As a housing advocacy group, HAC constantly monitors cities, elected officials, and neighbors to know who is and isn’t supporting more housing creation. This year, we made a list (and checked it twice) to chronicle some of the pro- and anti-housing actors from across the region. And with the holiday season upon us, there is no better time to unveil HAC’s running catalog of housing advocates and antagonists — informally referred to as our ‘Naughty or Nice’ list.
You better watch out. You better not cry. Read on to learn who has been naughty and who has been nice in 2023.
Nice
- Matt Dorsey, Joel Engardio, and Myrna Melgar for stewarding the path forward to ensure we stay in compliance and retain affordable housing funds.
- The City of San José for drafting a compliant housing element and setting San José on a path toward creating the housing the city needs.
- The Berkeley City Council for changing Berkeley’s zoning laws so that dense multifamily housing can be built at North Berkeley and Ashby BART.
- Anna Eshoo for her lifelong dedication to public service and her inspiring efforts advance immigration reform and healthcare access for all.
Naughty
- Rafael Mandelman for jeopardizing San Francisco’s housing element compliance through anti-housing amendments and abuse of process.
- The City of San Mateo for failing to produce a compliant housing element and refusing to increase housing density in its general plan.
- Berkeley Councilmember Kate Harrison for puting forward a proposal to add a “social cost of carbon” fee on housing, making it significantly harder to build new homes while likely not achieving the goal of reducing carbon emissions.
- Anna Eshoo for waiting two weeks before the filing deadline to announce her retirement, causing utter chaos in Congress.
Happy Holidays from HAC!
