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Strategic Plan, 2025-29

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The Overview

Vision, Mission, Housing Justice Statement

Vision

We envision equitable and thriving communities that provide homes for all.

Mission

Our mission is to build our collective power and advocate for systems change to achieve housing affordability and justice in Santa Clara County.

Housing Justice Statement

Housing justice will be realized when all communities are inclusive, and community members have the resources and power to lead the development of our communities. 

We believe that the path to housing justice is through centering the communities that have been historically marginalized and helping to build power to reverse the legacy of racial and economic exclusion.

How We Work

Our Approach

As a member organization, we bring people together.

We build relationships, we convene, we act in coalition, we advocate, we share knowledge and resources. We support and invest in individuals, organizations, and movements. We hold space for people to come together. We do this work in ways that are strategic and that build trust. We strive to be inclusive, connected to multiple communities, informed by data, and transparent.

Our Strategies

Advocacy

We advocate to transform housing systems.

Our housing advocacy comes from our belief that all people deserve a home – that stable, safe, affordable housing for all should be a baseline condition for a just and equitable society.

Over the next five years, SV@Home has the following advocacy goals:

  • Increase funding for affordable housing per the following:
    • At least $2 billion in new funding for new construction of affordable housing,
    • At least $500 million in new funding for preservation of existing low-cost housing as affordable housing.
  • Support affordable housing production and preservation for at least 30,000 affordable homes through other forms of policy and advocacy (measured in terms of homes in communities supported through our project endorsement process and through the number of additional units enabled through landuse/zoning/streamlining and other policy changes);
  • Advance policies in local cities, the county, and the state to prevent displacement for at least 100,000 persons (measured in terms of people who would qualify/be served under any new or expanded policy).

Leadership Development

We champion community leadership through mutual support and capacity building.

We work to build new leaders in diverse communities across the county because we believe that we are better together – that no one accomplishes anything by themselves.  And we believe that housing justice requires the leadership of people who have been historically marginalized.

We seek to uplift community leaders and strengthen BIPOC-led organizations to drive housing justice, shape their communities, and transform representation in housing advocacy.

Over the next five years, SV@Home has the following leadership development goals:

  • Train/support 100 new leaders, with an emphasis on BIPOC leaders, to pursue careers and build leadership capacity to advance affordable housing and other pro-housing and community development policies and programs. 
  • Build community development/housing development capacity of an additional 25 staff members from at least 15 local CBOs, with at least 5 CBOs to take concrete actions to develop, acquire, or partner to develop/acquire affordable housing.
  • Raise over $100 million in new funding dedicated to community-based development in Santa Clara County.

Narrative Power

We move people to support housing justice through communications and public education.

In order to build support for housing justice, we need to build a better common understanding of what affordable housing is and how we got to our current housing crisis, including a deeper understanding of how systemic racism shaped and continues to shape the state of housing in our county.

Over the next five years, SV@Home has the following communications and public education goals:

  • Convene thousands of people. Through major events like Affordable Housing Month and a to be launched Housing Forum and through regular events like policy webinars (e.g., our Policy In Action series), constituent roundtables (e.g., our Developer Roundtable series), and social gatherings (e.g., our quarterly Happy Housers), we will bring the Santa Clara County affordable housing community together to keep folks informed and coordinated.
  • Engage in communications campaigns.  Through social media, earned media, public events, and our own publications and website we will engage in narrative shifting and narrative building around affordable housing and housing justice with the goal of reaching thousands of people in the general public.
  • Train community leaders on affordable housing basics and how to talk about affordable housing.  Through our programs such as Foundations of Affordable Housing and How to Talk About Affordable Housing, we will train over 200 local leaders (including elected officials, neighborhood association leaders, nonprofit professionals, housing and planning commissioners, and cities’ staff) about affordable housing, including talking points and communications strategies.  Each of these leaders will have potential audiences of thousands of people, taking this programming to scale.

Organizational Resilience

We reinforce our internal capacity by building sound administrative systems, raising resources, and supporting our staff.

In order to better deliver on our mission, we will continue to grow our internal capacity to plan, implement, administer, and evaluate our work.

Over the next five years, SV@Home has the following organizational development goals:

  • Continuous improvement of administrative systems, including fiscal systems, human resources systems, and maintaining electronic records/storage/document retention.
  • Produce an annual “roadmap” – an annual work plan with clear goals and metrics for each of the above strategic plan areas to track performance under each of the major work plan areas.
  • Diversify/strengthen fund development by adding additional funding sources including increased membership and increased sponsorship of fundraising events.
  • Increase staffing by at a projected 6.0 FTE over the 5-year strategic plan period.
  • Support staff growth and development through management training and project management training.  All staff to have an individual growth plan.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Liberation

SV@Home commits to centering diversity, equity, inclusion, and liberation in our work and culture. To truly seek systems change in a country formed by colonization and extraction, everyone working towards creating equitable and thriving communities, including SV@Home, must commit to identifying and combating housing policies and practices that historically and presently oppress Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC).

Diversity

At SV@Home, we understand diversity as the valuable differences and unique experiences we all bring. In housing justice, this means recognizing and honoring the perspectives of all individuals and communities, particularly those historically marginalized in housing policies and practices, including BIPOC, LGBTQIA+ people, persons with disabilities, and immigrants.

Equity

For us, equity is about actively ensuring fair treatment, access, and opportunities for all while striving to identify and dismantle barriers that have hindered the full participation of marginalized groups. Equity means proactively addressing systemic injustices in our work to guarantee everyone has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing, regardless of their background.

Inclusion

Inclusion is creating environments where any individual or group can feel welcomed, respected, supported, and valued. To us, inclusion means striving to involve all community members, especially those who have been excluded or marginalized, in decision-making processes that impact their housing and neighborhood.

Liberation

Liberation in housing strives to redress harms caused by the discriminatory housing policies and practices that continue to divide, control, and exploit historically marginalized communities. We seek to realize justice, facilitate healing, and redistribute resources through the transformation of systems, practices, and beliefs. We envision a future in which marginalized communities achieve self-determination and agency, ultimately creating a network of communities where everyone has freedom and power, with housing at the center of this interconnectedness.

Strategic Planning Process

We Listened to Our Stakeholders

Our strategic plan was shaped by listening to our members and partners, whose insights and experiences guided us every step of the way. Together, we’re creating a roadmap for our work at SV@Home that truly reflects the voices and needs of those we support. Starting in late 2023, we engaged over 60 stakeholders through dozens of individual interviews, four focus group meetings, and an online survey.

What We Heard

Our stakeholders told us that we have been a valued partner and a critical resource in developing and and advocating for affordable housing policy in Silicon Valley. They urged us to leverage these assets to push harder around key issues and priorities, especially as it relates to racial justice. A sample quote is: “[SV@Home] has the ability to be a trusted partner across so many constituencies. They could lean into this even more and maximize it.”

More quotes from stakeholders:

“They are seen as a trusted partner even if all entities are not on the same page — they can facilitate dialogue and bridge between different partners.”

“They are a legit, well-informed voice and presence… They show up with authority in housing conversations.”

“They are one of the few legitimate big tent groups that can walk the line of both developers/city and with grassroots [organizations].”

“I see them as a connector.  With this ability to have connections across sectors, geographies, issue areas etc., their educational and convening events provide an opportunity… to connect and share and find synergy.”

“SV@Home has done a great job with trainings and events and so many activities.  The question is this too much or not strategic or focused enough?”

“SV@Home needs to lean into having a thoughtful narrative on how race plays out in the housing and displacement discussions…  [They should] be assertive about naming race.”

“To be successful to move your agenda forward, you will have to take risks…  You will have to rock the boat to create change.”

“It would be nice if they were more aggressive.  [They are] a little too risk adverse.”

What is Changing

Based on stakeholder feedback, our 2025-2029 Strategic Plan represents our intentional pivots towards racial justice and community empowerment through leadership development, while still retaining our core focus on affordable housing and our core approach of bringing the field together. We are still who we always have been, but with a more explicit focus on housing justice.

To reflect this pivot, we have updated our mission and vision statements and created new statements about our commitments to housing justice and DEIL. Our Strategic Plan also includes 5-year goals that are in alignment with our newly explicit focus on housing justice.

Thank you to all stakeholders who participated!

Alta Housing
Bay Area Council
California YIMBY
Community Development Department, City of Mountain View
David and Lucile Packard Foundation
Department of Housing, City of San Jose
Destination Home Silicon Valley
Eden Housing
Enterprise Community Partners
Greenbelt Alliance
Green Foothills
Housing Action Coalition
Housing Authority of Santa Clara County
Housing Trust of Silicon Valley
League of Women Voters
LifeMoves
LISC Bay Area
Livable Sunnyvale
Low Income Investment Fund
Matt Huerta Consulting
Merrit Community Capital
MidPen Housing
Mountain View Solidarity Fund
Mountain View YIMBY
Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California
Office of Supportive Housing, County of Santa Clara
Palo Alto Forward
Palo Alto Renters Association
Sacred Heart Community Services
San Francisco Foundation
Sand Hill Property Company
Satellite Affordable Housing Associates
School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza
Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Silicon Valley Council on Nonprofits
Silicon Valley Law Foundation
Sobrato Foundation
SOMOS Mayfair
South Bay Community Land Trust
South Bay YIMBY
SPUR
Sunlight Giving
The Core Companies
United Way of the Bay Area
Working Partnerships USA

Thank you to the Strategic Plan Committee!

Board Members
Aubrey Merriman, LifeMoves
Nevada Merriman, MidPen Housing
Chris Neale, The Core Companies

Staff
Fatima Burgos
Regina Celestin-Williams
Josh Ishimatsu
Mathew Reed

Consultant
Cassandra Benjamin, csb consulting