Minimum wage essential part of housing conversation

By Marium Navid and Matthew Lewis

Early in 2014, at the urging of the ASUC, Berkeley City Council passed a new minimum wage ordinance. While this was an important victory that delivered tangible benefits for Berkeley workers, including student-workers, the ordinance — adopted by City Council in June 2014 — was inadequate for the high cost of living in Berkeley. Under the current ordinance, a Berkeley minimum wage worker must work 63 hours per week in order to afford Berkeley housing. In contrast, the proposal put before the council on Tuesday takes into account Berkeley’s astronomical housing costs to allow a minimum wage worker to work 40 hours per week and still afford to live in Berkeley.

Tonight, City Council will vote on the Labor Commission’s proposal to raise the city’s current minimum wage to that of the Living Wage Ordinance. The city must adopt the Labor Commission’s proposal to protect students and workers from Berkeley’s skyrocketing housing costs, thereby ensuring that students and low-wage workers can afford to live in Berkeley.

The majority of City Council repeatedly voted to support zoning policies that contributed to the gentrification of Berkeley, such as exempting the 2211 Harold Way project from providing many significant community benefits and repeatedly setting the Affordable Housing Mitigation Fee below the recommended amount in the name of “economic development.” Residents of Berkeley, both student and nonstudent, can’t receive the benefits of economic development if City Council continues to price us out of Berkeley.

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[Source]: Daily Californian