As someone who cherishes the time they’ve spent in Rockridge, the prospect of making the neighborhood more affordable and accessible to families of all income levels means a lot to me. There are far too many wealthy enclaves in the Bay Area with anti-housing laws and regulations that create barriers to access for middle and lower-income residents. Upzoning will lead to more affordable housing opportunities while preserving the essence and charm of a neighborhood that I and so many other Oakland residents hold dear. 

With the overwhelming success of the latest legislative session, getting multifamily housing entitled and permitted will soon be faster and easier than ever. HAC is proud to be one of the driving forces behind these recent wins as our ongoing efforts to collaborate with state and local elected officials to break down critical barriers to housing production are starting to pay off.

As the California Legislative Session concludes today, it’s safe to say that pro-housing advocates came out on top. 

In terms of the bills HAC sponsored this session, all three have been approved by the Legislature and now await Governor Newsom’s signature.

With the theme of Innovation in Housing, our 17th Annual Spring Symposium featured conversations with housing experts from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors exploring new solutions to our region and state’s longstanding housing shortage and affordability challenges.

HAC’s Regulatory Committee was joined by Daniel Simons, HAC Board Member and Principal at David Baker Architects (DBA) where he presented on the firm’s recent book: 9 Ways to Make Housing for People. The book captures various principles and frameworks (9, to be exact) that guide DBA’s work in creating thriving communities through quality housing and architecture.

The San Francisco Planning Commission just helped to right a major wrong. On April 20th, the proposed housing project at 469 Stevenson Street was once again approved by the San Francisco Planning Commission. After it was infamously shot down in 2021 by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the project quickly became the poster child for San Francisco’s housing dysfunction.

Five years after the city of San Francisco acquired the site on the corner of Haight and Stanyan, the largest affordable housing complex in the history of the neighborhood is set to finally break ground in June. The project, located at the eastern entrance of Golden Gate Park, will create 160 permanently affordable apartments for low and moderate-income individuals and families.

What do the Bay Area and Los Angeles have in common? Temperate weather, coastal views, and a severe housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis. Despite being two distinct regions, the two metropolitan areas are both saddled with record rates of homelessness, widespread rent burden, and rapid rates of displacement. What’s more, many of these issues are driven by NIMBYism and years of bad policy decisions like single-family zoning that have restricted growth and led to exorbitant housing costs.

Even as 2021 was winding down, our team was busy gearing up for an eventful 2022 by announcing the launch of our new political action committee (HAC PAC) and our expansion to Los Angeles County! We also spent December…

While December is typically a slower holiday month, at HAC we’re busy accelerating our efforts. Building on our success in 2021, during which we doubled the number of new homes we endorsed, tripled the number of pro-housing neighbors we activated, and celebrated our South Bay/Peninsula expansion, we’ve just launched two new initiatives to propel our pro-housing advocacy.

Leveraging the collective outrage against the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ recent votes to block 800+ new homes, HAC waged advocacy campaigns on numerous fronts throughout November. We were proud to…

While 2021 may be winding down, the Housing Action Coalition is gearing up to accelerate our pro-housing advocacy with two new initiatives!

Despite the SF Board of Supervisors’ abysmal housing votes, we at HAC had a productive and successful October! A sampling of our accomplishments include…

On Wednesday, October 13 from 5pm to 6pm, the Housing Action Coalition (HAC) will present four “Housing Heroes” awards to individuals and teams who have made exceptional contributions to creating more housing at all levels of affordability, and fostering more diverse, equitable, and inclusive communities across the Bay Area. 

October has always been an especially festive month as HAC gears up to honor our annual Housing Heroes, and this year we have more than ever to celebrate both as an organization and as pro-housing advocates. 

In addition to celebrating a wide array of housing legislation victories, some of our other September highlights included...

In addition to taking some much-needed vacation time, our team still accomplished a great deal in August, most notably...

With our newly-expanded team (that will soon expand even more) our team’s July accomplishments included…

What happens when you combine Silicon Valley’s legendary innovation with one of the most difficult and complex challenges facing California? You get DignityMoves, an organization working to systematically address missing pieces in the current solutions for homelessness.

On Wednesday, May 26 from 11:45am to 1:30pm, the Housing Action Coalition (HAC) will bring together hundreds of pro-housing organizations, elected officials, and neighbors to hear from local, state, and national leaders about new opportunities and strategies for alleviating the Bay Area and California’s housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis. HUD Senior Advisor for Housing and Services Richard Cho will also discuss the Biden Administration’s national initiatives to Build Back Better when it comes to advancing new solutions to address the nation’s accelerating housing crisis.