growth and long-term value. Our mission is to bridge the gap between visionary capital and community-centric development, ensuring tomorrow's infrastructure meets today's needs. Through strategic project management and our core values, we empower our partners to navigate the complexities of the California economic landscape with confidence and clarity.
For more information on how MFHC can support your industrial or real estate investment strategy, contact us at (510) 973-2677 or visit www.m-fhc.com
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