Opinion: Turning crisis into opportunity: Why Berkeley needs TOPA now

Allowing tenants to buy their apartments when they come up for sale will help keep the diversity Berkeley prides itself on. By Fernando Echeverria and Sarah Scruggs There’s an end in sight to this pandemic, but vaccinations and falling case rates won’t magically fix the exacerbated housing crisis that COVID-19 leaves in its wake – a … Read more

Challenge Grant Spotlight: Alameda County

Centering Community Feedback to Drive Housing Solutions in Alameda County  Growing up, my father instilled in me a rather efficient way to learn, which was learning from the experiences of others. I carried this method with me when I started in my role as the Alameda County Challenge Grant Fellow. The County is focused on … Read more

Challenge Grant Spotlight: Redwood City

Progress through Inclusive Collaboration in Redwood City Redwood City’s Challenge Grant team has made incredible progress in implementing tenant protection policies and creating a preservation strategy that will leverage local and regional partnerships. Part of the City’s success can be attributed to its emphasis on collaboration, process, and inclusion. The core team—which includes Redwood City … Read more

Saving Affordable Housing One Building at a Time

It’s no secret that Oakland has seen massive rent hikes in the past several years. It’s also no mystery how it happened–when tenants were priced out of San Francisco, Berkeley, and other increasingly expensive Bay Area neighborhoods, rental occupancy grew feverishly in Oakland, and landlords and market-rate developers responded in kind. However, to date, East … Read more

Relationships Drive Progress and Knowledge Sharing Among Challenge Grant Cohort

Last month, the Challenge Grant cohort of housing justice champions from across the Bay Area came together to discuss their policy efforts in tenant protection and affordable housing preservation. This convening comes at the end of almost a year of working toward policy goals during an unprecedented time. When we started this work, no one could have imagined we would … Read more