Earlier this month, the SV@Home team attended the 45th annual Housing California Conference in Long Beach, California. Staff enjoyed the diversity of workshops available at the conference and have been excited about incorporating their new-found knowledge into their work. Whether it was tenant protection policy, housing narrative strategies, or leadership development — the conference had it all! 

SV@Home also led an exciting panel that flooded the doorways with curious conference-goers. Our very own Executive Director, Regina Celestin Williams joined City of San Jose staff, City of Berkeley staff, and SOMOS Mayfair’s Co-Executive Director Victor Vasquez in the workshop titled, New Tenant Preference Policies: Anti-Displacement, Community Collaboration, and Efficient Implementation. The panel discussed policies that incorporate local tenant preference solutions to address gentrification and escalating housing costs that are causing displacement and disrupting communities in Berkeley and San Jose. The City of Berkeley adopted its Housing Preference Policy in 2023, while the City of San Jose recently adopted Anti-Displacement and Neighborhood Tenant Preference Policies on Tuesday of last week. 

The City of San Jose’s set of preference policies would set aside a proportion of units in City-funded affordable developments to be reserved for income-qualifying applicants from specific neighborhoods where the risk of displacement is the greatest and/or applicants from the neighborhood where the affordable housing development is located. You can read more about the City of San Jose’s preference policy here. You can also check out our September 2023 PIA about the policy here.