Join the Liberated 23rd Ave Housing Cooperative!

Multiple 1-Bedroom Units Available

Estimated Rents Range from $1,200 to $1,450 per month

Applications DUE by January 27, 2026 11:59pm

ORIENTATION SESSION IS MANDATORY BEFORE APPLYING

Orientation Dates

  • Sunday Jan 18th, 2:00-3:30pm (IN PERSON: Spanish & English)

  • Sunday Jan 18th, 4:00-5:30pm (IN PERSON: English)

  • Wednesday Jan 21st, 6:30-8:00pm (IN PERSON: Arabic, Spanish & English)

  • Sunday Jan 25th, 4:00-5:30pm (ZOOM: Spanish & English)

Language Justice

We offer language interpretation on an as-needed basis. Please contact 510-426-7130 at least two days prior to an orientation session to request ASL or any other language interpretation. We will update the orientation dates with information regarding the languages offered for each date.

Accessibility

  • The available units are second-floor walk-up units and are not ADA accessible
  • There is a full flight of stairs leading to the front door or each unit (approximately 20 steps)
  • The bathroom in each unit is not ADA accessible
  • The In-Person location for the orientation sessions is ADA Accessible

In 2017, residents and community organizations in a historic building on 23rd Avenue between International Boulevard and E. 12th Street came together to save their homes and community spaces from being sold. After a year of organizing to liberate the land and housing from the speculative market, OakCLT successfully purchased the property. In late 2017, the building’s 8 residential apartments and 4 ground floor commercial units transitioned permanently into community control. Residents made the commitment to form a limited equity housing cooperative and work toward ownership, while OakCLT continues to steward the land for future generations. The housing cooperative officially formed in November 2024 and is moving toward taking ownership by November 2027.  New residents to Liberated 23rd Ave Cooperative will have the chance to be a part of this long awaited transition to resident ownership and control.

A limited equity housing cooperative (LEHC) is a member-controlled organization that manages and owns housing. Members of an LEHC are both shareholders in the nonprofit cooperative and residents of the housing owned by the cooperative. By purchasing a share in the LEHC, members gain the right to live in a specific housing unit and vote on the Board of Directors that governs the LEHC. They also contribute to upkeep costs. Members handle responsibilities typically managed by homeowners or landlords, such as budgeting, setting policies, and overseeing repairs, usually spending 5 to 10 hours a month on cooperative duties. An LEHC is a kind of cooperative whose mission is to provide affordable housing for low income people. To achieve that mission, LEHCs limit share prices for eligible residents, as well as how quickly the shares can increase in value so that they are always affordable to low-income community members. Residents at Liberated 23rd Ave are currently in the process of transitioning ownership of the 23rd Ave building to their Limited Equity Housing Cooperative with the support of OakCLT. Until the transition is complete, all residents remain tenants of OakCLT. Once the transition has occurred, OakCLT will remain a partner to the Liberated 23rd Ave cooperative as the permanent owner and steward of the land underneath the 23rd Ave building.

Community Land Trusts (CLT) are nonprofit organizations that permanently steward land and housing for a place-based community. The Oakland Community Land Trust (OakCLT) was established in 2009 after a multi-year, multiple stakeholder organizing effort to establish a new nonprofit entity to acquire and permanently preserve real estate assets with, and for, low-income Oakland residents. OakCLT’s mission is to remove land, housing, and other critical community-serving properties from the speculative market and hold them in trust for the permanent benefit of low-income residents. OakCLT is currently working with four communities in East Oakland to create Limited Equity Housing Cooperatives so that people living in apartment buildings can also have access to permanently affordable homeownership opportunities.

Liberated 23rd Ave

Eligibility Criteria

  • Attend Mandatory Orientation Session: Sign Up HERE

  • Household Income at or below 60% of Area Median Income

  • Household Size: 2-3 person households

  • Ability to pay rent and other charges on time. Stability of income can be demonstrated in various ways

  • Participation in cooperative process every month (~5-10 hours): either independently or with assistance, including but not limited to meeting attendance, assigned maintenance or other tasks and committee work, and supporting the transition to cooperative ownership of the building

City of Oakland Area Median Income (2025)

Household Size

1

2

3

60% Area Median Income

$65,662

$75,037

$84,412

Unit Photos

Documents to Review

Important details about OakCLT, Liberated 23rd Ave and living and participating in a housing cooperative

Documents will be posted here soon

Liberated 23rd Ave Application Process

  • 1

    Review all eligibility criteria and Liberated 23rd documents

  • 2

    Attend mandatory orientation session. Sign up HERE.

  • 3

    Submit an application for review with all required documentation

  • 4

    OakCLT processes all applications (NOTE: During the review process, your credit history, housing references, income, household size, and eligibility for any preference criteria will all be checked and/or verified.)

  • 5

    OakCLT will conduct a randomized lottery to select amongst eligible applicants ranked based on the preference criteria

  • 6

    Scored Interview Process: If you are selected as an eligible applicant in the lottery process, you will be offered to participate in a scored interview with the Co-op Selection Committee. The interview will focus on applicant’s readiness to successfully contribute to, and live in, the community at Liberated 23rd Ave Cooperative. Applicants with the highest score in the interview will be offered a unit.

  • 7
    Income certification and preference criteria verification: OakCLT will review required income and preference criteria documentation
  • 8

    The available unit will be offered to the top ranking eligible applicant

  • 9

    Sign your lease, pay your deposit, move-in, join a co-op committee, and start your cooperative experience at Liberated 23rd Ave!

Reasonable Accommodations We welcome and encourage people with disabilities to apply. If you require assistance or reasonable accommodations to complete the application process please contact Felix Linck-Frenz at apply@oakclt.org or send a text message to, or call, 510-426-7130.

Language interpretation is available upon request.

APPLICATION PROCESS OPENS JANUARY 6, 2026

APPLICATIONS ARE DUE BY JANUARY 27, 2026, 11:59pm

OakCLT & Liberated 23rd Ave LLC are equal opportunity housing providers