Affordable Housing Month
March 18, 2022

Housing Happenings Newsletter – March 18, 2022

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SV Housing Happenings

We’ve extended the deadline to Friday, March 25th

for AHM Event Proposal Forms!

 

SV@Home’s Emily Ann Ramos

Named 2022 Woman of the Year!

 

SV@Home is over the moon for our own Emily Ann Ramos, Preservation & Protection Associate! Last week, state Sen. Josh Becker named Emily the 2022 Woman of the Year for the 13th Senate District in California, hailing her work as a volunteer devoted to protecting the rights of tenants and ensuring access to stable housing. Becker said in a statement that her direct work with policymakers will help keep low-income families from ending up on the street. “I’m just not the type of person that would see a problem out there and not try to do something about it,” Emily said. “And there is nothing more daunting that our region is facing than the housing crisis.”

 

Check out the Press Release from Senator Becker’s office and this great interview in the Mountain View Voice!

 

SV@Home Action Fund Announces

Primary Candidate Forum Series!

The SV@Home Action Fund and more than a dozen partner organizations just announced their 2022 Primary Candidate Forum Series. The forums will highlight candidates running for five open seats, focusing on the most pressing issue in our region: affordable housing and homelessness. This is an exciting opportunity for the community to learn more about the solutions candidates are proposing and why these elections are so important for creating a more affordable, equitable Silicon Valley.

 

The entire series will be held virtually via Zoom, and recordings will be posted to YouTube. For more details and to RSVP, check out these links:

Thursday, March 31st, 6–7:30pm

Friday, April 8th, 12–1:30pm

 

Thursday, April 14th, 6–7:30pm

 

Thursday, April 21st, 6–7:30pm

 

Wednesday, April 27th, 6–7:30pm

 

Not sure what districts you’re in, especially since they just updated district boundaries?

  • Santa Clara County voters check here.
  • For the Senate District 10 Forum on March 31st, Santa Clara County and Alameda County voters can check here

Register to vote, re-register, or check your registration status here

 

Next Friday! March 2022 HAC:

Making Housing Elements Work through State Enforcement

The Housing Element process is complex, and a critical investment of time and resources for addressing the housing crisis, and protecting our communities’ future by planning for the needs of a diverse population and economy. Now California has decided that this and other housing laws are too important not to get right, beefing up the enforcement division at the California Department of Housing and Community Development and adding a Housing Strike force in the Attorney General’s office.

 

During this HAC, we will discuss the State’s strategies for making housing elements work through enforcement, and help you be fully equipped to make sure the Housing Element process in your city meets the standards it’s required to in as many ways as possible. Ensuring cities follow the law will result in a housing element that is more likely to achieve success in addressing the need for housing in your community!

 

Featured Speakers:

  • David Zisser, Assistant Deputy Director of Local Government Relations and Accountability, HCD
  • Melinda Coy, Senior Housing Accountability Manager, HCD
  • Moderated by Mathew Reed, Director of Policy, SV@Home

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.

 

Many cities in Santa Clara County are holding Housing Element community engagement events and study sessions. View our Housing Element Engagement Calendar, updated weekly with opportunities to learn and get involved across the county. Nothing scheduled for your city? Sign up for updates! Need background information, tools, and resources? Check out SV@Home’s Housing Element Advocacy Toolkit!

 

Partnership for the Bay’s Future Releases Reports on Advancing Economic and Racial Equity

 

The Partnership for the Bay’s Future was launched in January 2019 as a regional, multi-sector initiative to address the affordable housing crisis through coordinated investments in both policy and housing development. The Partnership just released two reports examining its accomplishments in furthering economic and racial equity. The reports also propose strategies to best build on the momentum achieved.

 

SV@Home is proud to have been one of the Partnership’s first Challenge Grant recipients, working together with the City of Palo Alto to advance policy solutions to protect renters and preserve existing affordable housing. We are now partnering with the City of Mountain View and Housing Trust Silicon Valley on one of the Partnership’s latest Breakthrough Grants.

 

LISC Accepting Applications for Housing Development Training Institute

 

LISC’s Housing Development Training Institute (HDTI) selects approximately 40-50 participants from across California to participate in a yearlong, comprehensive training in affordable housing development for nonprofit affordable housing development staff. Applications are due April 1st and you can apply here.

 

LISC has sponsored the HDTI program since 1988 to respond to an unmet educational need for a comprehensive program to develop the skills of community development corporation staff. Thanks to the support of Merritt Community Capital, the HDTI program will maintain its full funding for the next three years.

 

SV@Home is a proud member of The Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, a membership-based organization that supports nonprofits all across Santa Clara County. SVCN is one of our core partners, providing educational opportunities and resources to nonprofit professionals and the broader community. Not only do they host tons of great events (like our staff favorite “Be Our Guest” Fundraiser and the annual Activate Your Impact Policy Summit!), they are also a hub for nonprofit events taking place throughout the County on the full range of community-focused topics. We are also very thankful to SVCN for their prioritization of racial equity, diversity, and inclusion in their work and helping convene and lead conversations around how the entire Silicon Valley nonprofit world can take REAL action on these issues.

 

As your local affordable housing policy experts, SV@Home staff frequently are honored to speak at educational events and on panels addressing the full range of housing policy topics. For this newsletter, we wanted to provide a glimpse of some of the recent community events and activities where SV@Home experts contributed their housing knowledge, which included several SVCN events!

 

In February, Executive Director Regina Celestin Williams shared her lifelong mission of working on affordable housing that grew out of her lived experience with staff at Meta, in a conversation with Anu Natarajan, Meta’s Housing Initiative Lead and the Former Vice Mayor of Fremont. Regina also detailed the impact of systemic racism on the housing landscape and the discriminatory policies still faced by the Black community today as a part of this Black History Month event.

 

Also in February, Policy Director Mathew Reed joined SVCN’s Activate Your Impact Summit to discuss the complex environment of housing policy and how nonprofits, even those who don’t focus on housing issues, can get involved. He spoke alongside the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley’s Nadia Aziz and Destination Home’s Jennifer Loving on a panel moderated by SVCN’s Kyra Kazantzis.

 

On March 1st, Executive Director Regina Celestin Williams moderated a panel, Housing in the South Bay, sponsored by the Housing Action Coalition (HAC) with three South Bay elected officials: Mayor Lucas Ramirez of Mountain View, Vice Mayor Alysa Cisneros of Sunnyvale, and Councilmember Sergio Lopez of Campbell. The elected officials discussed the challenges they are facing around meeting their community’s affordable housing needs as well as some important opportunities for progress.

 

On March 2nd, Policy & Research Associate Alison Cingolani was a panelist at Envisioning an Inclusive Los Gatos: Housing Element 101, an event hosted by West Valley Community Services. The diverse panel, which included an affordable housing developer and people with lived experience of homelessness and affordable housing, helped Los Gatos residents understand the need for more affordable housing and how to engage in the housing element process in their community.

 

A couple of weekends ago, Preservation and Protection Associate Emily Ann Ramos took part in a panel on Economic Justice in our Community, hosted by the New Leaders Council Silicon Valley Chapter. Emily’s fellow panelists included Gabby Chavez-Lopez from the Latina Coalition of Silicon Valley, Fernando Fernandez Leiva from La Mesa Verde, and Ruth Silver Taube from Santa Clara University School of Law. The panel focused on how people can lead and serve the community through the lens of economic justice principles.

 

#MembershipMatters – Become a Member Today!

 

Become a member today to help us develop and equip the next generation of affordable housing leaders.

Welcome to SV@Home’s Policy Rundown, your need-to-know overview of important housing policy actions and developments from the past two weeks

 

California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Housing Accelerator Tier 2 applications now being accepted!

 

HCD’s Housing Accelerator Tier 2 Fund is currently accepting applications. We are hopeful that Silicon Valley affordable housing developers with qualifying projects will apply and receive the much-needed funding although we expect these funds to be extremely competitive for Bay Area developments. The deadline to apply is April 8th.

 

Last year more than 80 eligible projects went unfunded by CDLAC (the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee), rendering these projects unable to advance. The Housing Accelerator Fund was created to help move forward “shovel ready” projects that can begin construction within 180 days of receiving an award. Qualifying projects must have an existing HCD funding commitment that listed tax-exempt and 4% low-income housing tax credits as a funding source.

 

SV@Home expects the program to be oversubscribed and competitive, especially for developments located in this region. In the Bay Area alone, there are more than 20 “shovel ready” projects in need of more than $280M that are likely to qualify and compete for Tier 2 funds. Further, in this round of funding, limits were directed for geographies and the Bay Area was not allocated specific funds. Instead, Bay Area projects will compete for $120M of funds assigned to an “unallocated” pool. Projects that do not fall into an assigned geography will compete for this pool of “unallocated” funds.

 

On March 15th, HCD hosted an informational workshop and confirmed that unused funds from assigned geographies would be directed to the “unallocated” pool, which has the potential to help Bay Area projects. However, these geographic pool allocations create additional challenges to producing adequate amounts of housing to meet the need of the growing economy in Silicon Valley, and SV@Home will continue to advocate with our coalition of partners and NPH for improved access to funds. 

 

If you have a project that will apply for Tier 2 funding and would like to provide feedback regarding the program, please reach out to rick@siliconvalleyathome.org.  

 

Sunnyvale’s Moffett Park Specific Plan Kicks Into High Gear with Open Space and Urban Ecology Study Session

 

On March 7th, Sunnyvale reinvigorated the Moffett Park Specific Plan (MPSP) process with a Council Study Session on Open Space and Urban Ecology. Topics included a proposed interconnected system of primarily privately-owned public open space parks throughout the plan area, an ecological overlay zone for areas closest to the Bay intended to maximize both biodiversity and public access, multi-use sports fields within the plan area, and ways to integrate natural designs for flood mitigation that would also become bike trails connecting to the Bay Trail system.

 

SV@Home gave public testimony to the City Council affirming the need to have a comprehensive plan that combines the large diversity of needs in the plan area, without any trade-offs impacting the opportunity for affordable housing. There is a tremendous opportunity to create up to 20,000 new homes, including up to 5,000 affordable homes, while mitigating sea level rise at Moffett Park and providing residents access to open space, a vibrant biodiversity, and high-quality bicycle trails. We believe Sunnyvale can create an exciting new neighborhood to live, work, play, and visit.

 

Opportunities to engage are plentiful this upcoming Spring 2022, study sessions will be held on Land Use, Mobility, and Community Benefits & Affordable Housing (date TBD). A draft plan is slated to be released this Summer 2022 with public hearings from various commissions and the City Council. The City is hoping adopt the MPSP by Fall 2022. We will keep you in the loop!

Please go to the City’s MPSP website to find the Open Space and Urban Ecology City Council Study Session presentation, recording, and many other resources: https://www.moffettparksp.com/

 

For your convenience, here are the links to the presentation and the recording:

 

Released! Sunnyvale’s Draft El Camino Real Specific Plan is out for Public Comments

After about two years of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic and unforeseen staffing changes, the City of Sunnyvale has finally released the Draft El Camino Real Specific Plan (ECRSP), its associated Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), and a Draft Community Benefits/Incentives Program for public review!

 

SV@Home is excited about the opportunity the ECRSP creates for a housing-rich El Camino Real (ECR) corridor with access to transit, jobs, and all of the great commercial resources. We will be following the details of the ECRSP closely to provide recommendations about how the city can incentivize the development of more deed-restricted affordable housing along ECR.

All of the draft documents are available at: https://bit.ly/ECRPlan. Other general information related to the plan process and updated meeting schedules can be found on the project website at: http://plansunnyvaleecr.m-group.us/.

Comments on the proposed ECRSP and the Draft EIR should be provided in writing by April 25, 2022 to Jeffrey Cucinotta, Senior Planner:

  • Email (preferred): jcucinotta@sunnyvale.ca.gov
  • Mail: City of Sunnyvale, Department of Community Development, Planning Division Attn: Jeffrey Cucinotta, Senior Planner, 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94088-3707

You may also provide public comments on the Draft EIR at several public meetings listed below. Meeting details, including how to view and join the meeting virtually, will be available on each meeting’s agenda 72 hours before each meeting on the City’s Legislative Public Meeting Webpage at: sunnyvaleca.legistar.com/calendar.aspx

 

ECRSP Advisory Committee Meeting: TO BE SCHEDULED

 

After comments have been received on the Draft EIR, a Final EIR will be prepared that will be considered along with the proposed ECRSP. We expect the City of Sunnyvale to inform us when the hearing dates with the Planning Commission and City Council are determined (for now, expected in June 2022) to consider the ECRSP project and certify the EIR.

 

Barriers to Affordable Housing Development

On March 8th the San Jose City Council received a report on barriers to affordable housing development. The report was based on a series of discussions with affordable housing developers, and made the following recommendations for additional work items to be added to the Housing Crisis Workplan, including: create an impact fee registry to improve transparency; establish internal coordination meetings to help facilitate key building permitting deadlines for affordable developments. It also recommended an evaluation of the City’s bond issuance and monitoring fees and a consideration of strategies to eliminate the incentive to use outside bond issuers and encourage participation in the City’s bond program.  Finally, it called for exploration of a new temporary suspension of the collection of the City’s residential construction taxes. 

 

While most of the recommendations were exploratory, the report noted important ongoing work to address development costs including: dedicated planning department staff; improved administrative systems for processing streamlined applications under SB 35 and AB 2162;  reduced parking requirements, and the recently approved elimination of commercial and retail requirements from 100% affordable developments.  Continued assessment of governmental barriers to affordable housing development is a requirement for the Housing Element Update due at the end of the year, and an area where San Jose has remained committed since adoption of the Housing Crisis Workplan in 2018.  

 

 

Commercial Linkage Fees in San Jose

Last Tuesday, March 8th, an agenda item on the Commercial Linkage Fee (CLF) was deferred for three weeks by the San Jose City Council.  This was to be the first time the CLF was before the council since its adoption in September of 2020, under a cloud of uncertainty, six months into the pandemic.  At that time the fees were set well below levels shown to be feasible, with direction to return in no more than two years with an updated feasibility study for reassessment.

 

While items are often deferred this one should give us pause. Despite a clear deadline of September 2022, to return to Council with an updated analysis, last week city staff reported that it has not begun the update process, and will not be able to return to council until December for review of the current fee levels.  We understand that city staff are extremely busy. Unfortunately, the Commercial Linkage Fee has a long history of being slow-walked through San Jose City Hall, as the interests of some are prioritized over the dire affordable housing needs of others.  

 

SV@Home brought together a broad coalition of community serving organizations to submit a letter in support of reasonable improvements in the fee collection process and allowable exemptions, but most importantly to demand that the fees return for consideration as directed.  The potential costs of delays and inaction are enormous. We will be asking all of you to support the effort to ensure that San Jose is working to address affordable housing needs as it grows and adds jobs. 

 

North San Jose Plan comes to Planning Commission without policies to meet affordable housing requirements

 

On March 23rd, the North San Jose Area Development Policy will come before the San Jose Planning Commission with a staff recommendation to retire the plan and adopt specific and objective land use standards for residential development along North First Street. Unfortunately, the recommendations lack the long promised concrete affordable housing incentive policies, and propose putting off their inclusion in the North San Jose Area Development Plan indefinitely..

 

As the staff memorandum notes, opening up North San Jose for additional housing development has been a high priority for both city staff and the City Council since adoption of the Housing Crisis Workplan in 2018. In the General Plan, the area is to accommodate over 25% of all new homes in the city by 2040.  North San Jose has also always been central to San Jose’s affordable housing strategy because it has a requirement, under old redevelopment rules, that 20% of all residential units will be affordable.  The first wave of development failed to meet these requirements, and the Housing Crisis Workplan explicitly called for the development of policies to make up for the affordable units that were not built and ensure that the 20% affordability requirements were met.  This policy work was originally expected to be completed in 2019.

 

Development policy in North San Jose has been impacted by changes in state laws, and conflict with neighboring jurisdictions over planned traffic improvements, but there has been ample time to develop a range of policy options. Without them there is no chance that significant affordable housing will be developed.  SV@Home believes that affordable housing incentive policies that can ensure that the 20% requirement is met, must be included in the new plans before they are adopted.  As we confront the geographic legacy of racial and social inequity from past land use policies, we cannot afford to build whole new neighborhoods in the city, close to jobs and transit, that are accessible only to the wealthy.  This item is expected to come to the City Council within the next month or so.  We will be asking supporters of housing justice to take a stand with us.

 

Palo Alto Objective Standards Community Meeting #2

 

Tuesday, March 22nd at 6pm

The City of Palo Alto is in the process of updating development and design standards in the Zoning Ordinance to clarify expectations for multifamily project design and to meet requirements under State law. As part of the process, the City is holding community meetings to discuss the process and standards in order to collect community input prior to crafting recommendations for Council consideration in April 2022.

 

Objective standards will affect multi-family and mixed-use projects in Palo Alto moving forward; this is our chance to weigh-in!

 

Why are these Objective Standards discussions important? In recent years, the California Legislature approved several new bills, including the Housing Accountability Act, Senate Bill 35, and Senate Bill 330, which streamline the housing development process by limiting a City’s ability to deny or delay an affordable housing development project that meets Objective Standards. Collectively, these bills prohibit local jurisdictions from imposing subjective design standards that would slow down housing production. The Objective Standards that cities set will determine how quickly and easily affordable housing developments can be approved!

 

Objective Standards Community Meeting #2

Tuesday, March 22 6:00pm-8:00pm

Zoom Webinar ID: 843 5621 0220

 

If you have or are planning a multi-family or mixed-used project in the City of Palo Alto, we strongly encourage you to join the discussion!

 

For additional details see the City’s Multifamily and Mixed-Use Objective Standards page.

 

City of San Jose: Existing Building Electrification Draft Plan

 

Monday, March 21st at 6PM

The City of San José has scheduled two additional public meetings on the Draft Plan. The webinars will take place on Friday, March 18, from 11 a.m. to noon and on Monday, March 21, from 6 to 7 p.m. To RSVP for one or both webinars, please visit our registration page. The webinars are an opportunity to learn about the Draft Plan and ask questions before the public comment period on the Draft Plan closes on March 25.

 

The City is researching electrification, not proposing any requirements. The Draft Plan is a framework to encourage and incentivize the electrification of homes and businesses in San José. It offers strategies to raise awareness about the benefits of using electric appliances and the negative health impacts of using gas; encourage the growth of high-quality building electrification jobs in San José; reduce housing and energy costs through building electrification programs; and increase access to clean and reliable energy. The Draft Plan does not propose any mandates to switch out existing natural gas for electric equipment. The cost of installing an electric heating/cooling system and water heater in your home is typically less than the cost of installing a gas-powered furnace, central air conditioning and a gas-powered water heater.

 

City of Gilroy: Housing Element Virtual Community Workshop

 

Wednesday, March 30th at 6PM

The City hired a consultant team to help the City update the Housing Element, starting with a review of our current Housing Element, conducting background research on our community demographics (e.g., income and family size), and drafting a Needs Analysis based on ongoing input from our residents, affordable housing organizations, community service providers, and other community stakeholders.

 

The consultant is leading the community outreach effort, including online surveys, stakeholder interviews, virtual workshops, and more.

 

Your voice matters. Please join us at the Workshop on March 30th and take the survey today!

 

Zoom link to join: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84249061219

 

March 2022 HAC:

 

Making Housing Elements Work through State Enforcement

 

Friday, March 25th at 12PM

The Housing Element process is complex, and a critical investment of time and resources for addressing the housing crisis, and protecting our communities’ future by planning for the needs of a diverse population and economy. Now California has decided that this and other housing laws are too important not to get right, beefing up the enforcement division at the California Department of Housing and Community Development and adding a Housing Strike force in the Attorney General’s office.

 

During this HAC, we will discuss the State’s strategies for making housing elements work through enforcement, and help you be fully equipped to make sure the Housing Element process in your city meets the standards it’s required to in as many ways as possible. Ensuring cities follow the law will result in a housing element that is more likely to achieve success in addressing the need for housing in your community!

 

Featured Speakers:

  • David Zisser, Assistant Deputy Director of Local Government Relations and Accountability, HCD
  • Melinda Coy, Senior Housing Accountability Manager, HCD
  • Moderated by Mathew Reed, Director of Policy, SV@Home

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.

 

AARP Presents Equity by Design: Quiero Mi Barrio – I Love My Neighborhood Urban Regeneration Program

 

Tuesday, March 22at 8AM

Join the AARP International Team for the next virtual spotlight in the Equity by Design – Principles in Action series.

 

On Tuesday, March 22 at 8 am, we’ll have a conversation with Antonio Fritis Esaty of the Chilean Ministry of Housing and Urbanism. The Chilean government partners with local governments and citizens themselves, to improve the quality of life in historically vulnerable neighborhoods across the country through spatial and social interventions.

 

Greenbelt Alliance Presents: Building Homes Away from Fire

 

Tuesday, March 22nd at 5PM

How do we balance the need to accommodate growth and keep our communities safe from wildfires? Join this webinar to learn more!

 

Across California, we’re seeing more wildfires burning every year with larger areas burned, and an increased frequency of high severity fires causing more damage to structures and lives lost due to climate change. The impacts of devastation and loss, unbreathable air quality, and evacuations are widely felt. According to experts, the single biggest risk factor driving loss of lives and homes to wildfires is the location and arrangement of homes in high fire risk lands in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI)—area where houses and wildland vegetation meet or intermingle.

 

Every city in the Bay Area is working to simultaneously address challenges of housing affordability and production as well as climate change adaptation through the Housing Element update process. Further action to protect and preserve homes from wildfires requires planning and investment and the addition of policies and programs in the Housing Element is a key step forward.

 

Join us for this webinar to understand more about these issues and to learn about a new tool that the Metropolitan Transportation Commission – MTC developed around policy guidance on common wildfire and housing challenges Bay Area

 

NPH Presents: Shift the Narrative Playbook Deep Dive

 

Wednesday, March 23rd at 12PM

Refresh your skills and/or invite new colleagues and partners to engage with Shift the Bay’s essential resource: the Playbook

 

In the housing and community development space, we are often battling the dominance of narratives that do not serve the goals of equity, inclusion, anti-racism or justice. Yet, how we shift away from those narratives to better ones, requires us to be strategic and intentional about how we lift up the solutions we propose.

 

Our Bay Area Seize the Narrative Playbook offers important guidance from research we conducted in the Bay Area, as well as collaboration and coordination with state and national housing justice researchers, organizers, and narrative experts.

 

In this virtual workshop, renowned national expert (and long-time Shift the Bay partner) Dr Tiffany Manuel and her CaseMade colleagues will guide participants through an interactive workshop, focusing on the nine strategies inside Shift the Bay’s essential resource. The event will be an opportunity to refresh your narrative strategy skills and/or invite new colleagues and partners to engage with this work.

 

 

National Community Reinvestment Coalition Presents: Community Reinvestment Act Basics

 

Thursday, March 24th at 10AM

Learn about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and how it can benefit your community

 

Banks are critical community partners and can be a catalyst for change in your neighborhood, particularly when public resources shrink.

 

Join us to learn about the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and explore how CRA can be used to increase reinvestment in your communities.

 

This is crucial information for anyone working towards a Just Economy. Whether you haven’t attended a CRA Basics before, or it’s just been a while, you won’t want to miss it.

 

SPUR Presents: The California Legislature’s 2022 Housing Agenda

 

Thursday, March 24th at 5PM

As California’s legislative year unfolds, the ongoing challenges of housing affordability, homelessness and neighborhood opposition to development continue to negatively impact lives and make headlines. Dozens of new housing bills have recently been introduced and amended, including measures that would expand the state’s Density Bonus Law for affordable housing developments, clarify the post-entitlement permitting process and create a “First Look” program that would give prospective owner-occupants and public entities priority in purchasing foreclosed properties. In addition, the state legislature is reviewing the various aspects of Governor Newsom’s proposed budget and housing advocacy organizations are weighing in with requests. Join us to hear from advocates in Sacramento who are making budget requests and sponsoring some of this year’s key housing legislation. We’ll identify the key bills to watch, provide an analysis of each and discuss prospects for making progress on the housing front.

 

 

Somos Mayfair Presents: March for COPA

 

Tuesday, March 29th at 1:00PM

March for COPA is organized by SOMOS Mayfair’s Vecinos Activos and San Jose families coming together in support of establishing a Community Opportunity to Purchase Act. Join us as we march to City Hall demanding that City Council make our community and this policy a priority, by voting for the policy NOW. As an anti-displacement strategy, COPA would prevent tenant displacement, stabilize housing, and promote the creation and preservation of community owned affordable housing.

 

Interviews will be available, in both Spanish and English. Please use the parking lot off of King Rd.

 

WHY: In September 2020, community members and grassroots leaders successfully organized for the City of San Jose’s 10-Point Anti-Displacement Strategy aimed at keeping as many low-income renters in San Jose as possible. Despite COPA being part of the first three strategies staff has been directed to explore, the policy has yet to make its way to City Council for a vote. Our communities cannot wait any longer. It is time we move with urgent and bold action to ensure our San Jose families and children are permanently housed.

 

MEXICAN HERITAGE PLAZA, 1700 ALUM ROCK AVE, SAN JOSE, CA 95116

 

Othering & Belonging Institute: Local Histories of Segregation

 

Wednesday, March 30th at 11AM

We are proud to feature three brilliant authors who have helped create reports on local histories in the San Francisco Bay Area and Hartford, Connecticut. They will not only share their stories, but also share their processes and methods. We will also get into the nuts and bolts of how to create your own histories, how to find data, and how to collaborate for greater impact. This event will tell stories in the hopes of inspiring more people and organizations to undertake such efforts in their own communities.

 

Silicon Valley Community Foundation Presents Community Conversations: Silicon Valley’s Housing Crisis

 

Thursday, March 30th at 1PM

Join Chuck Robbins, Cisco Chair and CEO, and other leaders for a discussion on Silicon Valley’s housing crisis

 

In our new Community Conversations series, SVCF brings together local leaders to discuss Silicon Valley’s greatest challenges and how our community can navigate through unprecedented conditions to best support organizations that are finding solutions. We invite you to participate!

 

On March 30, the first of our Community Conversations will focus on Silicon Valley’s housing crisis. Too many of our neighbors are homeless or on the brink, with communities of color and undocumented residents facing the most risk.

350 W. Julian St. #5 • San José, CA 95110  •  408.780.8411  •  siliconvalleyathome.org