Anti-displacement Policies Protect Low-Income Renters from Instability as Silicon Valley Cities
Update Housing Elements
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Low-income renters in Santa Clara County struggle with housing instability due to extreme rent burden, overcrowding, or both. But the Housing Element update process in every Silicon Valley jurisdiction offers the opportunity to adopt anti-displacement policies designed to affirmatively further fair housing under state law.
Please join us Friday, August 26th, at Noon as we bring you Policy in Action @Home: Advancing Anti-displacement Policies in the Housing Element. We anticipate an interactive conversation about what policies local cities place in their housing element, what is missing, and how you can get involved to push for more to ensure that your city follows through on adopting.
Featured Speakers:
- Husacar Castro, Associate Director of Housing and Transportation, Working Partnerships USA (WPUSA)
- Lauren Bigelow, Board Chair, Palo Alto Renter’s Association (PARA)
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Under Affirmatively Further Fair Housing, state law requires every city to plan and implement policies allowing low-income families access to opportunities. The state also requires each municipality to adopt policies that address disproportionate housing needs, including displacement risks of protected classes. Working families of color, seniors, people with disabilities, and others on fixed incomes disproportionately struggle with housing instability.
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City of San Jose COVID-19 Recovery Task Force – Community Survey and Resource Fair
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Since last September, the City of San Jose has been convening a COVID-19 Recovery Task Force as part of its community and economic recovery strategy. More than 55 local organizations participating in this task force have been developing strategies to benefit those most severely impacted by the pandemic. The task force has three main goals: Stabilizing and strengthening families, supporting small businesses, and supporting workers.
SV@Home is actively participating in the Task Force’s housing-focused working group. The focus has turned to concrete responses, and multiple working groups are now framing suggestions to be included in a final report for the council’s consideration. It is vitally important for the community to provide further input in this process to ensure it reflects community needs and is given the attention it deserves.
To expand these opportunities, the City has released a survey to allow San Jose residents and other affected parties to weigh in on priorities. What are your hopes for future programs and services to support families, workers, and businesses most impacted by the pandemic? There are many, and we believe a proactive response to the housing crisis should be at or near the top of the list.
Below are links to the online survey in multiple languages. It’s open until August 20th, so please take a moment to lend your voice.
The City will also host a COVID-19 Recovery Resource Fair on Saturday, August 20th, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Seven Trees Community Center, 3590 Cas Drive. The fair is free, and you can register here: English.
We invite you to hear and share stories of COVID-19 resilience. Learn about programs and services to help you recover from the pandemic. Enjoy free food and resources, including backpacks, bike helmets, COVID-19 testing kits, and more.
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Join the Houser Movement and Engage with
SV@Home’s Events Calendar
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Did you know SV@Home has an Events Calendar full of online and in-person opportunities to learn, engage, and join with a myriad of housing advocates and professionals? In addition to our events, the Calendar also includes a curated collection of partner events from across the region and state. There is something here for everyone. Be sure to check it out!
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#MembershipMatters – Become a Member Today!
Become a member today to help us develop and equip the next generation of affordable housing leaders.
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Welcome to SV@Home’s Policy Rundown, your need-to-know overview of important housing policy actions and developments from the past two weeks
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Shape the Future of Your City’s Housing Landscape with SV@Home’s Housing Element Toolkit
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SV@Home’s Housing Element Toolkit provides you with the tools and resources you need to evaluate your city’s Housing Element. NEW IN THE TOOLKIT! Has your city already submitted its Draft Housing Element to HCD? Now you can find contact information in the Toolkit for the Housing Element Reviewer assigned to your town by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). SV@Home recommends that you share with the HCD Reviewer all your previous letters to your city and any new comments you may have. Reviewers are assigned after the Draft Housing Element is revised based on initial public analysis and submitted to the state. Feedback from HCD is due to cities 90 days after receipt of the Draft Housing Element.
San Jose Housing Element: SV@Home convened a series of Housing Element community meetings in partnership with nonprofit and grassroots organizations that serve underrepresented communities in San Jose to determine community priorities to prevent displacement. Together, the group presented those priorities to city staff before the first draft was released. The group has analyzed whether these key community priorities were included sufficiently in the Draft and developed talking points to address shortcomings and reiterate support for the priorities. We look forward to getting those priorities more clearly defined and included in the Draft Housing Element sent to HCD at the end of this month.
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Housing Policy Interns Highlight
Affordable Housing Month
Events for SV@Home’s Rewind Blog
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Affordable Housing Month 2022 ended just a few months ago, but many of the events were recorded and still hold valuable, actionable information for housers. SV@Home asked our summer interns to watch some of these recordings and extract five essential points from each. We felt it was a great way to pass our housing knowledge to the next generation and serve as a quick reference guide for our members who want to go back and re-engage with some of the most critical moments of an action-packed month of housing events. Our second installment featured Maren Bick-Maurischat and her observations from our kick-off event. The first blog post was from Aurion Wiley-Green and her observations from our school enrollment event. Enjoy!
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You can also find recordings here of many of SV@Home’s past events!
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August Policy in Action @Home: Advancing Anti Displacement Policies in the Housing Element
August 26 at 12:00PM
Low-income renters in Santa Clara County struggle with housing instability due to extreme rent burden, overcrowding, or both. But the Housing Element update process in every Silicon Valley jurisdiction offers the opportunity to adopt anti-displacement policies designed to affirmatively further fair housing under state law.
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Livable Sunnyvale Endorsement Meeting for Village Center at
877 W. Fremont Ave.
August 11th at 6:30PM
Join Livable Sunnyvale at an endorsement meeting for a Village Center development at 877 W Fremont. During this meeting, you will hear from the developer, share your concerns and, if you are a member of Livable Sunnyvale and eligible to vote, vote to endorse or not the proposed development.
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YIMBY Action Presents: How to Achieve Racial Justice in Housing
August 14th at 11:0AM
Did you know that our neighborhoods are more segregated today than they were in 1990? Come learn why neighborhoods are still segregated and how we can make housing equitable for everyone.
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SPUR Presents: How to Build Middle-Income Homes in California
August 16th at 12:30PM
Nowhere in California are middle-income households safe from rapidly increasing housing costs, and policymakers and experts from Yreka to San Diego are looking at a variety of ways to address and reduce the incredible burden placed on these families. A new paper from the Terner Center for Housing Innovation, The Landscape of Middle-Income Housing Affordability in California, spotlights specific policy opportunities for officials at the state and local levels and identifies how to support the construction of middle-income housing by changing land use policies, building codes and regulations. Take part in an in-depth discussion with the authors of the report to explore what California must do in order to build homes for middle-income families across the state.
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TechEquity Collaborative Presents Fixer Upper: Discussion with the Author
August 17th at 12:00PM
On Wednesday, August 17th 12-1pm PT, we’ll have a conversation with author Jenny Schuetz about her book and how we can build political coalitions among diverse groups that share common interests in putting better housing within reach for more Americans, building a more equitable and healthy country. Join us for an intimate conversation between Schuetz and Catherine Bracy, CEO and Co-Founder of TechEquity.
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SCANPH Presents: Pro-Housing Cities with Sacramento Councilmember Katie Valenzuela
August 17th at 2PM
Join us on August 17th at 2 PM as we learn what it takes to run a “pro-housing” city and what we can learn for our own advocacy for pro-housing policies on the local level.
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Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Presents: Silicon Valley Bike Summit
August 18th at 8:30AM
Silicon Valley Bike Summit is our region’s largest gathering of active transportation leaders and organizers from government, the private sector, non-profits, and the general public. This is the most information rich event of the year for bicycle professionals, elected & appointed officials, and citizen advocates in and around Silicon Valley.
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SPUR Presents: How Bay Area Cities are Guiding the Region’s Housing Growth
August 18th at 12:30PM
San Francisco, Oakland and San José are all in the middle of updating their housing elements, a state-mandated, critically-important component of a municipality’s General Plan that helps guide local growth and meet the housing needs of everyone in their community. However, the housing element process is never straightforward, requiring the incorporation of Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) quotas, numerous iterations and significant public outreach before the final draft can be submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development. Come hear from all three cities as they discuss their respective processes, the challenges they’ve encountered, how each plans to accommodate their RHNA allocations and how their elements can build upon each other to improve the future of housing in the Bay Area.
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TechEquity Presents: The Bay Area’s Housing Affordability Crisis and What TechEquity is Doing About It
August 19th at 12:00PM
Did you know that it’s literally impossible to afford an average 2-bedroom apartment on minimum wage in most of the country’s major cities? In these cities, you’d have to work more than 20 hours a DAY to make rent. The math simply is not mathin’.
Join us next Friday, August 19th at 12-1pm to break down why our cities are this ridiculously unaffordable. We’ll give an overview of the affordability crisis, how housing and labor conditions have shaped our current mess, and how we can fix it.
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Somos Mayfair Presents: COPA Cumbia!
August 19th at 6:00PM
Mexican Heritage Plaza, 1700 Alum Rock Ave, San Jose, CA 95116
Calling all community! Join us as we explore the many benefits of COPA!
All are welcomed to our COPA Cumbia where we’ll dance, eat, connect and learn more about housing solutions like COPA (Community Opportunity to Purchase Act). See you there!
Hosted by Somos Mayfair, in partnership with Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, Amigos de Guadalupe, Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, and SV@Home.
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SPUR Presents Ideas + Action 2022: Mobility for All
August 22nd at 1:00PM
SPUR is convening transit leaders from across the Bay Area for our Ideas + Action 2022: Mobility for All symposium on August 22 at The Commonwealth Club.
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SCANPH Presents: Emergency and Safety Preparedness for Asset and Property Managers
August 23 at 10AM
As it’s often said, it’s better to be safe than sorry: Having property emergency preparedness plans in place can help mitigate damage and protect the safety of your residents when the unexpected occurs. Join us for a new asset and property management training, which will cover creating a safe environment, key definitions, company responsibilities, property management inspections to ensure regular upkeep and prevent larger issues that pose a threat to residents, workers comp, and what’s important to know from a property management perspective. It’s never too early to think about safety and emergency preparedness, so join us for this helpful overview!
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