December 2014
West Oakland Councilmember Involved in House-Flipping Scheme
Public records show that city Councilmember Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who represents a district impacted by gentrification, used her social justice nonprofit to finance for-profit house-flipping deals in Oakland.
despite Gibson McElhaney's rhetoric on gentrification and displacement, our months-long investigation reveals that she used her nonprofit housing assistance corporation to take part in some of the same "wildcat speculation" that she has condemned.
Records show that beginning in March 2013, just two months after she was sworn in as an Oakland councilmember, Gibson McElhaney used her nonprofit, Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, to lend at least $225,000 to an investor engaged in house-flipping transactions in Oakland.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/west-oakland-councilmember-involved-in-house-flipping-scheme/Content?oid=4145240
