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Caller: 'My Brother Was One Of The Residents Of Ghost Ship'

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The front of The Ghost Ship warehouse damaged from a deadly fire is seen Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (Eric Risberg/AP)
The front of The Ghost Ship warehouse damaged from a deadly fire is seen Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. (Eric Risberg/AP)

The devastating fire earlier this month at an artist's colony and residential community in Oakland, CA has already claimed at least 36 lives — and, some say, shed light on the crippling housing market in the greater Bay Area.

It's something that caller Alyssa in Madison, WI, wanted to highlight when she joined our week in the news roundtable discussion. Her brother, she said, was one of the residents of the Ghost Ship Warehouse.

"Everyone who lived there is deeply, deeply disturbed by this," Alyssa said. "This was their home, most of them had no idea there was even a party happening there." Alyssa's brother is physically unharmed after last Saturday's fire, she said.

According to Audrey Cooper, editor in chief of the San Francisco Chronicle and a guest on our roundtable, most of the partygoers who perished in the fire were attending a music performance, rather than residents of the building.

"The residents who lived there were pretty much college educated, most worked 40-hours a week, had a lot of student debt they were paying off," Alyssa told us. "The fact there was no affordable housing there, and it's difficult to rent a place — it's tragic that this horrible, horrible thing had to happen for the lack of affordable housing [in the Bay Area] to make the national news."

This segment aired on December 9, 2016.

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