From the Central Valley to Pacific Grove to the Bay Area, our team spoke at several conferences about social housing, smart design, and insurance cost and access challenges. We are also excited to introduce Adriana Torres-Ceja and Emma Barker, our new preservation and policy interns.
We joined our incredible partners at this year’s Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California’s (NPH) 45th Annual Conference and California Coalition for Rural Housing’s (CCRH) Annual Rural Housing Summit. Congratulations to both organizations for hosting inspiring events and fostering spaces to share innovative tools and knowledge!
At the NPH Conference, our VP and Market Leader, Heather Hood, participated as a panelist in a session on the importance of social housing, using Vienna as a case study. Additionally, Heather Bromfield, our preservation senior program director, moderated a discussion on emerging partnerships and funding streams for affordable housing preservation.
At the CCRH Summit, Justine Marcus, director of policy, facilitated a discussion on the insurance challenges in California, its impacts on affordable housing, and the next steps for advocacy. Amiel Leaño Atanacio, senior program officer of state and local policy, facilitated a discussion on issues and opportunities for affordable housing preservation in rural communities, and specific tools and programs for this type of housing work.
Central Valley Pipeline Findings at the San Joaquin Valley Affordable Housing Summit
Our Central Valley team presented findings on the first-ever Central Valley Affordable Housing Pipeline research at the 13th Annual San Joaquin Valley Affordable Housing Summit. Kristine Williams, senior program director, and Brenda Amboy, senior program officer, shared the first set of findings coming out of almost a year of focused outreach and data collection in partnership with the San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative to catalog how many affordable homes are in the planned and in the making in the region. The presentation covered three cities in the region – Stockton, Modesto, and Fresno – highlighting that almost 4,000 homes currently wait in the predevelopment pipeline for additional funding to advance.
Sally Greenspan Joins Greenbelt Alliance’s Climate SMART Development Program Endorsement Committee
We are proud to share that our own Sally Greenspan, senior director of the Northern California climate team, recently joined the Greenbelt Alliance’s Climate SMART Development Program Endorsement Committee. The Climate SMART Development Program encourages infill housing projects across the Bay Area. These projects advance climate resiliency, access to transit, and affordable housing for all while reducing the need for sprawl that threatens our natural areas. The endorsement of the committee provides a tool for developers to demonstrate the climate and community impact of their projects as they seek to secure crucial approvals from localities.
Welcome Our New Policy and Preservation Interns
We are excited to introduce Adriana Torres-Ceja and Emma Barker, our new preservation and policy interns.
Meet Adriana, Preservation Team Intern
We are excited to welcome Adriana Torres-Ceja as an intern on our preservation team! Adriana is supporting research and analysis for San Francisco's Small Sites Program. She is finishing her bachelor's and master's degrees in public policy, concentrating in urban policy at Stanford University where she has focused on affordable housing, land use, environmental justice, and community development. Adriana’s previous roles and research include alternative modes of development, such as community land trusts with the California Housing Partnership and the Keep People Housed Program in Oakland with Stanford’s Changing Cities Lab. In addition, she has advocated for affordable housing with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability in her community, the Eastern Coachella Valley. In her free time, she enjoys holiday movies, true crime documentaries, and thrifting with friends.
Meet Emma, Policy Team Intern
We are excited to welcome Emma Barker as a policy and research intern on our policy team! She is supporting housing policy research efforts, including a project with the City of San Francisco examining policy recommendations for their affordable housing site strategies. She has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from Pitzer College and is currently pursuing a master's degree in city planning at UC Berkeley. In her free time, she enjoys reading, lying in a hammock, and watching reality TV.