For Affordable Housing Month in May 2024, Exygy hosted a panel discussion on the implementation of a displacement-focused housing preference policy in Berkeley aimed at prioritizing vulnerable households for affordable housing. This housing preference was implemented using our Bloom Housing digital application portal, which aided applicants in identifying their eligibility for affordable housing at RCD Housing’s Maudelle Miller Shirek Community. With a digital housing application, potential tenants were able to answer questions that allowed them to qualify for a suite of seven Berkeley housing preferences based on historical and socio-economic factors. The City’s housing preference policy addresses historical injustices and aims to prevent further displacement of marginalized communities, particularly families affected by systemic issues such as eviction, homelessness, and historical redlining.

This panel tells the story of how the Berkeley housing preferences first began, with advocacy support from Healthy Black Families, and how it was implemented by the City of Berkeley and RCD Housing on the first property lease-up utilizing the preferences. The following panelists provide details on the policy’s journey: 

• Anna Cash - Housing Policy Specialist, City of Berkeley

• Wilhelmenia Wilson, Executive Director, and Ayanna Davis, Deputy Executive Director, Program and Policy, Healthy Black Families

• Nick Griffin - Director of Asset Management, Resources for Community Development

• Moderated by Barry Roeder - Doorway Principal, BAHFA/Doorway

Implementation of Berkeley’s Housing Preferences - from advocacy to lease-up. 

Community Involvement and Historical Context

Through the advocacy efforts of organizations in Berkeley, including Healthy Black Families, the City’s housing preferences were informed by historical context that included displacement of Berkeley families due to systemic patterns of development and the significance of centering Black communities in policy development. From those conversations, seven housing preference policies were developed by the City of Berkeley, with the top priority focused on displacement due to BART station development in the 1960s and 1970s around the eventual Ashby, Downtown Berkeley and North Berkeley BART stations. The housing preferences also included prioritizing households with children, and those affected by homelessness or unjust evictions, ensuring fairer access to affordable housing. The full list of housing preferences include: 

• Displaced or are descendants of someone who was displaced due to construction of BART in Berkeley in the 1960s and 1970s

• Displaced due to foreclosure in Berkeley since 2005

• Displaced due to no-fault or non-payment eviction in Berkeley within the past seven years

• Households with children

• Live or formerly lived in Berkeley’s redlined neighborhoods

• Children or grandchildren of someone who lived in Berkeley’s redlined neighborhoods

• Homeless and not prioritized for local permanent Supportive housing or are at-risk of homelessness with current/former address in Berkeley 

Implementation Efforts and Challenges

Implementation of the housing preference required coordination between various stakeholders involved in the development and lease-up of affordable housing, including: 

• City Government

• Advocates

• Housing Developers 

• Property Managers 

Lease-up refers to the process of leasing available units to qualified applicants during the initial phase of property opening or before the building is move-in ready. The city aimed to minimize the burden on applicants and providers by streamlining processes and working with Exygy to incorporate geographic-based features into our Bloom Housing portal to determine if applicants’ self-reported addresses were accurately located in redlined neighborhoods. While the City of Berkeley also developed a certification process to determine applicant eligibility for preference policies. RCD Housing’s lease-up of the Maudelle Miller Shirek Community, supported by their property manager, John Stewart Company, resulted in approximately 10,000 applications, with a large portion of applicants reporting extremely low incomes, highlighting the urgent need for housing in this income range. 

Monitoring and Future Implementation

Panelists, especially Healthy Black Families and City of Berkeley, emphasized the importance of ongoing outreach to ensure future applicants, especially those displaced from Berkeley, are able to return to the city. There will also be efforts for future data collection to understand who benefits from the preference policy and how it can be improved. The plan will include continually refining the process to better serve priority communities.

View the full webinar:

To view release resources, please view the following: 

• Check out the Association of Bay Area Government’s (ABAG) case study on Berkeley housing preferences

• View the slide deck from the webinar, include answers to the questions from the Q&A:

• Reach out to panel participants: 

  • City of Berkeley — HousingPreferences@berkeleyca.gov

  • RCD Housing — ngriffin@rcdhousing.org 

  • Healthy Black Families — wilhelmenia@healthyblackfam.org and mamaayanna@healthyblackfam.org

  • Doorway — broeder@bayareametro.gov