Oakland Proposes Law to Prevent Canna-Businesses From Evicting Tenants – News

In order to protect tenants, the city council has proposed amendments to the city’s cannabis ordinances that would prevent canna-businesses from taking over spaces currently used as residences. “The lucrativeness of the cannabis industry poses a threat to other land uses in the designated Green Zone, particularly Work/Live spaces that provide space for Oakland’s small business, arts, and maker communities,” a staff report prepared for the meeting reads,

The proposal is “both about preserving the affordability and vitality of the housing range, as well as specifically fostering the arts and creative community,” said Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, co-author of the new legislation, KQED reports. “As we’re now moving into this new phase, as adult recreational use has been legalized in California, and there’s a lot of growth in the industry, I think it’s important that we continue to have responsible regulation that both brings the cannabis industry into effective legal use while also protecting community needs. “A lot of them are small-time mom-and-pop growers. They’re people who are very sincere about medical marijuana, and they’re advocating kind of for little people; that’s not what this is. It’s not any different from any other kind of big business.