View our previously recorded HAC events below!
The HAC is a monthly, informal brownbag discussion convening Housers to engage on hot housing topics. Every month, we select a topic or current event, bring in an expert to give a brief presentation, and then open up the discussion to ask questions, float new ideas, and identify potential areas for shared action.
February 2021 HAC: How is housing policy connected to climate change?
Our housing policy decisions are directly tied to our ability to meet our climate goals. Wildfires, sea level rise, and other effects of climate change are already shaping how we think about the future of housing in California. At the same time, rising housing costs in jobs-rich regions like the South Bay have pushed working people into longer and longer commutes, forcing them to rely on driving further distances and contributing to one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. What actions can we take to address our regional housing crisis that also help us meet our climate goals? What are examples of cities where they’ve already been taking these steps? How is housing justice connected to climate justice? SV@Home is excited to be joined by Mountain View City Councilmember Pat Showalter and Greenbelt Alliance Advocacy Manager Justin Wang for a discussion about these questions and more. Join us as we explore the intersection of housing and climate change as well as how housing advocates and environmental advocates can collaborate to take on the biggest issues of our time.
January 2021 HAC: Will the Eviction Moratorium Be Extended?
PLEASE NOTE: This event was recorded on January 22, 2021. Details about eviction moratoria at the state, county, and city levels may have changed since this time. —- In August 2020, the California legislature put a statewide eviction moratorium into place that expires on February 1st. With COVID-19 cases and deaths in California higher than ever before and a shelter-in-place order in effect, legislators have introduced multiple bills to extend the eviction moratorium. What is unclear is how long an extension would last, and to what extent it will follow the blueprint of the previous moratorium. As landlords and tenants anxiously watch for the results, Governor Newsom has also called on the legislature to extend the eviction moratorium, though he did not say for how long. Given the looming choice of passing a new bill before Feb 1st or allowing the moratorium to expire, the eviction moratorium extension debate will almost certainly be the most prominent issue in the California legislature this January. To discuss, SV@Home is excited to be joined by Graciela Castillo-Krings of Sacramento Advocates, who previously served as an advisor to former Governor Jerry Brown, and Michael Trujillo, Staff Attorney at the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.
November 2020 HAC: Looking Ahead with Senator Jim Beall
On Friday, November 20, we enjoyed chatting with outgoing California State Senator Jim Beall about the future of financing housing, his advice for newly elected officials, and why providing affordable housing for all is a fiscally responsible moral imperative for society. SV@Home was pleased to present him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his unwavering commitment to housing. With over 40 years of public service — starting out as a housing advocate at San Jose State University, serving on the San Jose Planning Commission, then being elected to San Jose City Council, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly, and finally, the California State Senate — Senator Beall has been a lifelong advocate for affordable housing. Thank you, Sen. Beall! With special words from SV@Home Board Member Shiloh Ballard, SV@Home Executive Director Leslye Corsiglia, County Board of Supervisors President Cindy Chavez, and County Supervisor and CA Senator-elect Dave Cortese.
October 2020 HAC: Policy Remedies to Racial Residential Segregation
Racial segregation remains the key driver of racial disparities in education, health care, housing, and employment. In a first-ever for the Bay Area, researchers from UC Berkeley’s Othering & Belonging Institute mapped every jurisdiction in the region to show their proportion of single-family zoned housing. The illuminating set of maps of 67 cities across six Bay Area counties shows the regions and proportions of the cities that are zoned for single-family homes, other residential zoning, and non-residential zones. We are thrilled to be joined by special guest, report co-author Arthur Gailes, who will present on the remedies, solutions, and targets that his team identified to address the persistent problem of racial residential segregation in the San Francisco Bay Area, by applying novel research methods and fresh analytical tools.
September 2020 HAC: Did California’s Legislature Fail?
Crying babies. Eleventh hour negotiations. A global pandemic. Raging wildfires. The last week of the California Legislature’s session was a wild ride. Against the backdrop of multiple crises and a ticking clock, many fewer bills were passed than in a typical year. In the end, many important housing policy issues went unresolved, leaving a lot to be done in 2021. So what should the leigslature’s top priorities be?
To discuss this topic, we are thrilled to be joined by Michael Lane of SPUR, a longtime housing advocate and expert on housing policy in the CA legislature, and Graciela Castillo-Krings of Sacramento Advocates, who previously served as a advisor to former Governor Jerry Brown. Join us to answer the question: did the legislature fail?
August 2020 HAC: Proposition 15 Provides Funds for Affordable Housing & Community Services
Join SV@Home as we dive into Proposition 15—the Schools and Communities First Initiative– at the August HAC! Listen to leaders of the Proposition 15 campaign and find out what it has to do with housing. The Schools and Communities First Initiative, which is on this November’s ballot, is expected to raise billions of dollars a year by exempting commercial properties worth over $3 million from Prop 13 limits on property taxes. SV@Home has endorsed Prop 15 and we will be talking through the details and providing opportunities to get involved!
Speakers:
- Nina Senn, League of Women Voters
- JR Starrett, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH)
- Moderated by our own Mitch Mankin, Policy and Advocacy Associate
July 2020 HAC: Funding Affordable Housing- San Jose’s Commercial Linkage Fee
A major opportunity for affordable housing funding in San Jose is approaching – the campaign for a Commercial Linkage Fee (CLF) The health and economic shocks of the pandemic have laid bare the vulnerability of communities of color and lower-wage workers in Silicon Valley where overcrowding and high housing costs have magnified the crisis. The greatest hurdle to developing the affordable housing needed to help stabilize families and communities is a lack of dedicated local funds. One of the standard tools to generate this funding charges a small fee to developers of non-residential properties– commercial and office space– to help provide affordable housing for the new employees, many of whom won’t be able to afford the high local rents. This tool – the Commercial Linkage Fee – helps respond to the pressure that new jobs put on an already strained housing market. San Jose is the last major city in Santa Clara County without such a fee.
Even in these uncertain times, big developments moving ahead around the city have the potential to raise hundreds of millions of dollars of critical affordable housing funding over the next 5-10 years. Please join us for an update on where we are at in the process, what moving pieces to look out for, and how this all relates to expanding opportunities for real people. Leaders of the campaign will report on the findings of city studies about the range of possible fee levels — set to be released on July 17th, and discuss opportunities to get involved as advocacy efforts ramp up over the coming weeks.
June 2020 HAC: How do we dismantle the racist legacy of homeownership policies?
Racist housing policies have historically, and up through the present day, prevented communities of color from enjoying the full benefits of homeownership, both in the Bay Area and across the United States. These policies have manifested themselves through practices including red-lining, racially-based covenants, and other forms of economic exclusion. With June officially designated as “National Homeownership Month,” this is an important opportunity to reflect on how systemic racism has shaped homeownership opportunities in California, especially in the Bay Area, and what actions are needed to dismantle this legacy.
We’re thrilled to welcome special three special guests:
- John Gamboa, Vice Chair of The Two Hundred, a statewide coalition of community leaders, opinion makers, and minority advocates, working to mitigate the growing racial wealth gap through homeownership and home building in California.
- De’Zhon Grace, Economic Equity Fellow at Greenlining Institute, a policy, research, organizing, and leadership institute working for racial and economic justice.
- Kevin Coleman, Partner at Urban Farmers Inc., a real estate development firm that balances real estate fundamentals, architectural creativity, and social responsibility to develop quality workforce housing.
Our expert speakers will share their work to advance equitable housing and homeownership opportunities, as well as their expertise on what other actions need to be taken to improve racial equity in homeownership.