YIMBYs believe that we currently have a housing shortage in the Bay Area. Job opportunities vastly outnumber available homes, causing increased market rate prices, unmet demand for subsidized affordable housing and ever-longer commutes.
Yes
Do you think the RHNA numbers for your city are too high, too low, or just right?
The RHNA allocated to Emeryville for the 2023-2031 timeframe is as follows:
Very Low Income (<50% of Area Median Income) 451
Low Income (50-80% of Area Median Income) 259
Moderate Income (80-120% of Area Median Income) 308
Above Moderate Income (>120% of Area Median Income) 797
TOTAL 1,815
I believe that the number of low income should be a bit higher, but allowing Above Moderate housing to subsidized and support a diversity of incomes is the way to go. However, “housing” isn't being broken down to describe rental versus owner units. I lean on the side of ownership to close the prosperity gap between White communities and communities of color. Everyone should be able to realize and have access to the American dream of owning a home.
YIMBYs believe single-family-home-only zoning is an exclusionary policy that exacerbates racial and economic inequality. Historically, explicitly racist redlining was replaced with implicitly racist single-family-home-only zoning to keep people of color out of neighborhoods.
We believe every neighborhood should welcome all kinds of people, and that a diverse community requires a diversity of building types. We believe banning multifamily housing harms everyone. Cities like Minneapolis are already leading the way, changing their zoning to allowing fourplexes everywhere.
I am a fan of density. I believe density is better for the planet. I am not sure what is considered an exclusionary neighborhood in Emeryville but it's something I would take into consideration.
YIMBYs believe that the complex process for permitting housing has allowed small groups of people to block housing for their own benefit. Our byzantine permitting process has allowed wealthier communities and individuals to block housing (especially low income housing), adding delay and cost to building housing and created a collective action problem where far too little housing actually gets built.
At the same time, some communities of concern have used the process to get some important local resources, making reforms difficult to execute equitably.
Isn't discretionary review a matter of best practices? If the discretionary review process is outdated and non-equitable, yes, but community input is what matters most to me. So an impact report and involvement from unions should matter. Emeryville has a bad history of redevelopment that has placed the needs of the city above the needs of the residents. When I first visited Emeryville to go shopping I was told about the Shellmound Street and how redevelopment overlook the needs of the Ohlone people. I do not want to be apart of something like that. So impact reports are important, but I also do not want to delay housing for low opportunity communities. I'm a “middle way” altruist so i will always look for ways to avoid extremes by working with all sides. Those who insist I choose a side will find themselves disappointed by my response.
YIMBYs believe that there is far too little funding devoted to subsidized affordable housing, especially for those with the greatest need. While permitting and zoning reforms will help us build more subsidized housing more efficiently, more money is also needed to tackle the problems of homelessness and displacement.
I do support that and the funding should come from a mix of public and private partnerships.
YIMBYs believe there are many incentives that lead cities to block housing, and that structural reform is needed. One of these structural problems is lack of regional coordination. Without greater regional coordination, it's easy for job-centers to tell themselves "someone else" will build the housing.What do you think the Bay Area should do to increase regional coordination to address our housing shortage?
To increase regional coordination there must be regional dialogue. The advantage of a full-time city council is that they are able to lend themselves to more travel and increased opportunities to engage with regional and national forces. That is why I support a full-time city council with an electable mayor.
YIMBYs believe we must ensure that new housing is built without pushing out existing residents. That requires strong tenant protections to ensure development without displacement. These protections range from Right to Return to Just Cause eviction protections.
BMR tenants are bullied often by property manager who are quick to remove and replace them. I'd like to better safeguard their residence.
I grew up as an orphan and therefore my home was a a shelter, a group home designed for children - on paper, but I am thankful I had a group home as an option compared to the corrupt and often toxic foster care system. I am also a BMR resident so I know firsthand the experiences of many Emeryville residents who are in affordable housing.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has gripped the nation, disproportionate impacts are being felt by our most vulnerable residents, those who already did not have a home to call their own to shelter in place.
I believe that is being addressed. I was in a recent orientation with Public Works wherein they shared plans for housing accommodations with the unhoused.
For the better part of a century, federal, state, and local policies have encouraged families to build wealth through homeownership. However, those same policies were explicitly and later implicitly written to restrict this wealth building to only white families. Today, the average white family’s wealth is ten times that of the average black family.
This is complicated because as a Black man I view Emeryville differently than many. Emeryville has to be a better place to live and work and raise children. So housing is just a single component and a wholistic approach is necessary to close the racial wealth gap, but it starts with improving home ownership for Black and Brown populations.