State Senator Introduces Legislation to Protect Live-Work and Warehouse Residences

State Sen. Nancy Skinner on Monday introduced legislation designed to promote safety in California live-work and warehouse residences while protecting tenants from displacement.

Senate Bill 906, co-sponsored by the City of Oakland, would give property owners more time to correct non-life-threatening violations that could otherwise motivate them to evict tenants, and also update state live-work code that effectively outlaws many communal residences.

The legislation aims to support live-work and warehouse residences popular among artists and musicians. The Dec. 2016 Ghost Ship fire that killed 36 at an unpermitted warehouse venue and residence in East Oakland brought intense scrutiny to such alternative cohousing spaces, prompting many property owners to displace tenants instead of addressing substandard conditions.

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