This has been quite a year for every human on the earth, and for us here in the East Bay as we’ve responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has taken so many loved ones’ lives and disproportionately impacted the health, jobs, and lives of Black and immigrant Latinx communities here in the East Bay.
Amidst this, we joined our partners and community members in winning eviction moratoriums in 23 municipalities across the East Bay. We turned out at the ballot box to give ourselves a fighting chance at the future. Our staff pivoted to meet the needs created by the pandemic and to sustain years-long projects to build a just, equitable, and affordable East Bay.
Together, we did this and we are here. We did it while sick with grief, rage, worry, fear, and sometimes illness; we did it with children climbing on our backs, while smoke turned our air toxic, while our screens and phone lines flickered in and out. We wish it hadn’t been so but we did it because we believed in justice and in each other. We thank you for being with us through this year.
As we turn to face what is before us in 2021, we thank each of you who joined us in 2020.
- Thank you to the 750+ who attended an online training, conversation, or event.
- Thank you to each one of you who called into a City Council or Board of Supervisors meeting to demand eviction moratoria or wrote an elected official about rent relief.
- Thank you to 520 people who contacted the Alameda and Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors calling on them to invest in Black health, housing, and healing and divest from policing using our targeted action form.
- Thank you to each of you who voted, if you were able to vote. Thank you to those who shared information about voting, shared our Affordable Housing Ballot Slate with your family and neighbors, or phone banked for key affordable housing ballot campaigns.
- Thank you to members that participated in Resident United Network’s “There Ought to Be A Law” event as it happened online because of the pandemic. Resident leader proposals are being developed and will be proposed as specific legislation for 2021.
- Thank you to collaborators who imagined how our future together could be when we win housing justice.
- Thank you to Grown Woman Dance Collective, Jenn Johns, and the Haven Project for integrating housing justice education with dance and music performance, giving us life through the screen.
Thank you to each of you who renewed your membership, joined for the first time, or donated to support the critical work of building the world we need – one where each person in the East Bay has a quality, affordable place to come home to each night, connected to a thriving community.
This year we had a number of campaign wins and were able to educate the public through news media and public appearances more than ever before. Here are a sampling of key wins and public education opportunities. View our Year End Video.
CAMPAIGN WINS
- Condo Conversion Ordinance Passed in Oakland, preserving 20,000 additional units.
- California SB1079, which gives tenants, families, local governments, and housing nonprofits an opportunity to buy foreclosed homes before large corporate buyers can snatch them up.
- Measure W in Alameda County and Measure X in Contra Costa County to expand critical funding for homeless services, emergency housing, and affordable housing at the ballot box.
EBHO IN THE NEWS
EBHO Staff provided information to reporters for dozens of stories. Here are three key stories.
- The Forum, KQED: Can the Bay Area Solve Its Affordable Housing Crisis?
- The Oaklandside: Evictions in Oakland and the pandemic: everything you wanted to know.
- East County Today: New Report from Bay Area Equity Atlas Predicts a Wave of Evictions in Contra Costa County.
PUBLIC EDUCATION APPEARENCES
EBHO staff appeared at dozens of regional and local events to educate and expand awareness about housing justice- here are two hilights.
- Dolores spoke about disability justice for over 200 people at the Housing California statewide conference.
- Gloria interviewed Richard Rothstein about The Color of Law for an audience of nearly 500 people with the Urban Land Institute San Francisco.
Thank you for being with us this year. If you’re able to donate and support our work, you will be helping us start 2021 resourced for the work ahead of us.
If you’re not able to donate, your presence in community and advocacy are fundamental to our strength as an organization. Thank you. Will you forward this page to one person and ask them to sign up for EBHO Updates?
With commitment, Gloria and the team here at EBHO