Give Me Shelter: How the Bay Area is Tackling Its Housing Crisis

This event is the latest in the San Francisco Foundation’s series on People, Place and Power.

A safe and secure shelter, one of humanity’s most basic needs, has eluded far too many people in this resource-rich region. In the past five years, Bay Area home prices have surged by an astounding average of 72 percent. This is one reason why even six-figure household incomes are considered “low income” in certain parts of the Bay Area and why homeless tent encampments and the number of RVs lining the streets of cities across the region are growing dramatically. Currently, 1.5 million households in the Bay Area pay more than half of their income in rent. And people of color and seniors are being hit the hardest.

But for the first time, the public, private, nonprofit and philanthropic sectors are working together on creative solutions to produce, preserve and protect affordable homes for all residents. Last fall, voters passed 15 affordable housing measures throughout the Bay Area. The tech giant Facebook has committed to help build a nearly $20 million fund to partner with local governments and nonprofits to create “innovative and scalable” affordable housing near its Menlo Park headquarters.

Please join The San Francisco Foundation and the Bay Area’s most influential leaders concerned about our housing crisis to discuss ways in which the region is advocating, innovating and building in order to keep Bay Area residents in their homes.