Join us on Wednesday, May 26 for our 15th Annual Spring Symposium!

With the theme of Building Momentum, this year’s program will showcase the growing movement for more equitable, affordable, and inclusive housing across the Bay Area and beyond. From ending exclusionary zoning to legalizing more multi-family housing, we’ll hear from the elected leaders and housing experts who are accelerating change.

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Join us for five critical conversations:

1) The State of Housing Legislation in Sacramento

Assemblymember David Chiu – District 17

As a member of the California State Legislature, Assemblymember David Chiu represents the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses a half million constituents who live in eastern San Francisco.  During his first 6 years in the Legislature, David has authored 64 new laws addressing a wide spectrum of issues, including housing, homelessness, transportation, education, environment, health, public safety, and civil rights.  As Chair of the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee, he has authored laws to build affordable and supportive housing, address homelessness, incentivize the streamlining of housing production, hold cities accountable to produce housing, foster transit-oriented development, and establish the strongest state tenant protections in the country.  Before public office, David served as a civil rights attorney, Democratic Counsel to the US Senate Constitution Subcommittee, and President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

2) Committing to Missing Middle Housing

Michael Matthews, Facebook State Policy Director

Michael brings to Facebook more than 30 years of campaign, political and grassroots organizing experience. He served as Political Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for the 2002 election cycle and the 2000 Gore/Lieberman presidential campaign. From 1997 to 2001 Matthews directed the national political training program for the AFL -CIO. Michael was also a senior staff member on several presidential campaigns and served as a consultant to numerous campaigns and organizations including: NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Education Association, Project New America, Catalyst, the Building & Construction Trades Department (BCTD), National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Democratic National Committee.

Michael Covarrubias, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Michael Covarrubias joined TMG Partners in 1988 and has directed the company since 1995, overseeing all of the company’s operations.  Michael began his career with 17 years at Union Bank. His roles included managing commercial and real estate lending, administrative management, and in his last position before joining TMG, serving as Senior Vice President and Manager of Union Bank’s Silicon Valley Regional Real Estate Center. As CEO, Michael has fostered an entrepreneurial culture of talented, committed professionals resulting in the entitlement, development, acquisition and management of a diversified portfolio of 30 million square feet, valued at $5.5 billion.

3) Mayors Roundtable: Local Leadership and Regional Collaboration

Mayor London Breed

Mayor London Breed is a native San Franciscan, raised by her grandmother in Plaza East Public Housing in the Western Addition neighborhood. In June 2018, Mayor Breed was elected to be the first African American woman and second woman in San Francisco history to serve as Mayor. She was re-elected for her first full four-year term in November 2019. Mayor Breed is focused on helping the City’s homeless population into care and shelter; adding more housing for residents of all income levels; helping those suffering from mental health and substance use disorder on San Francisco’s streets; ensuring that all San Franciscans have access to a thriving economy; making San Francisco a cleaner and safer city; and furthering San Francisco’s leadership in combating climate change.

Mayor Sam Liccardo

Mayor Sam Liccardo serves in his second term as Mayor of the 10th largest city in the United States, having recently won re-election with 76% of the vote. During his tenure as Mayor, Sam launched a Smart City Vision, aiming to make San Jose America’s most innovative city, in part by bridging the digital divide. He launched the nation’s first Digital Inclusion Fund to provide broadband access, devices and skills to low-income families, and by 2020, the City’s efforts with community partners have connected more than 100,000 low-income San Jose residents with free broadband. He has also led efforts to fund the construction of thousands of units of affordable housing, launch the nation’s largest community choice clean energy utility, provide jobs to more than 4,000 teens living in gang-impacted neighborhoods, launch multi-billion-dollar investments in new transit, and preserve thousands of acres of open space and hillsides from development.

Mayor Libby Schaaf

Mayor Libby Schaaf was born and raised in Oakland, which she proudly describes as, “The most unapologetic Sanctuary City in America.” During her tenure, Oakland has undergone an economic revitalization and building boom, as well as cut gun violence in half.
Her “17K/17K Housing Plan” has helped increase Oakland’s affordable housing production, stabilize rents, and decrease evictions. Her innovative public-private partnerships Keep Oakland Housed and Cabin Communities are credited with preventing 1,800 families a year from losing their housing, while resolving some of Oakland’s most unsafe street encampments. In 2019, Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Mayor Schaaf to California’s first Council of Regional Homeless Advisors. She also created Oakland’s first Department of Transportation, whose equity-based paving plan is the first of its kind in the nation and will make previously  underserved neighborhoods safer, while addressing the city’s decades-old infrastructure backlog.

4) Media Roundtable: Innovating Across California and Beyond

Jerusalem Demsas

Jerusalem Demsas works at Vox.com reporting on politics and policy with a particular interest and focus on housing and the economics of poverty. She has previously written on energy and environment issues for the Center for American Progress and is a graduate of the College of William and Mary where she received a degree in Economics & Government.

Liam Dillon

Liam Dillon covers the issues of housing affordability and neighborhood change across California for the Los Angeles Times. He joined the Times in 2016 and prior to this assignment, Dillon covered state politics and policy for The Times’ Sacramento Bureau. He’s a graduate of Georgetown University and grew up outside Philadelphia. Before coming to the Times, Dillon covered local politics in Southwest Florida and San Diego.

Molly Solomon

Molly Solomon reports on housing at KQED, focusing on homelessness, evictions, and the affordability crisis. Before that, she was the Southwest Washington Bureau Chief for Oregon Public Broadcasting and a general assignment reporter at Hawaii Public Radio. Her stories have aired on NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Here & Now, Science Friday and Marketplace. Molly has won three national Edward R. Murrow awards and her work has been honored by the Associated Press, Society of Professional Journalists, and the Asian American Journalists Association. Molly graduated from UC Santa Cruz.                                     

Kim-Mai Cutler (Moderator)

Kim-Mai Cutler is a partner at an early-stage venture firm called Initialized Capital that has backed companies including Coinbase and Cruise. In addition to serving on the Housing Action Coalition’s board, she also serves on the board of SPUR, a Bay Area regional think tank promoting good governance, housing and transportation policies and San Francisco’s Local Homeless Coordinating Board, which oversees federal spending on homelessness in SF.

5) Building Back Better: How Can the Federal Government Help Transform Housing? 

Richard Cho, ‎Senior Advisor for Housing and Services · ‎U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Richard Cho, Ph.D., serves as Senior Advisor for Housing and Services in the Office of the Secretary. In this role, Richard advises Secretary Marcia Fudge on HUD’s efforts to end homelessness, protect HUD-assisted households from COVID-19, advance the community integration of people with disabilities, connect housing with health care, and create housing options for returning citizens. Richard brings to this role two decades of experience at the community, state, and federal levels building collaboration between the housing, health care, social services, and criminal justice sectors to address the housing and services needs of vulnerable Americans.

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