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Grow, Gift, Repair

Oakland sends social equity marijuana licensees to collections over unpaid loans

“We can’t send our most vulnerable, impacted people into debt, and this is exactly what this is doing and exactly what we were fearful of,” said Amber Senter, the CEO of Oakland-based Makr House, who has worked for years with Oakland on crafting its social equity program.

According to a report shared with the Oakland Cannabis Commission on Oct. 7, 59 social equity license recipients have secured $3.7 million in loans from the city that were issued beginning in late 2018.

About 60% are “in compliance” with the terms of the loan, according to the report.

In May 2020, the city – realizing that some of those recipients were already having trouble repaying the loans – authorized modifications to the terms “to assist equity loan borrowers who have become delinquent on their loans,” according to the report.

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