Alameda County

Nancy Skinner has successfully passed some of the biggest pro-housing legislation of the past five years. Her work to advance housing across the state has put the entire state on a better trajectory for the coming decade and her influence cannot be understated.

Buffy Wicks has been a titan for housing in California’s State Assembly. When she was blocked from voting remotely, Wicks brought her still-nursing newborn to the Assembly floor to cast a dramatic vote for housing. No one will fight harder for an affordable California than Buffy.

“I often worry about my children being able to afford their own home. I have been very fortunate to be a homeowner, mostly out of dumb luck and stretching with my wife to purchase a starter home 20 years go. And while this makes the issue of housing deeply personal to me, it’s the same story for millions of Californians. It’s the story of working families, retired seniors, multi-generational families pulling together, and millennials trying afford to live every day. The middle class can’t afford to live in California. In my own district where my constituents have given me the honor and privilege of fighting for them, I’ve seen entire communities destroyed and displaced. I take very personally the pain and anguish my constituents are feeling during this housing and homelessness crisis.”

Lateefah Simon shares SF YIMBY’s goals of building more housing at all affordability levels. She has supported transit-oriented development projects with housing on BART land and was elected by her colleagues to serve as BART Board President this year. We would like Lateefah Simon to continue being a steady hand with a vision for convenient, equitable transportation and widely affordable housing.

Proposition 15 will get rid of property tax breaks for big businesses, and put billions of dollars towards schools and local services.

Currently, thanks to 1978’s Prop 13, owners pay property taxes based on the price they originally paid for that real estate—typically a lot less than what it’s worth today. Prop 15 will roll this back for many large businesses, raising property taxes to be assessed based on the property’s current (probably much higher) market value. Prop 15 will raise approximately $6.5 to $11.5 billion — 60% for cities, counties and special districts, and 40% for schools and community colleges. Homeowners and businesses with under $3 million in California property will be exempted, along with farm land.

Proposition 19 adjusts the rules of 1978’s Proposition 13. While many YIMBYs would like to see major reform to Prop 13, this is a small adjustment to California’s property tax rules. Prop 19 reduces tax subsidies for people who inherit multiple homes, and shifts them to people downsizing homes or who are moving due to natural disasters. Any excess tax revenue from reducing the multiple-homes subsidy goes to wildfire protection.

Currently, for homeowners who want to downsize to a smaller home, if it costs more than the original price of their big home, they can end up paying more taxes (depending on their county’s rules). Prop 19 makes sure that people who are down-sizing homes are protected from tax increases. Ideally, this allows long-time homeowners to downsize and allow others who need more space to move into their larger homes. Prop 19 also extends to people who are moving due to natural disasters, so they don’t face a tax hike on top of the trauma of losing their homes.

Derrick Johnson grew up in West Oakland’s Acorn Projects with a single mother who worked multiple jobs to make ends meet. He has lived the struggles so many face when it comes to rising housing costs and has seen friends and family members forced out of the City, and sometimes onto the streets, due to a lack of affordability. Derrick believes deeply in building housing, affordable at all levels, throughout the city, especially in exclusionary neighborhoods, and is dedicated to upzoning more of the city to bring more duplexes, triplexes, and multiunit housing to Oakland.

Steph Dominguez Walton is full throated in her advocacy for more housing. Her deep understanding of past redlining, including in her district, and its connection to modern single family home zoning has resulted in a clear intent to prioritize changing our city’s zoning laws to allow more people to live in “desirable” neighborhoods. She understands the need to protect existing tenants, produce more transit-oriented/multi-family homes, and preserve existing affordable housing. Steph will not simply be a housing ally – she will be a housing champion.

Lynette Gibson McElhaney has led the fight for housing in Oakland — we have seen more housing construction in her district than in any other part of Oakland since she has taken office. As a former nonprofit affordable housing executive director, Councilmember McElhaney has spent her entire career fighting for low income residents and housing. She centers equity in all of her decisions, with a focus on how to create growth in her district and throughout Oakland in a way that serves all Oaklanders. As she stated so eloquently in her questionnaire: “We seek growth without displacement, diversity without gentrification and to balance the needs of workers with the needs of neighborhoods.”

Councilmember Noel Gallo strongly and unambiguously favors more housing of all types, and supports upzoning exclusionary neighborhoods. He has successfully worked to increase funding for affordable housing in Oakland and for his district. He supports streamlining our permitting, especially for affordable housing, and has a clear understanding of the challenges or regionalism and the strategies necessary to achieve our regional goals. His clarity and experience is needed to further our housing goals.