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…

Discrimination is being denied something because of something one has little to no control over. Our country faces many issues of this nature, many of which have come to light in the past year and a half – Black Lives Matter movement, hateful acts against Asian-Americans, etc. Discrimination is a terrible, hurtful habit that plagues this country, and ought to be abolished. 

HAC staff and board members were joined for a June 25 Regulatory Committee meeting by Darin Ranelletti, Oakland’s Policy Director for Housing Security, to learn more about proposed changes to Oakland’s planning and building codes which are intended to address housing affordability. These proposals follow ideas from the 2016 Oakland at Home report, also known as the 17k 17k report, which identified strategies for addressing affordability. With funding from MTC and ABAG, Oakland was able to explore one of the issues identified in 2016, cost of construction, and produce a new report, Innovation in Oakland. 

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.

Transit and housing are inextricably linked. However, in most of the United States, including the Bay Area, public transit cannot live up to its full potential due to a variety of policy decisions over the past half century that have eroded funding.

The Housing Heroes Awards is annual an event to celebrate the leaders 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 and California.

As part of our June 15 How to Implement Upzoning discussion, panelist Stefan Pellegrini from Opticos Design included a compelling presentation about the importance of “Missing Middle” housing and how cities can build more of it.

All of us at HAC were excited to host a very interesting and practical June 16 panel on how to implement upzoning with success starring Professor Karen Chapple (UC Berkeley Urban Displacement Project), Stefan Pelligrini (Opticos Design), Nikki Beasley (Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services), and Rachel Tanner (San Francisco Planning Commission).

Many thanks to everyone who tuned in to Building Momentum: The Housing Action Coalition’s 15th Annual Spring Symposium! If you missed the live event, or want to relive the experience, our program video is now available.

Attention nonprofit housing developers! Longfellow Real Estate Partners is seeking nonprofit housing partner(s) to collaborate with on the development of affordable housing projects in Redwood City as it pursues entitlements for the expansion of its biomedical hub at Redwood Shores.

San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspection (DBI) recently led a presentation regarding updates to their permitting process.

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. 

With the appointment of former Assemblymember Rob Bonta to California Attorney General, there will be a special election to fill the seat for Assembly for California Assembly District 18 (AD-18). Governor Gavin Newsom declared the primary for this special election will be held on June 29, with the general election to follow on August 31. 

San Francisco may be considered one of the country’s most progressive cities, but you’d never know it by looking at its land use policies. With nearly 75% of SF currently zoned for low density, it is currently illegal to build small fourplex homes in most parts of the city. This explains why our severe housing shortage, displacement, and affordability crisis has only worsened exponentially decade after decade and reveals a wildly irresponsible lack of leadership from our Board of Supervisors.

t’s been a busy several weeks in (virtually) Sacramento as our team has been covering hearings, advocating for and against (but mostly for) 26 pieces of legislation, and closely monitoring numerous other housing and housing-related bills. 

All of us at HAC were excited to mark Earth Day with our Home & Environment conversation and thankful to WoodWorks for making today’s program possible!