December 2022: Stories, Events, and Opportunities to Discover
News
Ways to deepen your understanding and support initiatives advancing equity, affordability, and environmental vitality in housing
- Discrimination Seeps Into Every Aspect of Home Buying for Black Americans. The National Association of Real Estate Brokers says discrimination is holding Black buyers back in all steps of the home buying process, starting with the rejection of a mortgage application. – New York Times
- Two weeks after withholding $1 billion in homelessness funding over lackluster local plans, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that most cities and counties would get the funds— as long as in the next round, they commit to more aggressive plans to reduce street homelessness. – CalMatters
- Q&A: The few California lawmakers who are renters formed a caucus to advocate for tenants. State Assemblymember Alex Lee talks about what the new caucus hopes to achieve. Around 44% of Californians are renters. But as far as state Assemblymember Alex Lee can tell, just 5% of the California Assembly (four of its 80 members) don’t own a home. – Orange County Register
- Housing authority board rejects homeownership plan for Golden Gate Village residents. Marin City’s Golden Gate Village houses 600 predominantly Black residents who have long complained the property is in serious disrepair. Some residents filed a lawsuit that is currently with the federal court. – PacificSun
Infill Development
- Prefabricated homes represent a small fraction of the current market. Learn how Plant Prefab hopes to change that with a new $42M grant to build “extremely sustainable” custom homes. – TechCrunch
- BART picked a developer team led by nonprofit BRIDGE Housing Corporation to build hundreds of apartments at the North Berkeley BART station. – Berkeleyside
Regenerative Community Building
- Urban farms are stepping up their roles in communities. Learn how three farms in Alabama, Arkansas, and California are fighting food insecurity and building neighbor connections with their innovative approaches. – Civil Eats
- How Co-ops can bring down inflation. “Shelter”makes ⅓ of the consumer price index and 40% of the “core inflation” index. Bringing down rent and housing prices can lower inflation. – RADIX
Engage and Network
Upcoming opportunities to learn about intersectional approaches and work
CEQA, 469 Stevenson St., and the Future of California Housing Policy (SPUR), Tuesday, December 6 from 6 – 8 PM
Join UC Davis law professor Chris Elmendorf and SPUR for a conversation about the notorious “Nordstrom’s parking lot” housing development that San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors held up with dubious demands for additional environmental review.
Building A Bay Area for All: Harnessing the $1.2T Federal Infrastructure Package for Equitable Community Development (BARHII and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, in collaboration with the Strong Prosperous and Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC)), Wednesday, December 7 from 11 – 1 PM
Check out this inspiring virtual webinar to explore how we can harness this opportunity in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Holiday Happy Housers Party (SV@Home), Thursday, December 8 from 6 – 10 PM
- USGBC Summit: Bridging Occupant & Community Health (USGBC Northern California and Orange County chapters), December 14 – 15
Learning Opportunitites
Stories of efforts that can enable holistic, regenerative change in California housing and communities
- Looking to finance affordable housing developments? This 3-hour training covers the basics of using tax-exempt bond financing for affordable housing developments and includes an overview of California’s competitive allocation process. Learn more, and register for the California Housing Partnership training on Thursday, December 15 from 9 – 12 PM.
Header image courtesy of SolStock on iStock
