Posts Tagged ‘affordable housing’
Richmond works to meet housing goals after getting bad grade from grand jury
Lia Cortes paused as she walked past a group of girls admiring the trendy clothes displayed on mannequins leaning against a pink wall in a small clothing store. The streetscape at 22nd Street and Nevin Avenue has changed dramatically in the 23 years Cortes has lived in the neighborhood. “It is a main street. I…
Read MoreRichmond teachers struggle to afford housing on “poverty level” salaries
Diane Maddox sold gold jewelry as a side hustle, just to get by during her 33 years of teaching in Richmond. The single mother raised her two daughters in an apartment above a garage. It took the 56-year-old Maddox more than two decades until she could finally afford to purchase a home. She currently teaches…
Read MoreHow Richmond rebuilds abandoned homes
The house on South 37th Street is the ninth one rebuilt under the housing renovation program that turns abandoned, uninhabitable homes into livable ones and sells them to local, lower to medium income, first-time homebuyers.
Read MoreThe city of Richmond is flipping houses for its low-income residents
Richmond has hundreds of abandoned and blighted properties at any given time. These properties cost the city millions of dollars, because numerous city departments have to deal with them, they drive down property values, and pose serious health and safety risks to neighbors. City officials have taken a unique approach to solving this problem with…
Read MoreRichmond’s housing struggle has a ‘fierce’ new advocate: Nikki Beasley
Nikki Beasley is executive director of Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services, a nonprofit developed in the 1980s to address housing inequities, particularly those created by practices such as redlining and discriminatory lending. She’s served in her current position for little more than a year, but in that time she’s made it clear she’ll be showing up and speaking her mind when it counts.
Read MoreHilltop Mall, Revisited: Developers Envision Nearly 10K New Housing Units – But Critics Worry Current Residents Could Be ‘Priced Out’
When Cesar Zepeda, president of Hilltop’s Neighborhood Council, met with investors and developers prior to LBG’s purchase, he emphasized the Hilltop community’s vision: a mixed-use development that incorporates affordable housing units. But while housing is needed all over the Bay Area, Zepeda said the new owners and the community need to be “realistic and understand what the Hilltop area is able to give.”
It’s not 9,600 housing units, he said.
Read MoreContra Costa affordable-housing advocates hope to build off ‘great energy’ of new state laws
The state housing bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown on Sept. 29 have created optimism in Contra Costa County, but affordable-housing advocates see them as just the start of a long process.
Read MoreMayor aims to dissolve Richmond’s low-income-housing agency, but critics call plan ‘simplistic’ and ‘reckless’
Mayor Tom Butt proposes a resolution to disband the Richmond Housing Authority (RHA), responsible for operating much of Richmond’s public housing.
Read MoreRichmond mayor releases strategy to expand affordable housing
Last week, Mayor Tom Butt released his first-ever housing strategy, which details plans to increase the availability of affordable and market rate housing in Richmond.
Read MoreFirst community briefing for the Berkeley Global Campus
UC Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are planning the new Berkeley Global Campus at Richmond Bay. The committee wants the university to sign a legally binding agreement aiding those such as disadvantaged workers, emancipated foster youth, homeless people and individuals with criminal records, and requesting the university pay a fee to the city, to improve affordable housing and displacement issues, among other suggestions.
Read MoreUC Berkeley’s Richmond Global Campus expected to spur housing construction
During a City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Butt’s office and a number of development experts gave a presentation on public policy initiatives to improve the availability, quality and development of affordable housing. The presentation centered on how The University of California, Berkeley’s Richmond Global Campus will increase development in the city.
Read MoreAffordable housing opens in the Iron Triangle, targeting those in need
When Reina Portillo was diagnosed with breast cancer and her husband, Jose Pedro Albarron Lopez, lost his job, her family, including four children and one grandchild, crammed into whatever one-bedroom apartment they could afford that month. They lived like that for years. Since July, Portillo and her family have lived in the Lillie Mae Jones…
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