Catalytic Moment

The Bay Area is at a pivotal crossroads where unprecedented growth is fueling dramatic changes. The powerful economic engines of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley attracted over half a million jobs between 2010 and 2014, yet only 54,000 units of housing were built during this time. Analysis by the University of California at Berkeley found that 64 percent of low-income residents living near transit in the Bay Area are at risk of being displaced, and many have already been pushed out of the region’s center cities and away from transit and opportunity-rich communities.

At this moment of crisis, there is also a powerful consensus across the region of the need for decisive action. This November, voters approved $12.6 billion in resources available for affordable housing production and preservation and transportation, as well as protections for existing affordable housing and renters. At the same time, state policies related to greenhouse gas reductions have mandated public and private investment in communities near transit – many of which are historic communities of color.

Regional Partnership

Bay Area for All (BA4A) is aligning the work, vision, and focus of three nationally recognized collaboratives to build an equitable, healthy, and climate-wise Bay Area. Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), Urban Habitat, and the Great Communities Collaborative, which is an initiative of The San Francisco Foundation, have joined forces to advance a shared vision of community-driven development in targeted, transit-rich neighborhoods across the Bay Area. BA4A works across the region in specific urban and suburban areas, using tailored place-based strategies, and focused on advancing community-driven development now and in the future. With the help of SPARCC, BA4A focuses on two key issues to ensure all Bay Area residents benefit for significant investments in the region:

• Preservation of existing affordable housing
• Utilization of public land for community benefits as part of the development process

In Their Words

Context

The San Francisco Bay Area is a prosperous and diverse region, home to the highest gross domestic product per capita of any U.S. city and a population of nearly 60 percent people of color. It is one of the most progressive regions in the country, with climate investments and emission reduction policies that set examples worldwide. While major opportunities exist to build thriving and sustainable communities, the region also faces emerging threats to its health and well-being: growing inequity and environmental challenges like pollution, earthquakes, fires, and flooding.

Inequity, in particular, has a long and complex history in the Bay Area. Investment decisions of the past have excluded low-income communities of color from opportunity. The booming technology sector of the past two decades has attracted upper-income workers to the urban core, pushing out low-income families and many people of color from access to transit, city health centers, and green spaces. A heavy dependence on cars and the creation of highways now pollute the low-income neighborhoods they cross, exacerbating unhealthy outcomes for the most vulnerable.

Download the SPARCC San Francisco Bay Area Regional Profile.