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"content": "\u003cp>Amid major debate in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> on how to handle people camping in public places, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-city-council\">Oakland City Council\u003c/a> enacted a controversial new encampment policy Tuesday over the objections of dozens of advocates for the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The policy, which passed on a 5-1 vote, revises the way the city manages encampments and eases restrictions on sweeps. Councilmember Caroll Fife abstained, and Janani Ramachandran was excused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new policy allows Oakland to redefine “encampment” to exclude vehicles, including RVs, making it possible for the city to cite and tow inhabited vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also authorizes immediate encampment closures, including tents blocking sidewalks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation, introduced by District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston, also expands the definition of “high sensitivity areas,” where encampments are assumed to negatively impact health and safety, and are therefore subject to more aggressive sweeping. These high-sensitivity areas already include sites like schools and hospitals and now include utilities and public transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials framed the new policy as a public health and safety issue aimed at reducing fires, assaults, robberies and other crimes associated with encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 Oakland residents came to the meeting to voice their support or concerns for the measure. Some public speakers said they hoped the new rules would protect infrastructure around BART, and others came to advocate for their neighborhoods and businesses to be included in the high-sensitivity zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045783\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A section of an encampment on Alameda Avenue in Oakland is cleared on March 4, 2025. A shipping container barrier now surrounds the property. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The majority of speakers, however, called on the council to vote against the policy, saying relaxing limits on encampment sweeps amounted to “criminalizing homelessness,” and would have dire consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Father Dominic DeMaio, a Catholic priest who works with residents of an Oakland encampment, spent the morning in the council’s chambers, where he said he saw frustration from people hoping to see more care for unhoused residents and council members trying to do their best with limited resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DeMaio said many of the people who he works with have chronic conditions and are not receiving the appropriate care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not going to help to sweep them again,” DeMaio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armando Solorzano, an advocate working with Wood Street Commons, East Oakland Collective, and Love and Justice in the Streets, told KQED that the new policy is not consistent with Mayor Barbara Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/03/04/homeless-action-plan-oakland-barbara-lee-prevention/\">proposal\u003c/a> to cut homelessness by 50%. The mayor’s plan said to “slow down the pace of sweeps to keep pace with shelter availability,” said Solorzano, but there are not more shelters available.[aside postID=news_12078480 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Lede.jpg']This problem has not been helped by three Oakland shelters \u003ca href=\"http://oaklandside.org/2026/03/31/oakland-homeless-shelters-close-3rd-peralta-hceb/\">closed\u003c/a> their doors in the past few months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homelessness is on the rise in Oakland, increasing 8.5% between 2022 and 2024, according to the city’s point-in-time count. The 5,485 unhoused people in the city far outpace the number of overnight parking spots, shelter beds, transitional housing or permanent supportive housing units than the city currently provides, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7493872&GUID=4D7B3D3D-ED16-403A-9988-B11E206E01E7&Options=&Search=\">bill text\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Encampment closures already skyrocketed from 240 closures in 2024 to 1,212 closures in 2025 following the Supreme Court Decision in Grant Pass v. Johnson, which permitted cities to punish people sleeping on the street even if there were no available shelter beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s new abatement policy is less severe than Houston’s original text: Five council members amended the proposal to implement further notice and more safeguards for people who are at risk of displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These include considerations for towing vehicles that house families with children and people with disabilities, allowing more time to relocate and requiring referrals to appropriate shelters that would accommodate their needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is also required to identify safe areas in all council districts to relocate affected individuals within 90 days of towing their vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s new policy also clarifies the responsibilities of the city’s Department of Transportation and the police department, according to Houston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038000\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland City Hall in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some public commenters at Tuesday’s meeting accused the council of trying to sneak the ordinance through with a 9:30 a.m. special meeting, outside the council’s regular schedule, because they knew how unpopular it would be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharon Cornu, executive director of St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland, which advocates for seniors and young children, said she and her colleagues rescheduled their days to come to Tuesday’s meeting after closely tracking the policy for about nine months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the vote, Houston said he recognized Oaklanders’ frustrations around the new rules and said it was a necessary “starting point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people would be happy if their policy passed. I’m not. I’m really not,” said Houston, lead sponsor of the bill. “I feel hurt that we had to come to this point to make something happen for an unhoused individual … We have to start somewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Oakland can now immediately remove tents blocking sidewalks and tow RVs occupied by unhoused residents, among other changes to the way the city manages homelessness.",
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"title": "Oakland Passes Controversial Policy Easing Restrictions on Encampment Sweeps | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Amid major debate in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> on how to handle people camping in public places, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-city-council\">Oakland City Council\u003c/a> enacted a controversial new encampment policy Tuesday over the objections of dozens of advocates for the unhoused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The policy, which passed on a 5-1 vote, revises the way the city manages encampments and eases restrictions on sweeps. Councilmember Caroll Fife abstained, and Janani Ramachandran was excused.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new policy allows Oakland to redefine “encampment” to exclude vehicles, including RVs, making it possible for the city to cite and tow inhabited vehicles.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also authorizes immediate encampment closures, including tents blocking sidewalks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The legislation, introduced by District 7 Councilmember Ken Houston, also expands the definition of “high sensitivity areas,” where encampments are assumed to negatively impact health and safety, and are therefore subject to more aggressive sweeping. These high-sensitivity areas already include sites like schools and hospitals and now include utilities and public transit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Officials framed the new policy as a public health and safety issue aimed at reducing fires, assaults, robberies and other crimes associated with encampments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More than 100 Oakland residents came to the meeting to voice their support or concerns for the measure. Some public speakers said they hoped the new rules would protect infrastructure around BART, and others came to advocate for their neighborhoods and businesses to be included in the high-sensitivity zones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12045783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12045783\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250304-OaklandHighStreetEncampment-14-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A section of an encampment on Alameda Avenue in Oakland is cleared on March 4, 2025. A shipping container barrier now surrounds the property. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The majority of speakers, however, called on the council to vote against the policy, saying relaxing limits on encampment sweeps amounted to “criminalizing homelessness,” and would have dire consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Father Dominic DeMaio, a Catholic priest who works with residents of an Oakland encampment, spent the morning in the council’s chambers, where he said he saw frustration from people hoping to see more care for unhoused residents and council members trying to do their best with limited resources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>DeMaio said many of the people who he works with have chronic conditions and are not receiving the appropriate care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not going to help to sweep them again,” DeMaio said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Armando Solorzano, an advocate working with Wood Street Commons, East Oakland Collective, and Love and Justice in the Streets, told KQED that the new policy is not consistent with Mayor Barbara Lee’s \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2026/03/04/homeless-action-plan-oakland-barbara-lee-prevention/\">proposal\u003c/a> to cut homelessness by 50%. The mayor’s plan said to “slow down the pace of sweeps to keep pace with shelter availability,” said Solorzano, but there are not more shelters available.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This problem has not been helped by three Oakland shelters \u003ca href=\"http://oaklandside.org/2026/03/31/oakland-homeless-shelters-close-3rd-peralta-hceb/\">closed\u003c/a> their doors in the past few months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Homelessness is on the rise in Oakland, increasing 8.5% between 2022 and 2024, according to the city’s point-in-time count. The 5,485 unhoused people in the city far outpace the number of overnight parking spots, shelter beds, transitional housing or permanent supportive housing units than the city currently provides, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://oakland.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7493872&GUID=4D7B3D3D-ED16-403A-9988-B11E206E01E7&Options=&Search=\">bill text\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Encampment closures already skyrocketed from 240 closures in 2024 to 1,212 closures in 2025 following the Supreme Court Decision in Grant Pass v. Johnson, which permitted cities to punish people sleeping on the street even if there were no available shelter beds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s new abatement policy is less severe than Houston’s original text: Five council members amended the proposal to implement further notice and more safeguards for people who are at risk of displacement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These include considerations for towing vehicles that house families with children and people with disabilities, allowing more time to relocate and requiring referrals to appropriate shelters that would accommodate their needs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is also required to identify safe areas in all council districts to relocate affected individuals within 90 days of towing their vehicle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland’s new policy also clarifies the responsibilities of the city’s Department of Transportation and the police department, according to Houston.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12038000\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12038000\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/250428-OAKLAND-CITY-HALL-FILE-MD-02-KQED-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland City Hall in Oakland on April 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some public commenters at Tuesday’s meeting accused the council of trying to sneak the ordinance through with a 9:30 a.m. special meeting, outside the council’s regular schedule, because they knew how unpopular it would be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sharon Cornu, executive director of St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland, which advocates for seniors and young children, said she and her colleagues rescheduled their days to come to Tuesday’s meeting after closely tracking the policy for about nine months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the vote, Houston said he recognized Oaklanders’ frustrations around the new rules and said it was a necessary “starting point.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Most people would be happy if their policy passed. I’m not. I’m really not,” said Houston, lead sponsor of the bill. “I feel hurt that we had to come to this point to make something happen for an unhoused individual … We have to start somewhere.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "when-teachers-cant-afford-to-live-in-the-bay-area-districts-get-into-the-housing-game",
"title": "When Teachers Can’t Afford to Live in the Bay Area, Districts Get Into the Housing Game",
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"headTitle": "When Teachers Can’t Afford to Live in the Bay Area, Districts Get Into the Housing Game | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Ms. Hernandez’s son began to ask her where he would attend high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His curiosity brought forward a bigger question looming in her mind: Was their family going to be able to stay in San Francisco at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sorry, baby, but I don’t know,” she told her middle-schooler. “I don’t know if we’re going to continue to be living in the city; things are going to be too expensive here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> paraeducator and her husband had lived in the Bay Area for two decades, mostly in the city. For the last 10 years, they’d shared a two-bedroom apartment in the Outer Mission, paying about $3,000 a month in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building was aging, the family was growing tired of struggles with their landlord, and they wanted to be in a neighborhood that felt safer. For years, though, finding another apartment in their price range seemed impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At one point we even wondered if we wanted to stay here or move even across the country,” Hernandez, who asked to be identified by only her last name because of ongoing litigation with a previous landlord, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple affordable housing applications had gotten her no further than long waiting lists and only a few calls back to apply. Then, in May, MidPen Housing called to say her family had been selected for a unit in a new affordable housing development that gives priority to school district staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079592 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirley Chisholm Village, an affordable housing development that gives priority to San Francisco Unified School District educators, on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was dreaming,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez remembers picking her son up from school after they got the keys, ordering pizza and bringing him to the building near Ocean Beach as a surprise. “This is going to be your new house,” she told him, hopeful that he’d attend high school in their new neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new, five-story apartment building, nestled between the Sunset District’s signature two-story single-family homes and a burgeoning number of neighborhood restaurants, bookstores and coffee shops, is now home to more than 100 SFUSD employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.midpen-housing.org/shirley-chisholm-village/\">Shirley Chisholm Village development\u003c/a> sprang from a partnership between the school district and the city’s affordable housing program that was announced in 2015. It’s part of a growing number of teacher housing projects cropping up throughout the Bay Area as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">cost of living in the region continues to climb\u003c/a>, often outpacing the salaries of essential education workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Sarah Karlinsky, the director of research and policy at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, the trend follows many universities and public sector employers, who have provided housing options for decades — both because of sky-high costs and a shortage of units in urban areas.[aside postID=news_12075761 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00263_TV-KQED.jpg']“Many of us are familiar with this idea of the ‘company town,’” she said. “When there’s a large-scale employer and they want to make sure they can attract talent and workers … they need to ensure their workers have housing. Even if you think about building the railroads, large infrastructure projects involve thinking about where workers might live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, even companies in higher-paying sectors like tech have sought to help house their employees because of the lack of housing stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts are among the latest to pursue the model as they find themselves with vacant properties and employees who say they can’t afford to live near work or, in some cases, stay in the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarita Lavin, an ethnic studies teacher at George Washington High School, has worked in SFUSD for five years and lived in San Francisco for more than 10, but she said that before she moved into Shirley Chisholm Village, she was considering leaving both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d lived with roommates for a decade, navigating the usual cohabitating strifes like dirty dishes in the sink and uninvited guests, as well as some less common circumstances — like a pet reptile on the loose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s nothing like opening a cabinet and having a six-foot African king snake looking at you,” Lavin said. “That was the big moment where I was like, ‘Maybe it’s time for me to really start thinking about independent living.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin said the Sunset District apartment, which is considered affordable, still costs more than half of her monthly take-home income at about $2,500 a month. But it’s a far cry from the rates she saw on Craigslist and Zillow when she started looking at studios and one-bedrooms. Those, which she said could top $3,000, are “totally out of the price range for teachers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079591 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirley Chisholm Village has units designated for various income levels between 40% to 120% of the area median income, with priority to San Francisco Unified School District educators. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She makes the cost work in part because it was important to her to stay in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt like a place where my family had roots in the U.S.,” said Lavin, whose mother immigrated from Guatemala to Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin grew up in Oakland but moved to the Inland Empire at 11, after her family was priced out. She said they spent a lot of their time in San Francisco, though, so she felt drawn to move here more than a decade ago to attend college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her last apartment, Lavin paid $1,100 a month, plus about $200 to $300 in utilities, for a room with two roommates — a low outlier among city rents, because the three tenants split the cost of their space equitably based on their salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as she got older, it became increasingly important to have her own space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really thinking, if I can’t get this place, then I might want to start looking outside of San Francisco, move maybe out to the East Bay and leave SFUSD, because it’s just too unaffordable to live here,” Lavin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I kind of feel like maybe I don’t need an exit strategy,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeing results, but challenges remain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Throughout the 2010s, Jefferson Union High School District was losing and replacing about 25% of its employees every year across its five campuses in Daly City and Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we surveyed our staff, we found that the number one reason that they were leaving our district was long commutes and housing affordability,” said Denise Shreve, the district’s director of housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jefferson Union, the lowest-funded high school district in San Mateo County, “had to be creative” to retain teachers and recruit new ones, Shreve said. That led to a plan to build affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the district was one of the first in the nation to pass a bond measure to fund affordable teacher housing, generating about $33 million. Shreve said it borrowed an additional $40 million or so through certificates of participation, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/certificateofparticipation.asp\">form of municipal financing\u003c/a> often used as an alternative to traditional voter-approved bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district broke ground in 2020 on a 122-unit development at its Serramonte Del Rey campus in Daly City, which opened in 2022 with all of its one- to three-bedroom units filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just two years later, the district began the school year without any job openings. “We were completely, fully staffed. Before we had staff housing, that was unheard of,” Shreve said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other districts across the Bay Area have also pursued similar projects in recent years. Neighboring Jefferson Elementary School District opened 56 apartments for staff in 2024. Santa Clara Unified School District was one of the first in the state to provide housing for teachers, constructing 40 units in 2001 and 30 more in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, an Oakland nonprofit announced it had purchased an apartment complex that it would turn into housing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078453/one-way-to-help-oakland-teachers-salaries-go-further-affordable-housing\">Oakland Unified School District employees\u003c/a>, pricing units at 30% of their household income. The 33-unit building in the Temescal District is the first that the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation’s Rooted program has acquired as part of its effort to purchase 150 residential units in the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When SFUSD began work on the Shirley Chisholm development, it cited many of the same challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, more than 64% of district teachers surveyed said they spent more than 30% of their income on rent, and about 15% spent 50% or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079588\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Shayla Putnam walks through a courtyard at Shirley Chisholm Village on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a resolution committing to pursue workforce housing that was passed the previous year, the San Francisco school board said, “High housing costs are a significant contributing factor to SFUSD educators’ ability to remain in San Francisco and remain employed with SFUSD, risking dire and unpredictable negative effects on the quality of SFUSD education when educators can no longer afford to live here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, workforce housing has not completely solved the problem for teachers in areas with a high cost of living. For those like Lavin, even an affordable housing unit can take up a large chunk of their take-home salary. And in San Francisco, many teachers, especially those with more experience, make too much to qualify for some of the units in Shirley Chisholm Village.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building has units designated for various income levels between 40% to 120% of the area median income. For a single person, that equates to an annual salary between $41,130 and $130,900.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, fully credentialed \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/information-employees/labor-relations/labor-partners/uesf-certificated#78271\">teacher salaries\u003c/a> ranged from $81,350 to $134,762, meaning that even entry-level teachers are ineligible for 34 of the affordable apartments. And as educators — especially those with more post-college credits — gain seniority, they surpass the income threshold for more units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD educators have priority for the building, about 10% of its units are occupied by non-SFUSD renters, most of whom have priority for specially designed ADA units. Of the 115 units that house SFUSD employees, many are occupied by support staffers who make lower salaries, such as paraeducators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the district’s housing is operated in partnership with the city, residents have to go through San Francisco’s affordable housing lottery to apply for a unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin and Hernandez said that the process took months, and they had to provide a lot of information that the district already knows, like income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these issues are less pervasive in districts like Jefferson Union, which operates its housing independently, with the help of a property manager. It designates about two-thirds of its units for certificated teachers, while the rest are available to paraeducators and other staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a smaller district, it’s also able to have a bigger impact. While about a quarter of the staff lives in Jefferson Union’s workforce housing, only about 115 of more than 6,000 SFUSD employees live in its apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, SFUSD set a goal of developing more than 500 housing units by 2030, and the district said it is exploring additional sites and partnerships to expand. It’s already broken ground on a second subsidized housing development in the Western Addition, which will add 75 more apartment units. And it’s identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2024-04-04-sfusd-identifies-additional-sites-educator-housing#:~:text=In%20October%202023%2C%20SFUSD%20formed,enable%20the%20development%20of%20housing.\">multiple other district-owned properties\u003c/a> throughout the city for future projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before pursuing future projects, the district said it will conduct a “thorough analysis — including surveying staff — to understand the needs and preferences” of educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the demand is clear. Nearly 15% of SFUSD’s workforce applied for the Shirley Chisholm Village complex, and about 395 district employees are on the waitlist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Shayla Putnam stands outside Shirley Chisholm Village on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shayla Putnam, who teaches ceramics at George Washington High School, said securing a spot there felt like “hard work paid off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Putnam is the main earner for her and her partner, who have bounced around to one-bedroom apartments in the city for five years. Even at the below-market rates at Shirley Chisholm Village, they could only afford a one-bedroom unit, but she said amenities like a dishwasher and in-building laundry, as well as a measurably larger living space, have made a huge difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the extra space does bring a quality of life that I haven’t necessarily experienced in the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her partner, who is an artist, has a dedicated workspace, and they were able to get a kitchen table for the first time. The bathroom is also big enough to move around comfortably — “you could spin in here with your arms out,” Putnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, they save about $300 a month compared to their last apartment, which was also in the Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a little more leeway,” Putnam said. “It’s the difference [between] literally cooking food every night versus being like, ‘We can eat out at this locally-owned business, we can have this coffee shop’ — those little things that make life worth living rather than scraping by.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "When Teachers Can’t Afford to Live in the Bay Area, Districts Get Into the Housing Game | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, Ms. Hernandez’s son began to ask her where he would attend high school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His curiosity brought forward a bigger question looming in her mind: Was their family going to be able to stay in San Francisco at all?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m sorry, baby, but I don’t know,” she told her middle-schooler. “I don’t know if we’re going to continue to be living in the city; things are going to be too expensive here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-unified-school-district\">San Francisco Unified School District\u003c/a> paraeducator and her husband had lived in the Bay Area for two decades, mostly in the city. For the last 10 years, they’d shared a two-bedroom apartment in the Outer Mission, paying about $3,000 a month in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building was aging, the family was growing tired of struggles with their landlord, and they wanted to be in a neighborhood that felt safer. For years, though, finding another apartment in their price range seemed impossible.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At one point we even wondered if we wanted to stay here or move even across the country,” Hernandez, who asked to be identified by only her last name because of ongoing litigation with a previous landlord, told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Multiple affordable housing applications had gotten her no further than long waiting lists and only a few calls back to apply. Then, in May, MidPen Housing called to say her family had been selected for a unit in a new affordable housing development that gives priority to school district staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079592 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_016_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirley Chisholm Village, an affordable housing development that gives priority to San Francisco Unified School District educators, on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I felt like I was dreaming,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hernandez remembers picking her son up from school after they got the keys, ordering pizza and bringing him to the building near Ocean Beach as a surprise. “This is going to be your new house,” she told him, hopeful that he’d attend high school in their new neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new, five-story apartment building, nestled between the Sunset District’s signature two-story single-family homes and a burgeoning number of neighborhood restaurants, bookstores and coffee shops, is now home to more than 100 SFUSD employees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.midpen-housing.org/shirley-chisholm-village/\">Shirley Chisholm Village development\u003c/a> sprang from a partnership between the school district and the city’s affordable housing program that was announced in 2015. It’s part of a growing number of teacher housing projects cropping up throughout the Bay Area as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">cost of living in the region continues to climb\u003c/a>, often outpacing the salaries of essential education workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Sarah Karlinsky, the director of research and policy at UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, the trend follows many universities and public sector employers, who have provided housing options for decades — both because of sky-high costs and a shortage of units in urban areas.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Many of us are familiar with this idea of the ‘company town,’” she said. “When there’s a large-scale employer and they want to make sure they can attract talent and workers … they need to ensure their workers have housing. Even if you think about building the railroads, large infrastructure projects involve thinking about where workers might live.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, even companies in higher-paying sectors like tech have sought to help house their employees because of the lack of housing stock.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>School districts are among the latest to pursue the model as they find themselves with vacant properties and employees who say they can’t afford to live near work or, in some cases, stay in the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sarita Lavin, an ethnic studies teacher at George Washington High School, has worked in SFUSD for five years and lived in San Francisco for more than 10, but she said that before she moved into Shirley Chisholm Village, she was considering leaving both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She’d lived with roommates for a decade, navigating the usual cohabitating strifes like dirty dishes in the sink and uninvited guests, as well as some less common circumstances — like a pet reptile on the loose.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s nothing like opening a cabinet and having a six-foot African king snake looking at you,” Lavin said. “That was the big moment where I was like, ‘Maybe it’s time for me to really start thinking about independent living.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin said the Sunset District apartment, which is considered affordable, still costs more than half of her monthly take-home income at about $2,500 a month. But it’s a far cry from the rates she saw on Craigslist and Zillow when she started looking at studios and one-bedrooms. Those, which she said could top $3,000, are “totally out of the price range for teachers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12079591 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Shirley Chisholm Village has units designated for various income levels between 40% to 120% of the area median income, with priority to San Francisco Unified School District educators. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She makes the cost work in part because it was important to her to stay in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just felt like a place where my family had roots in the U.S.,” said Lavin, whose mother immigrated from Guatemala to Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin grew up in Oakland but moved to the Inland Empire at 11, after her family was priced out. She said they spent a lot of their time in San Francisco, though, so she felt drawn to move here more than a decade ago to attend college.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In her last apartment, Lavin paid $1,100 a month, plus about $200 to $300 in utilities, for a room with two roommates — a low outlier among city rents, because the three tenants split the cost of their space equitably based on their salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But as she got older, it became increasingly important to have her own space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was really thinking, if I can’t get this place, then I might want to start looking outside of San Francisco, move maybe out to the East Bay and leave SFUSD, because it’s just too unaffordable to live here,” Lavin said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Now I kind of feel like maybe I don’t need an exit strategy,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Seeing results, but challenges remain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Throughout the 2010s, Jefferson Union High School District was losing and replacing about 25% of its employees every year across its five campuses in Daly City and Pacifica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When we surveyed our staff, we found that the number one reason that they were leaving our district was long commutes and housing affordability,” said Denise Shreve, the district’s director of housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jefferson Union, the lowest-funded high school district in San Mateo County, “had to be creative” to retain teachers and recruit new ones, Shreve said. That led to a plan to build affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, the district was one of the first in the nation to pass a bond measure to fund affordable teacher housing, generating about $33 million. Shreve said it borrowed an additional $40 million or so through certificates of participation, a \u003ca href=\"https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/certificateofparticipation.asp\">form of municipal financing\u003c/a> often used as an alternative to traditional voter-approved bonds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district broke ground in 2020 on a 122-unit development at its Serramonte Del Rey campus in Daly City, which opened in 2022 with all of its one- to three-bedroom units filled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just two years later, the district began the school year without any job openings. “We were completely, fully staffed. Before we had staff housing, that was unheard of,” Shreve said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other districts across the Bay Area have also pursued similar projects in recent years. Neighboring Jefferson Elementary School District opened 56 apartments for staff in 2024. Santa Clara Unified School District was one of the first in the state to provide housing for teachers, constructing 40 units in 2001 and 30 more in 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, an Oakland nonprofit announced it had purchased an apartment complex that it would turn into housing for \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078453/one-way-to-help-oakland-teachers-salaries-go-further-affordable-housing\">Oakland Unified School District employees\u003c/a>, pricing units at 30% of their household income. The 33-unit building in the Temescal District is the first that the Oakland Fund for Public Innovation’s Rooted program has acquired as part of its effort to purchase 150 residential units in the next three years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When SFUSD began work on the Shirley Chisholm development, it cited many of the same challenges.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, more than 64% of district teachers surveyed said they spent more than 30% of their income on rent, and about 15% spent 50% or more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079588\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079588\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_009_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Shayla Putnam walks through a courtyard at Shirley Chisholm Village on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a resolution committing to pursue workforce housing that was passed the previous year, the San Francisco school board said, “High housing costs are a significant contributing factor to SFUSD educators’ ability to remain in San Francisco and remain employed with SFUSD, risking dire and unpredictable negative effects on the quality of SFUSD education when educators can no longer afford to live here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, workforce housing has not completely solved the problem for teachers in areas with a high cost of living. For those like Lavin, even an affordable housing unit can take up a large chunk of their take-home salary. And in San Francisco, many teachers, especially those with more experience, make too much to qualify for some of the units in Shirley Chisholm Village.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The building has units designated for various income levels between 40% to 120% of the area median income. For a single person, that equates to an annual salary between $41,130 and $130,900.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, fully credentialed \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/information-employees/labor-relations/labor-partners/uesf-certificated#78271\">teacher salaries\u003c/a> ranged from $81,350 to $134,762, meaning that even entry-level teachers are ineligible for 34 of the affordable apartments. And as educators — especially those with more post-college credits — gain seniority, they surpass the income threshold for more units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD educators have priority for the building, about 10% of its units are occupied by non-SFUSD renters, most of whom have priority for specially designed ADA units. Of the 115 units that house SFUSD employees, many are occupied by support staffers who make lower salaries, such as paraeducators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because the district’s housing is operated in partnership with the city, residents have to go through San Francisco’s affordable housing lottery to apply for a unit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lavin and Hernandez said that the process took months, and they had to provide a lot of information that the district already knows, like income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some of these issues are less pervasive in districts like Jefferson Union, which operates its housing independently, with the help of a property manager. It designates about two-thirds of its units for certificated teachers, while the rest are available to paraeducators and other staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a smaller district, it’s also able to have a bigger impact. While about a quarter of the staff lives in Jefferson Union’s workforce housing, only about 115 of more than 6,000 SFUSD employees live in its apartment complex.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2018, SFUSD set a goal of developing more than 500 housing units by 2030, and the district said it is exploring additional sites and partnerships to expand. It’s already broken ground on a second subsidized housing development in the Western Addition, which will add 75 more apartment units. And it’s identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/about-sfusd/sfusd-news/press-releases/2024-04-04-sfusd-identifies-additional-sites-educator-housing#:~:text=In%20October%202023%2C%20SFUSD%20formed,enable%20the%20development%20of%20housing.\">multiple other district-owned properties\u003c/a> throughout the city for future projects.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before pursuing future projects, the district said it will conduct a “thorough analysis — including surveying staff — to understand the needs and preferences” of educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the demand is clear. Nearly 15% of SFUSD’s workforce applied for the Shirley Chisholm Village complex, and about 395 district employees are on the waitlist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/041226Affordability-series-teacher-housing_GH_010_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Shayla Putnam stands outside Shirley Chisholm Village on April 12, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shayla Putnam, who teaches ceramics at George Washington High School, said securing a spot there felt like “hard work paid off.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Putnam is the main earner for her and her partner, who have bounced around to one-bedroom apartments in the city for five years. Even at the below-market rates at Shirley Chisholm Village, they could only afford a one-bedroom unit, but she said amenities like a dishwasher and in-building laundry, as well as a measurably larger living space, have made a huge difference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the extra space does bring a quality of life that I haven’t necessarily experienced in the city,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her partner, who is an artist, has a dedicated workspace, and they were able to get a kitchen table for the first time. The bathroom is also big enough to move around comfortably — “you could spin in here with your arms out,” Putnam said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, they save about $300 a month compared to their last apartment, which was also in the Sunset.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I have a little more leeway,” Putnam said. “It’s the difference [between] literally cooking food every night versus being like, ‘We can eat out at this locally-owned business, we can have this coffee shop’ — those little things that make life worth living rather than scraping by.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "cambrian-park-plaza-a-beloved-san-jose-strip-mall-awaits-a-new-future",
"title": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future",
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"headTitle": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing a lot of people notice about Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> is the sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s big; it’s yellow; and it has a carousel on top, complete with playful figures encircling the outside. At one point, the carousel actually rotated — but like many things in this shopping plaza — it has seen better days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza itself is low slung with a massive parking lot that is often empty. Storefronts are made of brick and nestle under a covered walkway. It’s not your average strip mall with a big grocery store at the center and smaller chains flanking it. Instead, there’s a bit more charm. Shops are clustered around little courtyards with white picket fences, picnic benches and trees. Some stores have window boxes with flowers. There are roses and palm trees. It’s quaint, but faded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has a circus slash English garden theme, cottage theme,” Connie Young said. “I was like, ‘This seems like an interesting place, and a place that has a lot of history.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was visiting Cambrian Park to volunteer at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ibokrescue.org/info/display?PageID=21948\">Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe\u003c/a>, a pet adoption organization located in the plaza. She was surprised to see many nostalgic memories of the place online. She wanted to learn more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A covered walkway lined with storefronts stretches through Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There seem to be a lot of people who are mourning the loss of Cambrian Park Plaza, a 1950s era strip mall in San José that is set to be demolished for housing and retail space,” she wrote in to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>. “What’s the history of that place?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Valley of Heart’s Delight\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood represents the quintessential story of San José development. For a long time, San José was small, an agricultural center for the many orchards and farms nearby. But after World War II, the Defense industry was booming and more people were moving to the area for jobs. The city manager at the time, Dutch Hammond, wanted to create the Los Angeles of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Largely what got developed here was track housing, which was very cheap to build,” said Michael Brillot, a retired San José city planner. “You just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard, and you plop in houses like you build Model T Fords on an assembly line, except the workers move as opposed to the product.”[aside postID=news_12077572 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/251027-ALMADENQUICKSILVER00034_TV-KQED.jpg'] The push was to develop outwards from San José’s core and to build enough housing to supply the workforce to places like Sunnyvale and Cupertino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood — and its shopping mall — was part of that history. A large landowner named Paul Schaeffer owned the orchards that became Cambrian Park. He decided to tear out the trees and build houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He recognized people need to buy stuff,” said Peter Clarke, a Cambrian Park resident and member of the Friends of Cambrian Park group. “They need a post office and a grocery store. So he assembled this particular plaza as the only real center in this area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many families only had one car. It was common for the breadwinner to drive north to work while the other parent stayed home with the children. During its heyday, Cambrian Park Plaza had everything families needed within walking distance of their home — a grocery store, a hardware store, clothing stores, a post office, a bowling alley, even doctors’ and dentists’ offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was the downtown,” said Bob Burres, another local resident. “There is no ‘main street’ in the Cambrian Park area. This was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A slow decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That remained true for decades, but over time, the plaza began to fade and social patterns changed. People drove more and further for things, making the plaza less central to their needs. The Schaeffer family retained ownership of the plaza \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">until 2015\u003c/a>. Peter Clarke guesses that it was passive income for owner Paul Schaeffer and his wife in their later years. But when they died, their children sold the plaza to a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it was bought, and people said, ‘We’re going to redevelop it,’ we were in favor,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cambrian Park Plaza sign, built in 1953 with the shopping center, features a rotating carousel and received historic status in 2016, on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many Cambrian Park residents were ready for an updated space that might once again be the center of community life. The Friends of Cambrian Park group stayed involved as the developer, Texas-based Weingarten Realty, proposed various uses for the property. But residents did not like early proposals that resembled more traditional strip malls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The community was very clear,” Clarke said. “They wanted to see a place that was a location that people would come to linger at, that had sit-down dining. They didn’t want more fast food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted something like \u003ca href=\"https://www.thepruneyard.com/\">The Pruneyard\u003c/a> in Campbell or the Los Gatos’ downtown, two locations residents currently go to for entertainment and dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An iterative process\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">Over many years,\u003c/a> after lots of city planning meetings featuring \u003cem>some\u003c/em> yelling, there’s finally a proposal on the table that many residents can get behind. It was approved by the city council in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new development would include underground parking, retail with apartments built above, a central plaza, a hotel, an assisted living facility, 48 single-family homes and 25 townhouses.[aside postID=news_12078615 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00242_TV-KQED.jpg'] But four years later and nothing has been built yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build,” said Kelly Snider, a professor at San José State University and a development consultant. “There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said no one developer specializes in all those various uses. On top of that, very few big projects like this are moving forward anywhere in the Bay Area. The economics just don’t work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest rates are high, construction materials and labor are expensive and people’s work and consumer habits have changed. Brick-and-mortar retail stores have a lot of competition online. There’s fewer business travelers in San José. More people are working remotely, so office spaces sit empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Will the Cambrian Park project ever get built?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think that the interest rates, at some point, [will] come down,” Brilliot said. “And I think some projects will come back. But I think it’s gonna be slower, more flat growth. And because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see a massive amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their part, Bob Burres and Peter Clarke are waiting nervously to see how it all turns out. They know that of all the elements in the approved plan, the single-family homes and townhouses will be the easiest for the developer to recoup investment. After all, housing is always in demand in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Red roses rise above a white picket fence in a garden at Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land, it’s never going to be commercial again,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if that happens, the neighbors’ dream of a central gathering spot — like the Pruneyard — will never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The permit for the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/major-development-projects/cambrian-park-plaza-signature-project\">Cambrian Park Signature Project\u003c/a> will expire in 2028. But the developer recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*An earlier version of this article called this project the “Cambrian Park Urban Village” when in fact its official name is “Cambrian Park Signature Project.” A Signature Project is one element of a larger urban village area. We regret the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[baycuriousquestion]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes questions come from the most random places.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I volunteer for a San José-based kitten rescue and it’s called Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Connie Young, from Mountain View.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we have adoptable foster kittens that come every weekend. And there’s two playrooms. And you can book a 50-minute slot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The kitten cafe where she volunteers is located in Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of San José.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I went there to volunteer and I saw that plaza and it was kind of different than the other strip mall plazas in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cambrian Park Plaza isn’t one long flat fronted building like a typical strip mall. It was built to mimic the experience of a town’s main street, so the facade turns often, creating little plazas with white picket fences and brickwork. There are window boxes and roses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has kind of like a circus slash like English garden theme, cottage theme.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circus because one of the defining features of this plaza is a huge yellow sign with a carousel on top. The figures \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to rotate, although like many things in this plaza, it has seen better days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was like, this seems like an interesting place and a place that has a lot of history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This shopping mall is slated for redevelopment, and Connie wants to know more about its history and what it could become. Connie also noticed that online many people have shared fond memories of this plaza’s heyday in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Let’s hear a few…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember driving by Cambrian Plaza and seeing the carousel from when we first arrived in San José.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was always a grocery store there when I was a little kid. So we’d walk up to the grocery store to do our shopping for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a go-to. I mean, you could do everything there. You could go to a delicatessen and get your meats and cheeses, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There was Ben Franklin, which was the coolest store on the face of the planet. It was like a dime store and you could get anything there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were hardware stores there. There were pet shops, as I said, the clothing stores, very lot of practical things that, you know, people would need.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it was in walking distance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The minute I think of the smell of bubblegum ice cream, which for a four-year-old that was like Nirvana, I picture myself inside that ice cream parlor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember going to the bowling alley. We used to go there a lot during high school and hang out with the other teenagers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To this day remember the sound of the pins hitting the the back wall and the balls striking and people laughing and having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We’d go down in a little group of you know five or six or eight kids and be back before dinner. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were so many things that, that as a kid, it made my life feel a little bit bigger and richer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those were nearby residents Jaime Portillo, Carolyn Robinson and Janet Gillis sharing their memories.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz headed to San José to find out more about the fate of Cambrian Park Plaza. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first Cambrian Park neighbors I meet are characters…they’ve been attending city meetings and organizing their neighbors to influence what gets built here for years. And they aren’t shy about some of the tactics they used..\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m the guy who kicked over the apple cart, repeatedly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Bob Burres — a proud instigator. His friend and neighbor, Peter Clarke, has a different approach he says…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s a proper English gentleman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am the Brit, which is the funny accent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob and Peter like this neighborhood for its views of the mountains and quiet, neighborly charm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was originally all farmland. Then the farmers decided they could make more money by essentially selling up and having housing developed on the periphery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The guy who owned all the land that became the neighborhood of Cambrian Park was named Paul Schaeffer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But then he recognized, you know, people need to buy stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was the heart of Cambrian Park. This was the downtown. There is no main street in Cambrian park area. This was it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Peter and Bob are showing me around it’s clear this mall is no longer the heart of the neighborhood. But the neighbors hope it could be again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you go through you see there’s numerous little plazas and sitting spaces all around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plaza has a faded quality. We walk down the outside of the building, which has covered walkways that protect us from the rain that’s falling. Many storefronts are empty and I hear just as much about what it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used to be\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as what it is now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This used to be the Cambrian Post office for years.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That used to be a Mexican restaurant, but closed down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The things that are left… a boxing gym, a pet adoption agency, a store for kids baseball gear…are on short term leases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can’t put a lot of investment into a retail space for a six month lease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob have both lived in Cambrian Park for 30 years… but even back in the late 80s and early 90s the plaza was already in slow decline. The Schaeffer family owned it for most of its existence, but stopped keeping it up in later years. When Paul Schaffer and his wife died, their children sold it to a developer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was bought and people said we’re going to redevelop it, we were in favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob are part of a group called the Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza. They’ve been pushing the city and developers to create a vibrant place to live, shop and gather.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We have hopes that something beautiful will come out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They look to a place like The Pruneyard in Campbell as their model. It’s got local businesses alongside chains..and is a pleasant place to hang out.We’ll dig into the details of what could be built here and explore why achieving that vision could be a tough sell in San José right now. All that, coming up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost a million people live in San José. It’s the largest city in Northern California, but its development hasn’t followed the pattern of a typical big city. That’s why despite being dubbed the Heart of Silicon Valley…many people think a more apt term would be “the bedroom” of Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at San José, it very much feels like you’re in the San Fernando Valley or somewhere in Los Angeles, not the old urban part, but the more auto suburban track housing part of LA. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michel Brilliot worked for the city of San José for 27 years…retiring as the deputy director of long range projects. He says the sprawling, residential character of the city can be traced back to one man\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michalel Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dutch Hammond. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Cambrian Park, the rest of San José was mostly agricultural. Before Dutch Hammond came along, there were fruit trees as far as the eye could see. But after World War II, the defense industry was booming and Hammond understood its workers needed somewhere to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Largely what got developed here was track housing which was very cheap to build you just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard and you just you plop in houses like you build model t fords on an assembly line except the workers move as opposed to the product.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cambrian Park neighborhood was part of this era…built in the late 1950s. The homes are largely ranch style with yards and garages. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People historically would have a family and settle down and work and they would drive north for their job in what became and is now Silicon Valley. And that to a large extent has not changed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with that, Michael says, is that running a city that is mostly residential, with few big businesses, is expensive. Residents want services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They want code enforcement to deal with the RV that someone’s living in down the street or parks and maintaining the parks and they want libraries and. So they want all these things which cost money. Businesses generally don’t want as much services from the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As early as the 1970s, San José city leaders realized it needed a better balance of businesses and homes. The goal was to bring more jobs into the city itself, to increase the tax base and to reduce congestion on the roads. Those are still the goals of city planners, says Michael.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the idea now is really to, instead of growing out, growing up, and growing up really along transit corridors and transit stations and in the downtown and create these places that are called urban villages.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proposed plan for Cambrian Park Plaza is one of these urban villages – a cluster of amenities, housing and jobs near a transit corridor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music to emphasize back and forth\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would have underground parking with retail above.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A six-story apartment block on top of retail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shops would be built around a central plaza for families and neighbors to gather. Then there’d be…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An assisted living building\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">48 single family homes, 25 townhouses, and…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A hotel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music ends\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But nothing has actually been built by the developer, Kimco Realty.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we’ve seen very little higher density projects break ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Snider is an adjunct professor at San José State and a development consultant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly says there’s no one developer who specializes in so many different types of buildings…hotels, assisted living, single family homes… retail..they’re all very different. And the economic picture right now makes it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even less likely \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this project will be completed anytime soon. It’s a story we see around the Bay Area. Labor is expensive. Construction materials cost more than ever… and interest rates aren’t favorable. Plus, Michael Brilliot says, the population of San José is now shrinking, not growing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, will the Cambrian Park urban village ever get built?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think that when the interest rates, at some point, they’ll come down. And I think some projects will come back. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I think it’s gonna be a slower, more flat growth and because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see masses of amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a post-COVID world, it may not make sense to build hotels and offices. Brick and mortar stores have to compete with online retailers. It’s a different real estate picture now than when this plan was conceived a few years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob Burres, Peter Clarke and the other Friends of Cambrian Park are watching this play out nervously. They worry the only economically feasible thing to do with the property is to build townhouses…after all, in the Bay Area, housing is always in high demand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that we have heard over and over from the folks in the city is developers come in with fairly grand plans. And they’re gonna do some housing, and they’re going to do some sort of commercial, and they are going to something else. Well, housing is the only thing that’s profitable. And so they decide to build, we’re going to build the housing first. And then phase two and phase three will have these other things. They build the housing and then they say, sorry, it doesn’t pencil and they abandon the project. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land it’s never going to be commercial again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if that happens, their dream of a gathering spot like the one in Campbell…the Pruneyard…will never become a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I brought all this back to Connie Young, our question asker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can see why they would want to kind of redevelop it into something more community focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connie grew up in the South Bay and remembers wishing there was more to do…more places she could go without a ride from her parents. Now she’s living in Mountain View and has enjoyed the way streets have been closed downtown to make space for dining and gathering.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I feel like that’s what the South Bay is missing in a lot of the cities, especially San José, like a central plaza or the neighborhood where everybody gathers in the evening and their kids run around and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The permit for the current Cambrian Park Urban Village plan will expire in 2028. Getting new ones would be expensive for the developer…maybe that’s why the company recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process. The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz. Thanks to Connie Young for asking this week’s question. It was selected by you in a monthly voting round on Bay \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://curious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curious.or\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g. That’s one of the things I think makes Bay Curious unique… it is driven by you – your questions, about your community. And, it’s funded by you too. We need your support to keep things going, so please consider making a donation to KQED today. It only takes a few minutes. You can do it right from your phone. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the place to do it. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Cambrian Park Plaza, A Beloved San José Strip Mall, Awaits a New Future | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"#Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">View the full episode transcript.\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thing a lot of people notice about Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José\u003c/a> is the sign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s big; it’s yellow; and it has a carousel on top, complete with playful figures encircling the outside. At one point, the carousel actually rotated — but like many things in this shopping plaza — it has seen better days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The plaza itself is low slung with a massive parking lot that is often empty. Storefronts are made of brick and nestle under a covered walkway. It’s not your average strip mall with a big grocery store at the center and smaller chains flanking it. Instead, there’s a bit more charm. Shops are clustered around little courtyards with white picket fences, picnic benches and trees. Some stores have window boxes with flowers. There are roses and palm trees. It’s quaint, but faded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has a circus slash English garden theme, cottage theme,” Connie Young said. “I was like, ‘This seems like an interesting place, and a place that has a lot of history.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young was visiting Cambrian Park to volunteer at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ibokrescue.org/info/display?PageID=21948\">Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe\u003c/a>, a pet adoption organization located in the plaza. She was surprised to see many nostalgic memories of the place online. She wanted to learn more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079115\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079115\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_015_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A covered walkway lined with storefronts stretches through Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There seem to be a lot of people who are mourning the loss of Cambrian Park Plaza, a 1950s era strip mall in San José that is set to be demolished for housing and retail space,” she wrote in to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/podcasts/baycurious\">Bay Curious\u003c/a>. “What’s the history of that place?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Valley of Heart’s Delight\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood represents the quintessential story of San José development. For a long time, San José was small, an agricultural center for the many orchards and farms nearby. But after World War II, the Defense industry was booming and more people were moving to the area for jobs. The city manager at the time, Dutch Hammond, wanted to create the Los Angeles of Northern California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Largely what got developed here was track housing, which was very cheap to build,” said Michael Brillot, a retired San José city planner. “You just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard, and you plop in houses like you build Model T Fords on an assembly line, except the workers move as opposed to the product.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> The push was to develop outwards from San José’s core and to build enough housing to supply the workforce to places like Sunnyvale and Cupertino.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cambrian Park neighborhood — and its shopping mall — was part of that history. A large landowner named Paul Schaeffer owned the orchards that became Cambrian Park. He decided to tear out the trees and build houses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He recognized people need to buy stuff,” said Peter Clarke, a Cambrian Park resident and member of the Friends of Cambrian Park group. “They need a post office and a grocery store. So he assembled this particular plaza as the only real center in this area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time, many families only had one car. It was common for the breadwinner to drive north to work while the other parent stayed home with the children. During its heyday, Cambrian Park Plaza had everything families needed within walking distance of their home — a grocery store, a hardware store, clothing stores, a post office, a bowling alley, even doctors’ and dentists’ offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This was the downtown,” said Bob Burres, another local resident. “There is no ‘main street’ in the Cambrian Park area. This was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>A slow decline\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That remained true for decades, but over time, the plaza began to fade and social patterns changed. People drove more and further for things, making the plaza less central to their needs. The Schaeffer family retained ownership of the plaza \u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">until 2015\u003c/a>. Peter Clarke guesses that it was passive income for owner Paul Schaeffer and his wife in their later years. But when they died, their children sold the plaza to a developer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When it was bought, and people said, ‘We’re going to redevelop it,’ we were in favor,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079113\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079113\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Cambrian Park Plaza sign, built in 1953 with the shopping center, features a rotating carousel and received historic status in 2016, on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Many Cambrian Park residents were ready for an updated space that might once again be the center of community life. The Friends of Cambrian Park group stayed involved as the developer, Texas-based Weingarten Realty, proposed various uses for the property. But residents did not like early proposals that resembled more traditional strip malls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The community was very clear,” Clarke said. “They wanted to see a place that was a location that people would come to linger at, that had sit-down dining. They didn’t want more fast food.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They wanted something like \u003ca href=\"https://www.thepruneyard.com/\">The Pruneyard\u003c/a> in Campbell or the Los Gatos’ downtown, two locations residents currently go to for entertainment and dining.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>An iterative process\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2022/08/05/structures-cambrian-timeline.html\">Over many years,\u003c/a> after lots of city planning meetings featuring \u003cem>some\u003c/em> yelling, there’s finally a proposal on the table that many residents can get behind. It was approved by the city council in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new development would include underground parking, retail with apartments built above, a central plaza, a hotel, an assisted living facility, 48 single-family homes and 25 townhouses.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp> But four years later and nothing has been built yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build,” said Kelly Snider, a professor at San José State University and a development consultant. “There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She said no one developer specializes in all those various uses. On top of that, very few big projects like this are moving forward anywhere in the Bay Area. The economics just don’t work out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Interest rates are high, construction materials and labor are expensive and people’s work and consumer habits have changed. Brick-and-mortar retail stores have a lot of competition online. There’s fewer business travelers in San José. More people are working remotely, so office spaces sit empty.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Will the Cambrian Park project ever get built?\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“I think that the interest rates, at some point, [will] come down,” Brilliot said. “And I think some projects will come back. But I think it’s gonna be slower, more flat growth. And because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see a massive amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For their part, Bob Burres and Peter Clarke are waiting nervously to see how it all turns out. They know that of all the elements in the approved plan, the single-family homes and townhouses will be the easiest for the developer to recoup investment. After all, housing is always in demand in the Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079109\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003ca href=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079109\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/040726Bay-Curious_Cambrian-Plaza_GH_005_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Red roses rise above a white picket fence in a garden at Cambrian Park Plaza on April 7, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land, it’s never going to be commercial again,” Peter Clarke said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And if that happens, the neighbors’ dream of a central gathering spot — like the Pruneyard — will never come to be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The permit for the current \u003ca href=\"https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/planning-building-code-enforcement/planning-division/major-development-projects/cambrian-park-plaza-signature-project\">Cambrian Park Signature Project\u003c/a> will expire in 2028. But the developer recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>*An earlier version of this article called this project the “Cambrian Park Urban Village” when in fact its official name is “Cambrian Park Signature Project.” A Signature Project is one element of a larger urban village area. We regret the error.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"Viewthefullepisodetranscript\">\u003c/a>Episode transcript\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sometimes questions come from the most random places.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I volunteer for a San José-based kitten rescue and it’s called Itty Bitty Orphan Kitty Cafe. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Connie Young, from Mountain View.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we have adoptable foster kittens that come every weekend. And there’s two playrooms. And you can book a 50-minute slot.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The kitten cafe where she volunteers is located in Cambrian Park Plaza on the west side of San José.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I went there to volunteer and I saw that plaza and it was kind of different than the other strip mall plazas in the area. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cambrian Park Plaza isn’t one long flat fronted building like a typical strip mall. It was built to mimic the experience of a town’s main street, so the facade turns often, creating little plazas with white picket fences and brickwork. There are window boxes and roses.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has kind of like a circus slash like English garden theme, cottage theme.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Circus because one of the defining features of this plaza is a huge yellow sign with a carousel on top. The figures \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to rotate, although like many things in this plaza, it has seen better days.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was like, this seems like an interesting place and a place that has a lot of history. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This shopping mall is slated for redevelopment, and Connie wants to know more about its history and what it could become. Connie also noticed that online many people have shared fond memories of this plaza’s heyday in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. Let’s hear a few…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember driving by Cambrian Plaza and seeing the carousel from when we first arrived in San José.\u003c/span>\u003cb> \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There was always a grocery store there when I was a little kid. So we’d walk up to the grocery store to do our shopping for the day. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a go-to. I mean, you could do everything there. You could go to a delicatessen and get your meats and cheeses, \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> There was Ben Franklin, which was the coolest store on the face of the planet. It was like a dime store and you could get anything there.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were hardware stores there. There were pet shops, as I said, the clothing stores, very lot of practical things that, you know, people would need.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it was in walking distance.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The minute I think of the smell of bubblegum ice cream, which for a four-year-old that was like Nirvana, I picture myself inside that ice cream parlor. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Jaime Portillo: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember going to the bowling alley. We used to go there a lot during high school and hang out with the other teenagers.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To this day remember the sound of the pins hitting the the back wall and the balls striking and people laughing and having a good time. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Janet Gillis: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We’d go down in a little group of you know five or six or eight kids and be back before dinner. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Carolyn Robinson: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There were so many things that, that as a kid, it made my life feel a little bit bigger and richer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those were nearby residents Jaime Portillo, Carolyn Robinson and Janet Gillis sharing their memories.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious editor and producer Katrina Schwartz headed to San José to find out more about the fate of Cambrian Park Plaza. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first Cambrian Park neighbors I meet are characters…they’ve been attending city meetings and organizing their neighbors to influence what gets built here for years. And they aren’t shy about some of the tactics they used..\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m the guy who kicked over the apple cart, repeatedly. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is Bob Burres — a proud instigator. His friend and neighbor, Peter Clarke, has a different approach he says…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He’s nice, he’s polite, he’s a proper English gentleman.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I am the Brit, which is the funny accent.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob and Peter like this neighborhood for its views of the mountains and quiet, neighborly charm. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was originally all farmland. Then the farmers decided they could make more money by essentially selling up and having housing developed on the periphery. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The guy who owned all the land that became the neighborhood of Cambrian Park was named Paul Schaeffer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But then he recognized, you know, people need to buy stuff.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This area was the heart of Cambrian Park. This was the downtown. There is no main street in Cambrian park area. This was it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Peter and Bob are showing me around it’s clear this mall is no longer the heart of the neighborhood. But the neighbors hope it could be again. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you go through you see there’s numerous little plazas and sitting spaces all around.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The plaza has a faded quality. We walk down the outside of the building, which has covered walkways that protect us from the rain that’s falling. Many storefronts are empty and I hear just as much about what it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">used to be\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as what it is now.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This used to be the Cambrian Post office for years.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That used to be a Mexican restaurant, but closed down.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The things that are left… a boxing gym, a pet adoption agency, a store for kids baseball gear…are on short term leases. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can’t put a lot of investment into a retail space for a six month lease.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob have both lived in Cambrian Park for 30 years… but even back in the late 80s and early 90s the plaza was already in slow decline. The Schaeffer family owned it for most of its existence, but stopped keeping it up in later years. When Paul Schaffer and his wife died, their children sold it to a developer.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it was bought and people said we’re going to redevelop it, we were in favor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and Bob are part of a group called the Friends of Cambrian Park Plaza. They’ve been pushing the city and developers to create a vibrant place to live, shop and gather.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We have hopes that something beautiful will come out. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They look to a place like The Pruneyard in Campbell as their model. It’s got local businesses alongside chains..and is a pleasant place to hang out.We’ll dig into the details of what could be built here and explore why achieving that vision could be a tough sell in San José right now. All that, coming up.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SPONSOR MESSAGE\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Almost a million people live in San José. It’s the largest city in Northern California, but its development hasn’t followed the pattern of a typical big city. That’s why despite being dubbed the Heart of Silicon Valley…many people think a more apt term would be “the bedroom” of Silicon Valley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at San José, it very much feels like you’re in the San Fernando Valley or somewhere in Los Angeles, not the old urban part, but the more auto suburban track housing part of LA. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michel Brilliot worked for the city of San José for 27 years…retiring as the deputy director of long range projects. He says the sprawling, residential character of the city can be traced back to one man\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michalel Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dutch Hammond. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Like Cambrian Park, the rest of San José was mostly agricultural. Before Dutch Hammond came along, there were fruit trees as far as the eye could see. But after World War II, the defense industry was booming and Hammond understood its workers needed somewhere to live. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Largely what got developed here was track housing which was very cheap to build you just knock down the cherry orchard or the apricot and prune orchard and you just you plop in houses like you build model t fords on an assembly line except the workers move as opposed to the product.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cambrian Park neighborhood was part of this era…built in the late 1950s. The homes are largely ranch style with yards and garages. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People historically would have a family and settle down and work and they would drive north for their job in what became and is now Silicon Valley. And that to a large extent has not changed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem with that, Michael says, is that running a city that is mostly residential, with few big businesses, is expensive. Residents want services.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They want code enforcement to deal with the RV that someone’s living in down the street or parks and maintaining the parks and they want libraries and. So they want all these things which cost money. Businesses generally don’t want as much services from the city.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As early as the 1970s, San José city leaders realized it needed a better balance of businesses and homes. The goal was to bring more jobs into the city itself, to increase the tax base and to reduce congestion on the roads. Those are still the goals of city planners, says Michael.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And the idea now is really to, instead of growing out, growing up, and growing up really along transit corridors and transit stations and in the downtown and create these places that are called urban villages.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The proposed plan for Cambrian Park Plaza is one of these urban villages – a cluster of amenities, housing and jobs near a transit corridor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music to emphasize back and forth\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It would have underground parking with retail above.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A six-story apartment block on top of retail. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Shops would be built around a central plaza for families and neighbors to gather. Then there’d be…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An assisted living building\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">48 single family homes, 25 townhouses, and…\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A hotel.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Music ends\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But nothing has actually been built by the developer, Kimco Realty.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So we’ve seen very little higher density projects break ground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider:\u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The plan that you can look through on the city’s website is not economically feasible to build.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly Snider is an adjunct professor at San José State and a development consultant. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Kelly Snider: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There’s just a lot going on in a very small parcel. It’s a little bit of a Frankenstein.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kelly says there’s no one developer who specializes in so many different types of buildings…hotels, assisted living, single family homes… retail..they’re all very different. And the economic picture right now makes it \u003c/span>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">even less likely \u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this project will be completed anytime soon. It’s a story we see around the Bay Area. Labor is expensive. Construction materials cost more than ever… and interest rates aren’t favorable. Plus, Michael Brilliot says, the population of San José is now shrinking, not growing.\u003c/span> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, will the Cambrian Park urban village ever get built?\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Michael Brilliot: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think that when the interest rates, at some point, they’ll come down. And I think some projects will come back. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But I think it’s gonna be a slower, more flat growth and because of that, I don’t think you’re gonna see masses of amount of development like you did in the dot-com boom when things were just going crazy. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In a post-COVID world, it may not make sense to build hotels and offices. Brick and mortar stores have to compete with online retailers. It’s a different real estate picture now than when this plan was conceived a few years ago.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bob Burres, Peter Clarke and the other Friends of Cambrian Park are watching this play out nervously. They worry the only economically feasible thing to do with the property is to build townhouses…after all, in the Bay Area, housing is always in high demand.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Bob Burres: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that we have heard over and over from the folks in the city is developers come in with fairly grand plans. And they’re gonna do some housing, and they’re going to do some sort of commercial, and they are going to something else. Well, housing is the only thing that’s profitable. And so they decide to build, we’re going to build the housing first. And then phase two and phase three will have these other things. They build the housing and then they say, sorry, it doesn’t pencil and they abandon the project. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Peter Clarke: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you put up housing on any piece of commercial land it’s never going to be commercial again.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And if that happens, their dream of a gathering spot like the one in Campbell…the Pruneyard…will never become a reality. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I brought all this back to Connie Young, our question asker. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I can see why they would want to kind of redevelop it into something more community focused. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Connie grew up in the South Bay and remembers wishing there was more to do…more places she could go without a ride from her parents. Now she’s living in Mountain View and has enjoyed the way streets have been closed downtown to make space for dining and gathering.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Connie Young: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I feel like that’s what the South Bay is missing in a lot of the cities, especially San José, like a central plaza or the neighborhood where everybody gathers in the evening and their kids run around and play. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Katrina Schwartz: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The permit for the current Cambrian Park Urban Village plan will expire in 2028. Getting new ones would be expensive for the developer…maybe that’s why the company recently applied to alter the permit so they can build the housing part of the plan first and extend the permit up to 4 years in the process. The city is currently reviewing the proposal.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Olivia Allen-Price: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was Bay Curious editor and producer, Katrina Schwartz. Thanks to Connie Young for asking this week’s question. It was selected by you in a monthly voting round on Bay \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://curious.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Curious.or\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g. That’s one of the things I think makes Bay Curious unique… it is driven by you – your questions, about your community. And, it’s funded by you too. We need your support to keep things going, so please consider making a donation to KQED today. It only takes a few minutes. You can do it right from your phone. \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/donate\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KQED.org/donate\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the place to do it. Thanks!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bay Curious is made in San Francisco at member-supported KQED. \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our show is produced by Christopher Beale, Katrina Schwartz and Olivia Allen-Price.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With extra support from Maha Sanad, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on team KQED.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I’m Olivia Allen-Price. Have a great week!\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "When Child Care Costs Half a Paycheck, Bay Area Parents Must Choose: Kids or Career",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Annie Malekzadeh was shopping at a Joanne Fabrics store in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/concord\">Concord\u003c/a> a couple of years ago when she had an encounter that stung her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An older woman who saw her pregnant while pushing her toddler son in a shopping cart, told her: “I don’t know why you would want more than two [children]. It’s basically impossible in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time I was like, how dare she?” she said. “But now I’m like, oh, [she] was right. It’s really hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh wound up having another baby, and the decision to have three kids pushed her child care expenses to roughly $56,000 a year and ultimately changed the course of her career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061802/how-are-child-care-costs-affecting-the-lives-of-bay-area-families-you-told-us\">Rising child care costs in the Bay Area\u003c/a> are forcing parents to make painful tradeoffs, either by passing up career opportunities, cutting back work hours, or quitting altogether. For families with multiple young children, these expenses can surpass a parent’s entire salary, disproportionately affecting mothers and shaping their long-term economic security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh’s story is just one example of how the gap between what families can afford and the actual cost of care is pushing parents to find creative solutions — and prompting calls for systemic change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care has long been expensive for parents, but recently it’s been even more so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078461\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh, a mom who quit her teaching job to save on child care and is now pursuing her master’s degree in mathematics, studies at Pleasant Hill Library in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prices shot up almost 30% between 2020 and 2024, outpacing inflation by 7 percentage points, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.childcareaware.org/price-landscape24/\">a survey of child care resource and referral organizations \u003c/a>around the country. In just the last year, 40% of child care programs in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/user-174467/2026_survey_brief.pdf\">reported raising tuition \u003c/a>to offset rising operating costs like insurance and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, Malekzadeh was a math teacher at a private middle school, earning roughly $32,000 annually and working 25 hours per week. At the time, her son was in kindergarten and her daughter in preschool. Her husband is a psychiatrist, she said, and because he earned more money and worked more hours, most of the parenting responsibilities went to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With their joint income, the cost of preschool and before- and afterschool care was manageable for the Pleasant Hill couple. But when their baby boy came along in July 2022, and needed full-time infant care, the amount for all three kids’ care — about $4,700 per month — was almost double her teacher’s salary.[aside postID=news_12070762 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/240911-CHILDCARE-REAX-MD-01_qed.jpg']“It didn’t make sense,” she said. “My job wasn’t really making enough of a contribution to justify that kind of expense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the school year ended, Malekzadeh decided to quit, even though she didn’t want to leave a profession she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandparents were both educators,” she said. “They were beloved by their community, and they were really excited when I chose to become a teacher. So that was my plan, and I didn’t ever expect to deviate from that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move is saving about $600 a week in child care. The older two are in public school, and the youngest is still in preschool. While he’s in care, Malekzadeh takes classes at Diablo Valley College as she pursues a master’s degree in math, which she hopes will ultimately lead to a higher-paying job to make up for time away from the labor market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you quit to stay home with your kids, it creates gaps in your resume that a lot of places don’t necessarily look nicely at,” Melakzadeh said. “You have to have some kind of explanation for that, which might translate into less pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care prices vary by region and depend on a child’s age and the type of provider. In California, full-time infant care in 2024 cost an average of $22,628, which is 16% of the average married couple’s income and 50% of a single parent’s. Bay Area families pay the highest child care prices \u003ca href=\"https://tootris.com/edu/blog/parents/cost-of-child-care-in-california-by-city-age-and-type-of-care-provider/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">compared to other parts of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078462\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12078462 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh plays a card game with her daughter as they wait for her older son to finish school at Valhalla Elementary School in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spike in prices came as companies began mandating employees return to work and \u003ca href=\"https://rapidsurveyproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/arpa-funding-factsheet-aug2023.pdf\">child care providers lost federal funds\u003c/a> meant to help them recover from the pandemic. Less flexibility and high costs led to a decline in labor force participation for moms of children under the age of 5, and college-educated moms in particular, according to\u003ca href=\"https://kpmg.com/us/en/articles/2025/october-2025-the-great-exit.html\"> an analysis by the financial firm KPMG.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their labor force participation declined by 2.3 percentage points, while the number of college-educated dads of young children who were working or seeking a job continued to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families are facing child care prices that are higher than the price of rent or mortgage. So this is a huge problem. It’s one of the biggest expenses in a family’s budgets,” said Julie Kashen, a researcher at The Century Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nolan Cruz eats oatmeal for breakfast in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The progressive think tank conducted an October survey of 1,400 voters about their affordability concerns. Kashen said that while all families are facing rising costs, it’s women who experience a greater threat to their economic security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women are faring worse in terms of taking on debt to cover their basics, borrowing from friends and families to pay the bills,” she said. “So when you add child care on top of that, I think it’s incredibly challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those challenges led Amy Cruz to walk away from a six-figure nursing job to freelance as a dance teacher and care for her 3-year-old son, Nolan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1346\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED-1536x1034.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon and Nolan Cruz cook oatmeal for breakfast on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until he was about two years old, Cruz paid $3,000 per month to share a nanny with another family for just four days a week of child care (on the fifth day, she leaned on family members to look after him). While child care wasn’t the only reason she left her job, it was a significant factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Essentially, half of my monthly income was going to child care,” Cruz said. “Watching that much money leave our account every month was tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once Nolan was old enough to start preschool, she enrolled him in a three-day program near her Berkeley home, which cut her child care costs in half. When he’s there, she teaches dance — something she did professionally before going to nursing school — to afford his tuition. With a second baby on the way, she also figured that it was “worth it to make a little less money but be able to be with my kids more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amy Cruz picks raspberries for her son Nolan’s breakfast in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Economists call child care a broken market because the actual cost of providing care is a lot more than what families can afford to pay. In California, \u003ca href=\"https://rrnetwork.org/assets/general-files/California.pdf\">the demand for licensed infant care exceeds supply\u003c/a> because it’s the most expensive and labor-intensive. Babies need constant care, and California has strict rules limiting the number of children each adult can care for in a licensed child care home or center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, low pay and benefits have made it tough for child care providers to attract or retain early educators. In January, nearly half of providers said they didn’t have enough staff to enroll children at capacity, according to a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For providers, energy costs, food, insurance have all gone up,” said Matthew Nestler, senior economist at KPMG. “They can’t necessarily raise their workers’ wages to the degree that they would like to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078473\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Brandon, Amy and Nolan Cruz prepare breakfast and pack a lunch for Nolan in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shortage can cause parents to weave in and out of the workforce. Malezadeh first left her job when her eldest child was born eight years ago, and she couldn’t find an open infant care slot when her maternity leave ended. She didn’t know she had to reserve months in advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t actually find any kind of daycare spot for him until he was two, and by then, I was already expecting my second child,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh stayed out of teaching for four years and went back to work when her first two kids were a little older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after a year, the costs of infant care for her youngest, combined with her older children’s care, were too great, and she left her job again.[aside postID=news_12078480 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Lede.jpg']Kashen, from The Century Foundation, said public investment can help close the gap between what parents like Malekzadeh and Cruz can afford and what it actually costs to provide child care. As an example, she pointed to New Mexico’s recent move to offer free child care for all residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When governments invest in child care, that is the biggest thing that we can do because right now what we have is essentially a DIY, do-it-yourself, system for families where everyone’s on their own,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Cruz gave birth to a daughter. During her pregnancy, she considered becoming a nanny so she could take care of her baby alongside someone else’s, allowing her to make some money. She also thought about continuing to teach dance part-time, and while she’s at work, trading child care responsibilities with other parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been thinking about it more and more, because I can make more money teaching dance than doing my own nanny share,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a community with other parents has helped Malekzadeh get by when she’s in a child care pinch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re gonna be five minutes late to pick up, you have to have someone else that you can text, and be like, ‘Can you grab my kid for me real quick?’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078901\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078901\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh walks her kids home after school in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh tutors on the side to make some money and said she’s constantly revising the family budget as grocery and health insurance prices go up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m looking at where can we cut costs and what bundle can I use or coupon can I use to save money? I do most of our shopping at Costco now because buying in bulk is usually cheaper,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her family is also taking fewer trips, but Malezadeh said, despite these compromises, she’s grateful she has been able to afford raising three kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel very fortunate that I got through having our second kid and didn’t feel done,” she said. “Instead of living with the potential of regretting it for the rest of my life, I was able to say, ‘Hey, can we have another one? Can we work that into the budget?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Annie Malekzadeh was shopping at a Joanne Fabrics store in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/concord\">Concord\u003c/a> a couple of years ago when she had an encounter that stung her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An older woman who saw her pregnant while pushing her toddler son in a shopping cart, told her: “I don’t know why you would want more than two [children]. It’s basically impossible in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the time I was like, how dare she?” she said. “But now I’m like, oh, [she] was right. It’s really hard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh wound up having another baby, and the decision to have three kids pushed her child care expenses to roughly $56,000 a year and ultimately changed the course of her career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12061802/how-are-child-care-costs-affecting-the-lives-of-bay-area-families-you-told-us\">Rising child care costs in the Bay Area\u003c/a> are forcing parents to make painful tradeoffs, either by passing up career opportunities, cutting back work hours, or quitting altogether. For families with multiple young children, these expenses can surpass a parent’s entire salary, disproportionately affecting mothers and shaping their long-term economic security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh’s story is just one example of how the gap between what families can afford and the actual cost of care is pushing parents to find creative solutions — and prompting calls for systemic change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care has long been expensive for parents, but recently it’s been even more so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078461\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078461\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00035_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh, a mom who quit her teaching job to save on child care and is now pursuing her master’s degree in mathematics, studies at Pleasant Hill Library in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Prices shot up almost 30% between 2020 and 2024, outpacing inflation by 7 percentage points, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.childcareaware.org/price-landscape24/\">a survey of child care resource and referral organizations \u003c/a>around the country. In just the last year, 40% of child care programs in California \u003ca href=\"https://www.naeyc.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/user-174467/2026_survey_brief.pdf\">reported raising tuition \u003c/a>to offset rising operating costs like insurance and food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Four years ago, Malekzadeh was a math teacher at a private middle school, earning roughly $32,000 annually and working 25 hours per week. At the time, her son was in kindergarten and her daughter in preschool. Her husband is a psychiatrist, she said, and because he earned more money and worked more hours, most of the parenting responsibilities went to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With their joint income, the cost of preschool and before- and afterschool care was manageable for the Pleasant Hill couple. But when their baby boy came along in July 2022, and needed full-time infant care, the amount for all three kids’ care — about $4,700 per month — was almost double her teacher’s salary.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“It didn’t make sense,” she said. “My job wasn’t really making enough of a contribution to justify that kind of expense.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By the time the school year ended, Malekzadeh decided to quit, even though she didn’t want to leave a profession she loved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My grandparents were both educators,” she said. “They were beloved by their community, and they were really excited when I chose to become a teacher. So that was my plan, and I didn’t ever expect to deviate from that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move is saving about $600 a week in child care. The older two are in public school, and the youngest is still in preschool. While he’s in care, Malekzadeh takes classes at Diablo Valley College as she pursues a master’s degree in math, which she hopes will ultimately lead to a higher-paying job to make up for time away from the labor market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When you quit to stay home with your kids, it creates gaps in your resume that a lot of places don’t necessarily look nicely at,” Melakzadeh said. “You have to have some kind of explanation for that, which might translate into less pay.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Child care prices vary by region and depend on a child’s age and the type of provider. In California, full-time infant care in 2024 cost an average of $22,628, which is 16% of the average married couple’s income and 50% of a single parent’s. Bay Area families pay the highest child care prices \u003ca href=\"https://tootris.com/edu/blog/parents/cost-of-child-care-in-california-by-city-age-and-type-of-care-provider/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">compared to other parts of California\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078462\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12078462 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AFFORDABILITYCHILDCARE00228_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh plays a card game with her daughter as they wait for her older son to finish school at Valhalla Elementary School in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The spike in prices came as companies began mandating employees return to work and \u003ca href=\"https://rapidsurveyproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/arpa-funding-factsheet-aug2023.pdf\">child care providers lost federal funds\u003c/a> meant to help them recover from the pandemic. Less flexibility and high costs led to a decline in labor force participation for moms of children under the age of 5, and college-educated moms in particular, according to\u003ca href=\"https://kpmg.com/us/en/articles/2025/october-2025-the-great-exit.html\"> an analysis by the financial firm KPMG.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their labor force participation declined by 2.3 percentage points, while the number of college-educated dads of young children who were working or seeking a job continued to increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Families are facing child care prices that are higher than the price of rent or mortgage. So this is a huge problem. It’s one of the biggest expenses in a family’s budgets,” said Julie Kashen, a researcher at The Century Foundation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nolan Cruz eats oatmeal for breakfast in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The progressive think tank conducted an October survey of 1,400 voters about their affordability concerns. Kashen said that while all families are facing rising costs, it’s women who experience a greater threat to their economic security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Women are faring worse in terms of taking on debt to cover their basics, borrowing from friends and families to pay the bills,” she said. “So when you add child care on top of that, I think it’s incredibly challenging.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those challenges led Amy Cruz to walk away from a six-figure nursing job to freelance as a dance teacher and care for her 3-year-old son, Nolan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078474\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078474\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1346\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-02-KQED-1536x1034.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brandon and Nolan Cruz cook oatmeal for breakfast on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Until he was about two years old, Cruz paid $3,000 per month to share a nanny with another family for just four days a week of child care (on the fifth day, she leaned on family members to look after him). While child care wasn’t the only reason she left her job, it was a significant factor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Essentially, half of my monthly income was going to child care,” Cruz said. “Watching that much money leave our account every month was tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Once Nolan was old enough to start preschool, she enrolled him in a three-day program near her Berkeley home, which cut her child care costs in half. When he’s there, she teaches dance — something she did professionally before going to nursing school — to afford his tuition. With a second baby on the way, she also figured that it was “worth it to make a little less money but be able to be with my kids more.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078475\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078475\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-03-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amy Cruz picks raspberries for her son Nolan’s breakfast in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Economists call child care a broken market because the actual cost of providing care is a lot more than what families can afford to pay. In California, \u003ca href=\"https://rrnetwork.org/assets/general-files/California.pdf\">the demand for licensed infant care exceeds supply\u003c/a> because it’s the most expensive and labor-intensive. Babies need constant care, and California has strict rules limiting the number of children each adult can care for in a licensed child care home or center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, low pay and benefits have made it tough for child care providers to attract or retain early educators. In January, nearly half of providers said they didn’t have enough staff to enroll children at capacity, according to a survey by the National Association for the Education of Young Children.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For providers, energy costs, food, insurance have all gone up,” said Matthew Nestler, senior economist at KPMG. “They can’t necessarily raise their workers’ wages to the degree that they would like to.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078473\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078473\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251027-CHILD-CARE-PRICES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) Brandon, Amy and Nolan Cruz prepare breakfast and pack a lunch for Nolan in the morning on Oct. 27, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The shortage can cause parents to weave in and out of the workforce. Malezadeh first left her job when her eldest child was born eight years ago, and she couldn’t find an open infant care slot when her maternity leave ended. She didn’t know she had to reserve months in advance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn’t actually find any kind of daycare spot for him until he was two, and by then, I was already expecting my second child,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh stayed out of teaching for four years and went back to work when her first two kids were a little older.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But after a year, the costs of infant care for her youngest, combined with her older children’s care, were too great, and she left her job again.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Kashen, from The Century Foundation, said public investment can help close the gap between what parents like Malekzadeh and Cruz can afford and what it actually costs to provide child care. As an example, she pointed to New Mexico’s recent move to offer free child care for all residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When governments invest in child care, that is the biggest thing that we can do because right now what we have is essentially a DIY, do-it-yourself, system for families where everyone’s on their own,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Cruz gave birth to a daughter. During her pregnancy, she considered becoming a nanny so she could take care of her baby alongside someone else’s, allowing her to make some money. She also thought about continuing to teach dance part-time, and while she’s at work, trading child care responsibilities with other parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been thinking about it more and more, because I can make more money teaching dance than doing my own nanny share,” Cruz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Building a community with other parents has helped Malekzadeh get by when she’s in a child care pinch.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re gonna be five minutes late to pick up, you have to have someone else that you can text, and be like, ‘Can you grab my kid for me real quick?’” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078901\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078901\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-affordabilitychildcare00326_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Annie Malekzadeh walks her kids home after school in Pleasant Hill on April 1, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Malekzadeh tutors on the side to make some money and said she’s constantly revising the family budget as grocery and health insurance prices go up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m looking at where can we cut costs and what bundle can I use or coupon can I use to save money? I do most of our shopping at Costco now because buying in bulk is usually cheaper,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her family is also taking fewer trips, but Malezadeh said, despite these compromises, she’s grateful she has been able to afford raising three kids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel very fortunate that I got through having our second kid and didn’t feel done,” she said. “Instead of living with the potential of regretting it for the rest of my life, I was able to say, ‘Hey, can we have another one? Can we work that into the budget?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "as-legal-aid-groups-face-budget-cuts-san-francisco-awards-1-group-millions",
"title": "As Legal Aid Groups Face Budget Cuts, San Francisco Awards 1 Group Millions",
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"content": "\u003cp>Katie Danielson has been bracing for city budget cuts to reach her organization, the Homeless Advocacy Project at the Bar Association of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, which helps low-income San Francisco residents sign up for benefits and navigate civil legal issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City funding for organizations that provide civil legal aid is plummeting as San Francisco looks to narrow a more than $600 million budget deficit. That’s why Danielson and other groups were shocked to find out the city’s homelessness department awarded a $4.7 million grant without a competitive bidding process to a single nonprofit that also provides civil legal services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We completely agree that these types of services help prevent homelessness. That’s why we’ve been doing that work for so long. It’s just that while our funds are being cut, this other grant is being awarded,” Danielson said. “So it was just quite confusing and alarming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing issued the grant to Open Door Legal, which wrote in a press release that they also expected to receive a matching investment of $3 million in private funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Founder and director of Open Door Legal, Adrian Tirtanadi, said the funds will allow the nonprofit, which has offices in the Excelsior, Sunset, Western Edition and Bayview neighborhoods, to expand its work by partnering with community organizations in other parts of the city, including in the Mission District and the Tenderloin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tirtanadi agrees with attorneys from other organizations that offer legal aid services, who told KQED it doesn’t make sense that one city department is defunding civil legal services while another is adding funds through a one-time, 17-month grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079036\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Civil legal services advocates Juliana Fredman, Katie Danielson and Laura Chiera stand outside the city’s Homeless Oversight Commission meeting on April 7, 2026, where they raised concerns about a grant awarded without competitive bidding. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You have one department that is the expert on homelessness and who has determined that civil legal services should be like a core anti-homelessness strategy that the city should employ. And then you have another department that holds most of the [civil legal service] contracts that is trying to wind down those services,” Tirtanadi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is staring down a $643 million budget deficit over the next two years, and city officials this week began issuing layoff notices to city employees across departments. So far, 127 layoffs have been issued, and the mayor said that at least 500 positions could be cut across the city. Around 2,000 vacant positions have also been frozen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s budget also called for tough decisions and cuts. The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, which historically has funded civil legal services, reduced spending for those programs from around $4.2 million in 2024-25 to about $3 million in 2025-26. It’s slated to drop to nearly $1.2 million in the upcoming fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for civil legal aid say these services can help prevent homelessness by helping people navigate difficult legal systems, whether they are facing domestic violence, habitability issues, maintaining public benefits and other situations that can quickly spiral into an eviction case.[aside postID=news_12077101 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260310-UnhousedMail-02-BL_qed.jpg']But many said they were unaware that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing would be backfilling funding for civil legal services that the mayor’s office had planned to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of around 10 organizations, including Asian Law Caucus, Bay Area Legal Aid, La Raza Centro Legal, and Legal Assistance to the Elderly, sent a letter to the mayor and other top officials on homelessness with their concerns about how the contract was issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The noncompetitive process failed to consider existing services relied upon by the target communities and the providers with a proven track record who are positioned to quickly scale up services with existing infrastructure,” the letter reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shireen McSpadden, the outgoing director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said at a recent Homeless Oversight Commission meeting that the department was able to circumvent the competitive bidding process due to existing policies that allow the city to more quickly award contracts for homelessness services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This funding for civil legal services, combined with financial assistance, is core to HSH’s homelessness prevention strategy. Legal services play an important role in the fight against homelessness and are a tool in the city’s homelessness responses system,” McSpadden wrote in a Medium post co-authored by Tirtanadi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other commissioners at the meeting, however, expressed concerns with the contract, which the body previously approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioner Bevan Dufty said the concerns raised by other legal aid groups were legitimate and called it “not a good look,” adding a personal apology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrian Tirtanadi stands outside of City Hall in San Francisco on June 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nasicmento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I should be better, and I’m going to be very careful in reading what comes before us at every turn,” said Bufty, a former supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal aid providers that signed on to the letter have requested a meeting with city officials to discuss funding and the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our point is, if you want to get the services out the fastest, which is the point of that provision that they use to circumvent the competitive bidding process, then you need to look where the need is, where the services are being provided, and who has the capacity to upscale quickly,” said Laura Chiera, executive director of Legal Assistance to the Elderly. “You give me funding for another lawyer, I would have a full calendar that day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cuts to their programs loom, Chiera said it’s difficult to keep up with demand for support as evictions and rent prices in the city continue upward. She described a recent client, a woman in her 70s whose rent increased from $1,300 to $8,000 per month. They represented her and brought her case to the rent board, she said, allowing her to reach an affordable rent amount and remain housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a senior on a fixed income [without legal support], rent going from $1,300 to $8,000, that does mean homelessness,” Chiera said. “All of this funding is disappearing, and there’s so much need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tirtanadi did not comment specifically on concerns raised about the lack of transparency behind the contract, but said different City Hall departments are not on the same page over whether civil legal services should be funded or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage the city, especially the mayor’s office, to look at this holistically,” Tirtanadi said. “If the goal is to have ODL expand legal services, that will be undermined if contracts are being reduced or cut from other departments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "As Legal Aid Groups Face Budget Cuts, San Francisco Awards 1 Group Millions | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Katie Danielson has been bracing for city budget cuts to reach her organization, the Homeless Advocacy Project at the Bar Association of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco\">San Francisco\u003c/a>, which helps low-income San Francisco residents sign up for benefits and navigate civil legal issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>City funding for organizations that provide civil legal aid is plummeting as San Francisco looks to narrow a more than $600 million budget deficit. That’s why Danielson and other groups were shocked to find out the city’s homelessness department awarded a $4.7 million grant without a competitive bidding process to a single nonprofit that also provides civil legal services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We completely agree that these types of services help prevent homelessness. That’s why we’ve been doing that work for so long. It’s just that while our funds are being cut, this other grant is being awarded,” Danielson said. “So it was just quite confusing and alarming.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing issued the grant to Open Door Legal, which wrote in a press release that they also expected to receive a matching investment of $3 million in private funding.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Founder and director of Open Door Legal, Adrian Tirtanadi, said the funds will allow the nonprofit, which has offices in the Excelsior, Sunset, Western Edition and Bayview neighborhoods, to expand its work by partnering with community organizations in other parts of the city, including in the Mission District and the Tenderloin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Tirtanadi agrees with attorneys from other organizations that offer legal aid services, who told KQED it doesn’t make sense that one city department is defunding civil legal services while another is adding funds through a one-time, 17-month grant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079036\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079036\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/LegalServices-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Civil legal services advocates Juliana Fredman, Katie Danielson and Laura Chiera stand outside the city’s Homeless Oversight Commission meeting on April 7, 2026, where they raised concerns about a grant awarded without competitive bidding. \u003ccite>(Sydney Johnson/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“You have one department that is the expert on homelessness and who has determined that civil legal services should be like a core anti-homelessness strategy that the city should employ. And then you have another department that holds most of the [civil legal service] contracts that is trying to wind down those services,” Tirtanadi said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco is staring down a $643 million budget deficit over the next two years, and city officials this week began issuing layoff notices to city employees across departments. So far, 127 layoffs have been issued, and the mayor said that at least 500 positions could be cut across the city. Around 2,000 vacant positions have also been frozen.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year’s budget also called for tough decisions and cuts. The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, which historically has funded civil legal services, reduced spending for those programs from around $4.2 million in 2024-25 to about $3 million in 2025-26. It’s slated to drop to nearly $1.2 million in the upcoming fiscal year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates for civil legal aid say these services can help prevent homelessness by helping people navigate difficult legal systems, whether they are facing domestic violence, habitability issues, maintaining public benefits and other situations that can quickly spiral into an eviction case.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But many said they were unaware that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing would be backfilling funding for civil legal services that the mayor’s office had planned to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A group of around 10 organizations, including Asian Law Caucus, Bay Area Legal Aid, La Raza Centro Legal, and Legal Assistance to the Elderly, sent a letter to the mayor and other top officials on homelessness with their concerns about how the contract was issued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The noncompetitive process failed to consider existing services relied upon by the target communities and the providers with a proven track record who are positioned to quickly scale up services with existing infrastructure,” the letter reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shireen McSpadden, the outgoing director of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, said at a recent Homeless Oversight Commission meeting that the department was able to circumvent the competitive bidding process due to existing policies that allow the city to more quickly award contracts for homelessness services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This funding for civil legal services, combined with financial assistance, is core to HSH’s homelessness prevention strategy. Legal services play an important role in the fight against homelessness and are a tool in the city’s homelessness responses system,” McSpadden wrote in a Medium post co-authored by Tirtanadi.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other commissioners at the meeting, however, expressed concerns with the contract, which the body previously approved.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Commissioner Bevan Dufty said the concerns raised by other legal aid groups were legitimate and called it “not a good look,” adding a personal apology.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12043661\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12043661\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250610-LEGAL-AID-HUNGER-STRIKE-MD-02-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Adrian Tirtanadi stands outside of City Hall in San Francisco on June 10, 2025. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nasicmento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I should be better, and I’m going to be very careful in reading what comes before us at every turn,” said Bufty, a former supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal aid providers that signed on to the letter have requested a meeting with city officials to discuss funding and the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our point is, if you want to get the services out the fastest, which is the point of that provision that they use to circumvent the competitive bidding process, then you need to look where the need is, where the services are being provided, and who has the capacity to upscale quickly,” said Laura Chiera, executive director of Legal Assistance to the Elderly. “You give me funding for another lawyer, I would have a full calendar that day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As cuts to their programs loom, Chiera said it’s difficult to keep up with demand for support as evictions and rent prices in the city continue upward. She described a recent client, a woman in her 70s whose rent increased from $1,300 to $8,000 per month. They represented her and brought her case to the rent board, she said, allowing her to reach an affordable rent amount and remain housed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a senior on a fixed income [without legal support], rent going from $1,300 to $8,000, that does mean homelessness,” Chiera said. “All of this funding is disappearing, and there’s so much need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tirtanadi did not comment specifically on concerns raised about the lack of transparency behind the contract, but said different City Hall departments are not on the same page over whether civil legal services should be funded or not.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I would encourage the city, especially the mayor’s office, to look at this holistically,” Tirtanadi said. “If the goal is to have ODL expand legal services, that will be undermined if contracts are being reduced or cut from other departments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "how-skyrocketing-housing-costs-and-policy-choices-reshaped-the-bay-area",
"title": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area",
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"headTitle": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carefully curated flower pots, matcha mixing bowls and Buddhist prayer beads at Kogura Co. in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José’s\u003c/a> Japantown have drawn shoppers for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Kogura’s family has operated the Japanese gift and home goods store, now near the corner of Jackson and North Sixth streets, since his grandfather Kohei Kogura started the company in 1928.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the decades, the store’s inventory has shifted — from radios and sewing machines to home goods and gifts — mirroring the changes unfolding outside its doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as the wares have changed over the years, so has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904788/san-jose-japantown-changes-minato-gombei-shuei-do-santo-market\">Japantown\u003c/a>: evolving from a working-class neighborhood to a haven of high-priced apartments as handsomely paid tech workers and developers have flocked to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As I look at folks that are moving into our neighborhood,” Kogura said, “the only people who can afford to move into the neighborhood right now are the high-tech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the street from his shop is Sixth and Jackson, a 518-apartment complex opened two years ago that lists studios for rent beginning at roughly $3,000 per month, climbing to roughly $11,000 for the highest-end three-bedroom units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sponsors of our Little League teams were the Plumbers, the Carpenters, the Teamsters,” Kogura, 70, recalled as he walked the aisles of his family’s shop on a sunny Tuesday in March and reflected on his upbringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077577 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Kogura, a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, poses for a portrait at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you needed a job, there was always work because of the canneries,” he said, referring to companies like Del Monte that once anchored the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those jobs are gone. In their place: a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/category/silicon-valley\">tech-driven economy\u003c/a> that brought immense wealth — and costs that many longtime residents can no longer afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past half-century, the Bay Area has transformed from a region where working- and middle-class families could build stable lives into one of the most expensive places in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shift was driven by the collision of explosive tech-fueled wealth with decades of constrained housing growth, shaped by local opposition to development, environmental regulation and tax policies like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/proposition-13\">Proposition 13\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077583 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cards made by Tracie Kogura, Richard Kogura’s daughter, are sold at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result is a region where soaring home prices and rents have outpaced wages, deepened inequality and pushed longtime residents to the margins or out altogether — forces now \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952476/san-jose-japantown-photo-night-cukui\">reshaping communities like San José’s Japantown\u003c/a> and affecting the people struggling to remain in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powered by decades of tech expansion, limited housing construction and policies that restrict turnover and development, the region’s cost of living first got out of sync with the rest of the country around 50 years ago, experts say, with more recent tech booms only furthering sky-high costs and wide disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is rich and prosperous, and that creates a very high demand for housing, and that drives up prices,” said Richard Walker, professor emeritus of geography at UC Berkeley and an expert on California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spurning growth\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the 1970s, communities across the Bay Area pushed back against rapid development, reshaping how — and whether — new housing would be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hard shift toward anti-growth policies and environmental regulation flourished, as residents fought displacement and sprawl caused by major urban and suburban development efforts, such as highways and commercial projects. Their effects linger today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers browse at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the same way that California was the poster child for uncontrolled growth in the first two and a half decades of the post-war era from the mid-1940s to the mid to late 1960s, not coincidentally, it is the epicenter of the most concerted and most politically successful effort to reign in growth into the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” said Jacob Anbinder, a research fellow at Cornell University, who is writing a book about the roots of America’s housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, when the Legislature enacted major reforms, the California Environmental Quality Act — the state’s landmark environmental law, passed in 1970 — hamstrung projects of all stripes. Meanwhile, a Byzantine patchwork of county and local policies slows down and limits new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s collective failure to build enough homes has made it tougher for everyday workers to secure reasonably priced housing. Over the last nearly 50 years, the Bay Area has had one of the lowest permitting rates for new homes per capita in the nation, compared to other major metros, according to an analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research\u003c/a> performed for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Housing Permits, 1980-Present\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-MXDLW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MXDLW/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"575\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phil Cosentino’s livelihood has been shaped by the rise and fall of that pro-building ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, as defense and technology companies grew and hastened the rise of Silicon Valley, developers built out suburbs that sprawled farther and farther from job centers, prompting the construction of more roads and highways to transport more workers to offices throughout San José and the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cosentino’s father opened a family farm in South San José 81 years ago, the property stretched 10 acres. But it was whittled to about two acres after California officials used eminent domain to buy the land in the 1950s to build what is now Highway 85, which cuts along the edge of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Shimamoto shops at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, the 96-year-old’s small farm is sandwiched between the highway and a residential neighborhood that sprouted over the decades as developers bought up neighboring farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was closing in, closing in, closing in, and there was nothing we could do about it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, homes in the area sell for well above $1 million to tech workers drawn in part by easy access to the highway. The orchards that helped sustain generations of Cosentinos, however, some years fail to break even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077605\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077605 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drone photo of the farm and a family photo hang on the wall at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The situation we’re living in today is the product of decisions that were made not just 10, 20 years ago, but 50, 60, even 70 years ago,” Anbinder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a range of factors constrained housing supply, the region’s economy continued to boom, bringing in more residents and driving up demand and prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 years ago, you can start to see a very clear upward movement in housing prices that deviates from the rest of the country by California, and also even more so by the Bay Area,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising housing costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around 1970, the median home value in the U.S. was about $20,000. In California, it was roughly $23,000, and in the Bay Area it was higher still — reaching $28,000 in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Census.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2024, the census found, the median home value in the city was around $1.4 million, compared to less than $400,000 nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077584\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077584 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carolyn Kogura (center right), a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, helps customer Nick Marozick (left) at the cash register at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">rise in real estate values\u003c/a> has far outstripped the growth in average wages, greatly diminishing buying power for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the tech industry has fueled extreme wealth and financial stability for a significant number of residents capable of scooping up much of the available supply of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why is our housing more expensive than anywhere in the country? It’s because we are richer than anywhere in the country, on average,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Home Values on Zillow\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-FmS51\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FmS51/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"486\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kogura and his grown children have been able to maintain family-owned homes in Japantown. But that’s largely because his grandfather and parents were able to buy and pass on properties before prices skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t think his kids would be able to buy their own homes now due to the high prices and property taxes, which he said are exacerbated by investors who buy and sell historic buildings in the area in hopes of redeveloping them and cashing in on the neighborhood’s cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Median Income for Select Professions\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-iiZQd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iiZQd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"675\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and a research scholar at SIEPR, said that while tech wages have long dwarfed those of other professions like nurses, teachers and retail or sales workers, a tech boom in the years following the great financial crisis of 2008 pushed compensation in that industry even higher, with direct impacts on housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see it in the housing price statistics. You can see it in income data. The Bay Area starts to have housing prices that increase faster than other cities, right as the tech boom is taking off and incomes are also going way up,” McEntarfer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That takeoff in earnings didn’t happen for everybody. The latest U.S. Census data shows median Bay Area tech worker income hovering a little above $180,000 annually in 2024, compared with just over $120,000 for nurses, while teachers and sales workers earned less than half of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tech compensation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rachel Massaro, vice president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a think tank that studies the region, said inequality is “escalating exponentially” in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What high earners are able to pay for a good or service affects what people will charge, Massaro said, which impacts everyone. Tech workers are willing and able to pay more for everyday essentials, from housing to child care, influencing costs for the whole region and exacerbating historic imbalances.[aside postID=news_12078480 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Lede.jpg']This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/13-publications/silicon-valley-index\">Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, an annual snapshot of the region published by the nonprofit, highlighted that investment income — such as dividends from stock portfolios and earnings from rental properties — is “overwhelmingly concentrated among higher-income households,” bringing in $200,000 or more each year. For households earning less than that, “investment income is nearly absent,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those investments, Massaro said, can generate much more income than wages alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, those assets for tech workers can feel like bonuses, making it easier to snap up a rental property or to upgrade to a bigger home, “things that might seem out of reach for a lot of other people in our region,” Massaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding all of this is the fact that the Bay Area — in addition to being flush with well-paid product managers, engineers, programmers and marketers — has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the country. Executives and founders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are some of the 126 billionaires who call the area home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people across the country talk about the wealth gap in terms of the top 1%. But in Silicon Valley, the concentration goes way beyond that. It’s the top 0.001% alone that holds 18% of all of our liquid wealth,” Massaro said. “And the top 1% hold roughly a third. So things are different here, particularly because of billionaire liquid wealth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other indicators reaffirm the Bay Area’s higher cost of living, including data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which researchers from SIEPR analyzed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Far Does $100,000 Go?\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-44DiX\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/44DiX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Between 2012 and the pandemic, prices in the Bay Area increased faster than other metros and the nation at large,” researchers at SIEPR said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to think of this is that if you make $100,000 in San Francisco, the purchasing power it gives you relative to living in Houston is $85,000,” McEntarfer said. “And relative to living in Birmingham, Alabama, that money would go [as far as] $110,000.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area workers looking to stretch their dollars have fled San Francisco and Silicon Valley for the East Bay and beyond in search of a lower cost of living. But as more people make that move, the limited housing supply has meant rising prices in previously affordable neighborhoods, which has pushed many families out of the region entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Proposition 13\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McEntarfer said economists sometimes compare housing stock to lasagna, where layers accommodate the different circumstances people experience in their lives and careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s controversial Proposition 13 and high home prices have complicated that notion locally, with many older residents staying in larger homes after their children have moved out and partners have died because downsizing is too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages is located on 609 North 13th St., in San José, on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For those who have already secured a home in the Bay Area, especially members of the Baby Boomer generation, the nearly 50-year-old Proposition 13 has shielded them from high annual property tax increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enacted in 1978 by California voters frustrated about unpredictable inflationary pressures and increasing property tax bills, Proposition 13 requires the state to assess properties based on their purchase price, not current market value, and caps the annual increase in assessed value at 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It means, for instance, that the buyer of a house who purchased the property in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/prop-13/\">pays dramatically more\u003c/a> in property taxes than their neighbor who bought a comparable home in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dried pasta and sauce are sold at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law benefits residential and commercial property owners, but disincentivizes them from moving and severely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701044/how-proposition-13-transformed-neighborhood-public-schools-throughout-california\">limits funding for schools\u003c/a> and other municipal services, prompting officials to more frequently ask local voters for tax increases and bond measures.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>“It definitely transfers the burden of paying for all of the expensive services that we have to pay for in communities to the younger up-and-coming working families,” said Kelly Snider, a developer and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louis Chiaramonte, owner of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages, poses for a portrait at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some analyses have shown that Proposition 13 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911156/prop-13-offers-bigger-tax-breaks-to-homeowners-in-wealthy-white-neighborhoods\">disproportionately benefits white and wealthier homeowners\u003c/a> in higher-value neighborhoods because the difference between their homes’ assessed value and market value is greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot, McEntarfer said, is that in the Bay Area, “even relatively well-off working professionals like the nurses, educators, people with good middle-class jobs, they can’t afford to buy a house anymore, so they’re renting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average rental rates in the San José and San Francisco metro areas hover around $3,000 a month for apartments, and about $4,200 a month for single-family homes, the Silicon Valley index reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A.J. Fernandez makes a sandwich at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A.J. Fernandez pays far less than that — just $600 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s the grand-nephew of Louis Chiaramonte, the 81-year-old proprietor of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José’s Northside neighborhood, which has operated for 118 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chiaramonte said people of his generation could buy a home “even with a regular type of job where you didn’t have to have a special education or special talents,” but Fernandez said he “couldn’t do that in my lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Share of Super-Commuters\" aria-label=\"Grouped column chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-sYKh5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sYKh5/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 34-year-old, who works crafting the deli’s housemade Italian sausage sandwiches, rents a room in a family-owned home with his grandmother. “They charge me very modestly, and even then, it’s hard to live in the Bay Area,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this huge crunch in terms of how expensive it is to just simply have a roof over your head,” said Stasia Hansen, the research and policy director for \u003ca href=\"https://workingeastbay.org/\">East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that advocates for economic, racial, and social justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hansen said that when the pinch of increasing housing costs pushes people farther from the region’s major job centers, it disconnects them from their families and communities and adds to their transportation costs as commutes increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old photos of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages from the 1920s and onward are hung on a shelf at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from bigger cities like Oakland to smaller burbs in Contra Costa and Solano counties also means tenants often give up renter protections, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One consequence of all that movement has been an explosion of supercommuters, people who commute more than an hour to their workplaces. In the Bay Area in 2019, just under 9% of regional workers identified as supercommuters, according to U.S. Census data, nearly double the national rate at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic-driven remote work wave “took the edge off of the number of supercommuters in the Bay Area,” McEntarfer said, but the percentage of these commuters in the region in 2024 was still well above the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing strain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more people fan out in search of housing they can afford, that puts pressure on lower-income neighborhoods and the people who live there. Black workers have historically been underrepresented in tech and other white-collar sectors, Hansen said. They are also more likely, according to the index, to be paid less even when they do hold the same degrees and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of Black workers in the East Bay were considered rent burdened, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058985\">an October report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center. More than four in every 10 Latino workers were rent-burdened, compared to about a third of white renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twenty-four-year-old Kassandra Gutierrez embraces her 4-year-old son Esteban while getting him ready for school at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kassandra Gutierrez said the financial strain of trying to stay in the Bay Area has taken a huge toll on her emotional well-being. She works full-time and is a single parent to a 4-year-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been trying to see if I can get a second job just to make sure I can maintain a roof over my son’s head. It’s very mentally frustrating, mentally draining,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez, 24, is a case worker at a mental health care agency in Oakland, where she serves up to 30 clients at a time. Despite living in an affordable apartment complex in Richmond, she worries she could face eviction because she’s struggling to pay a recent $250 increase in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078834\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078834\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kassandra Gutierrez, a single mother, gets ready at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raised in Oakland, she said, “everything was easier” when she was younger, and it’s been painful to see the costs of daily life spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started driving, gas was like $2.50, so filling up [my car]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>wasn’t such an issue. Just seeing that increase in gas, seeing an increase in groceries, just buying a pack of strawberries is already almost 10 bucks, or a gallon of milk is six bucks,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a fast increase that no one can really catch up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What comes next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Walker, the Berkeley professor emeritus, said the inequality gripping the Bay Area is difficult to escape without drastic action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What comes next? Well, nothing. It’ll just be more of the same unless you get a mass popular movement and significant political change. We need to reclaim our state and reclaim our country from the rich,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested everything from higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, to stricter AI regulation and more subsidized housing like the public housing projects of the New Deal era that helped house the burgeoning workforce of the Bay Area after WWI. A proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state has gained momentum in recent months but faces vehement opposition from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-opposition-6a00047d?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcxAnMF28subEWffDfgqSmdc38fyPNQOMOVQdP7pWka8zRT2Z8xERxYnwFSNLk%3D&gaa_ts=69c6c184&gaa_sig=tcbkMNY46yjBYaXnaTCAb1Os9mLrNtN7ZWT_ZDJ86L2LPBzWIWU-my8nNz26ctCDKI4uHEyUIv61kij89en1Cw%3D%3D\">subjects of the tax\u003c/a>.[aside postID=news_12069608 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/019_KQED_RichmondHousing_08162022_qed.jpg']McEntarfer, who moved from Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area in the fall and lived in accessory dwelling units before finding an apartment, said she loves the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really easy to see why the area is in high demand,” she said. “There is great weather, natural beauty and a lot of jobs. There are very few places in the U.S. that are blessed with all three of those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those blessings come with a downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silicon Valley, San Francisco — they’ve created an enormous number of jobs, but they haven’t built enough housing to house all of those workers. And it’s pushing up prices, it’s pushing people to take very long commutes to try and find some affordable housing,” she said. “Consistently, what you hear on the East Coast about San Francisco and the Bay Area is that it’s lovely but it’s unaffordable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kogura, whose family business is approaching the century mark in Japantown, the rising costs are eroding the close-knit neighborhood he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our people know each other, and it’s a real small community,” he said. “But we’re losing that, and it’s almost inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ebaldassari\">\u003cem>Erin Baldassari\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Housing, Tech and Taxes: 50 Years of Unaffordability in the Bay Area | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">How We Get By\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">full series here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The carefully curated flower pots, matcha mixing bowls and Buddhist prayer beads at Kogura Co. in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-jose\">San José’s\u003c/a> Japantown have drawn shoppers for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Richard Kogura’s family has operated the Japanese gift and home goods store, now near the corner of Jackson and North Sixth streets, since his grandfather Kohei Kogura started the company in 1928.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the decades, the store’s inventory has shifted — from radios and sewing machines to home goods and gifts — mirroring the changes unfolding outside its doors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just as the wares have changed over the years, so has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13904788/san-jose-japantown-changes-minato-gombei-shuei-do-santo-market\">Japantown\u003c/a>: evolving from a working-class neighborhood to a haven of high-priced apartments as handsomely paid tech workers and developers have flocked to the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As I look at folks that are moving into our neighborhood,” Kogura said, “the only people who can afford to move into the neighborhood right now are the high-tech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Across the street from his shop is Sixth and Jackson, a 518-apartment complex opened two years ago that lists studios for rent beginning at roughly $3,000 per month, climbing to roughly $11,000 for the highest-end three-bedroom units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The sponsors of our Little League teams were the Plumbers, the Carpenters, the Teamsters,” Kogura, 70, recalled as he walked the aisles of his family’s shop on a sunny Tuesday in March and reflected on his upbringing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077577\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077577 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00054_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Richard Kogura, a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, poses for a portrait at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“If you needed a job, there was always work because of the canneries,” he said, referring to companies like Del Monte that once anchored the local economy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those jobs are gone. In their place: a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/lowdown/category/silicon-valley\">tech-driven economy\u003c/a> that brought immense wealth — and costs that many longtime residents can no longer afford.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past half-century, the Bay Area has transformed from a region where working- and middle-class families could build stable lives into one of the most expensive places in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That shift was driven by the collision of explosive tech-fueled wealth with decades of constrained housing growth, shaped by local opposition to development, environmental regulation and tax policies like \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/proposition-13\">Proposition 13\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077583\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077583 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00657_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cards made by Tracie Kogura, Richard Kogura’s daughter, are sold at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The result is a region where soaring home prices and rents have outpaced wages, deepened inequality and pushed longtime residents to the margins or out altogether — forces now \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13952476/san-jose-japantown-photo-night-cukui\">reshaping communities like San José’s Japantown\u003c/a> and affecting the people struggling to remain in them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Powered by decades of tech expansion, limited housing construction and policies that restrict turnover and development, the region’s cost of living first got out of sync with the rest of the country around 50 years ago, experts say, with more recent tech booms only furthering sky-high costs and wide disparities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Bay Area is rich and prosperous, and that creates a very high demand for housing, and that drives up prices,” said Richard Walker, professor emeritus of geography at UC Berkeley and an expert on California history.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Spurning growth\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the 1970s, communities across the Bay Area pushed back against rapid development, reshaping how — and whether — new housing would be built.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A hard shift toward anti-growth policies and environmental regulation flourished, as residents fought displacement and sprawl caused by major urban and suburban development efforts, such as highways and commercial projects. Their effects linger today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077579\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077579\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00483_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Customers browse at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“In the same way that California was the poster child for uncontrolled growth in the first two and a half decades of the post-war era from the mid-1940s to the mid to late 1960s, not coincidentally, it is the epicenter of the most concerted and most politically successful effort to reign in growth into the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s,” said Jacob Anbinder, a research fellow at Cornell University, who is writing a book about the roots of America’s housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Until last year, when the Legislature enacted major reforms, the California Environmental Quality Act — the state’s landmark environmental law, passed in 1970 — hamstrung projects of all stripes. Meanwhile, a Byzantine patchwork of county and local policies slows down and limits new housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The region’s collective failure to build enough homes has made it tougher for everyday workers to secure reasonably priced housing. Over the last nearly 50 years, the Bay Area has had one of the lowest permitting rates for new homes per capita in the nation, compared to other major metros, according to an analysis by the \u003ca href=\"https://siepr.stanford.edu/\">Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research\u003c/a> performed for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Housing Permits, 1980-Present\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-MXDLW\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/MXDLW/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"575\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Phil Cosentino’s livelihood has been shaped by the rise and fall of that pro-building ethos.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After World War II, as defense and technology companies grew and hastened the rise of Silicon Valley, developers built out suburbs that sprawled farther and farther from job centers, prompting the construction of more roads and highways to transport more workers to offices throughout San José and the Peninsula.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cosentino’s father opened a family farm in South San José 81 years ago, the property stretched 10 acres. But it was whittled to about two acres after California officials used eminent domain to buy the land in the 1950s to build what is now Highway 85, which cuts along the edge of the farm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077607\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077607\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-022-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Shimamoto shops at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Now, the 96-year-old’s small farm is sandwiched between the highway and a residential neighborhood that sprouted over the decades as developers bought up neighboring farms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was closing in, closing in, closing in, and there was nothing we could do about it,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, homes in the area sell for well above $1 million to tech workers drawn in part by easy access to the highway. The orchards that helped sustain generations of Cosentinos, however, some years fail to break even.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077605\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077605 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/231017-COSENTINOFARM-005-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A drone photo of the farm and a family photo hang on the wall at J&P Cosentino Family Farm in San José on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The situation we’re living in today is the product of decisions that were made not just 10, 20 years ago, but 50, 60, even 70 years ago,” Anbinder said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even as a range of factors constrained housing supply, the region’s economy continued to boom, bringing in more residents and driving up demand and prices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“About 50 years ago, you can start to see a very clear upward movement in housing prices that deviates from the rest of the country by California, and also even more so by the Bay Area,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Rising housing costs\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Around 1970, the median home value in the U.S. was about $20,000. In California, it was roughly $23,000, and in the Bay Area it was higher still — reaching $28,000 in San Francisco, according to the U.S. Census.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By 2024, the census found, the median home value in the city was around $1.4 million, compared to less than $400,000 nationally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077584\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12077584 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260320-KOGURACOMPANY00764_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carolyn Kogura (center right), a third-generation resident of Japantown and co-owner of Kogura Company, helps customer Nick Marozick (left) at the cash register at Kogura Company in San José on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/housing\">rise in real estate values\u003c/a> has far outstripped the growth in average wages, greatly diminishing buying power for many.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the same time, the tech industry has fueled extreme wealth and financial stability for a significant number of residents capable of scooping up much of the available supply of homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Why is our housing more expensive than anywhere in the country? It’s because we are richer than anywhere in the country, on average,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Home Values on Zillow\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-FmS51\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/FmS51/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"486\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kogura and his grown children have been able to maintain family-owned homes in Japantown. But that’s largely because his grandfather and parents were able to buy and pass on properties before prices skyrocketed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He doesn’t think his kids would be able to buy their own homes now due to the high prices and property taxes, which he said are exacerbated by investors who buy and sell historic buildings in the area in hopes of redeveloping them and cashing in on the neighborhood’s cachet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Median Income for Select Professions\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-iiZQd\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/iiZQd/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"675\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Erika McEntarfer, the former head of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and a research scholar at SIEPR, said that while tech wages have long dwarfed those of other professions like nurses, teachers and retail or sales workers, a tech boom in the years following the great financial crisis of 2008 pushed compensation in that industry even higher, with direct impacts on housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can see it in the housing price statistics. You can see it in income data. The Bay Area starts to have housing prices that increase faster than other cities, right as the tech boom is taking off and incomes are also going way up,” McEntarfer said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That takeoff in earnings didn’t happen for everybody. The latest U.S. Census data shows median Bay Area tech worker income hovering a little above $180,000 annually in 2024, compared with just over $120,000 for nurses, while teachers and sales workers earned less than half of that.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Tech compensation\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Rachel Massaro, vice president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a think tank that studies the region, said inequality is “escalating exponentially” in the area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What high earners are able to pay for a good or service affects what people will charge, Massaro said, which impacts everyone. Tech workers are willing and able to pay more for everyday essentials, from housing to child care, influencing costs for the whole region and exacerbating historic imbalances.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>This year’s \u003ca href=\"https://jointventure.org/13-publications/silicon-valley-index\">Silicon Valley Index\u003c/a>, an annual snapshot of the region published by the nonprofit, highlighted that investment income — such as dividends from stock portfolios and earnings from rental properties — is “overwhelmingly concentrated among higher-income households,” bringing in $200,000 or more each year. For households earning less than that, “investment income is nearly absent,” the report said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Those investments, Massaro said, can generate much more income than wages alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In practice, those assets for tech workers can feel like bonuses, making it easier to snap up a rental property or to upgrade to a bigger home, “things that might seem out of reach for a lot of other people in our region,” Massaro said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Compounding all of this is the fact that the Bay Area — in addition to being flush with well-paid product managers, engineers, programmers and marketers — has one of the highest concentrations of billionaires in the country. Executives and founders like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang are some of the 126 billionaires who call the area home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A lot of people across the country talk about the wealth gap in terms of the top 1%. But in Silicon Valley, the concentration goes way beyond that. It’s the top 0.001% alone that holds 18% of all of our liquid wealth,” Massaro said. “And the top 1% hold roughly a third. So things are different here, particularly because of billionaire liquid wealth.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Other indicators reaffirm the Bay Area’s higher cost of living, including data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which researchers from SIEPR analyzed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How Far Does $100,000 Go?\" aria-label=\"Line chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-44DiX\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/44DiX/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"550\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Between 2012 and the pandemic, prices in the Bay Area increased faster than other metros and the nation at large,” researchers at SIEPR said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One way to think of this is that if you make $100,000 in San Francisco, the purchasing power it gives you relative to living in Houston is $85,000,” McEntarfer said. “And relative to living in Birmingham, Alabama, that money would go [as far as] $110,000.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bay Area workers looking to stretch their dollars have fled San Francisco and Silicon Valley for the East Bay and beyond in search of a lower cost of living. But as more people make that move, the limited housing supply has meant rising prices in previously affordable neighborhoods, which has pushed many families out of the region entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Proposition 13\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>McEntarfer said economists sometimes compare housing stock to lasagna, where layers accommodate the different circumstances people experience in their lives and careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s controversial Proposition 13 and high home prices have complicated that notion locally, with many older residents staying in larger homes after their children have moved out and partners have died because downsizing is too expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00642_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages is located on 609 North 13th St., in San José, on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>For those who have already secured a home in the Bay Area, especially members of the Baby Boomer generation, the nearly 50-year-old Proposition 13 has shielded them from high annual property tax increases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enacted in 1978 by California voters frustrated about unpredictable inflationary pressures and increasing property tax bills, Proposition 13 requires the state to assess properties based on their purchase price, not current market value, and caps the annual increase in assessed value at 2%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It means, for instance, that the buyer of a house who purchased the property in 2022 \u003ca href=\"https://projects.scpr.org/prop-13/\">pays dramatically more\u003c/a> in property taxes than their neighbor who bought a comparable home in the 1970s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077591\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077591\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00664_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dried pasta and sauce are sold at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The law benefits residential and commercial property owners, but disincentivizes them from moving and severely \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11701044/how-proposition-13-transformed-neighborhood-public-schools-throughout-california\">limits funding for schools\u003c/a> and other municipal services, prompting officials to more frequently ask local voters for tax increases and bond measures.\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>“It definitely transfers the burden of paying for all of the expensive services that we have to pay for in communities to the younger up-and-coming working families,” said Kelly Snider, a developer and professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at San José State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077593\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077593\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00682_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Louis Chiaramonte, owner of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages, poses for a portrait at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some analyses have shown that Proposition 13 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11911156/prop-13-offers-bigger-tax-breaks-to-homeowners-in-wealthy-white-neighborhoods\">disproportionately benefits white and wealthier homeowners\u003c/a> in higher-value neighborhoods because the difference between their homes’ assessed value and market value is greater.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The upshot, McEntarfer said, is that in the Bay Area, “even relatively well-off working professionals like the nurses, educators, people with good middle-class jobs, they can’t afford to buy a house anymore, so they’re renting.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Average rental rates in the San José and San Francisco metro areas hover around $3,000 a month for apartments, and about $4,200 a month for single-family homes, the Silicon Valley index reported.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00690_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A.J. Fernandez makes a sandwich at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A.J. Fernandez pays far less than that — just $600 a month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s the grand-nephew of Louis Chiaramonte, the 81-year-old proprietor of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José’s Northside neighborhood, which has operated for 118 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chiaramonte said people of his generation could buy a home “even with a regular type of job where you didn’t have to have a special education or special talents,” but Fernandez said he “couldn’t do that in my lifetime.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Share of Super-Commuters\" aria-label=\"Grouped column chart\" id=\"datawrapper-chart-sYKh5\" src=\"https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/sYKh5/1/\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border: none;\" width=\"800\" height=\"601\" data-external=\"1\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 34-year-old, who works crafting the deli’s housemade Italian sausage sandwiches, rents a room in a family-owned home with his grandmother. “They charge me very modestly, and even then, it’s hard to live in the Bay Area,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s this huge crunch in terms of how expensive it is to just simply have a roof over your head,” said Stasia Hansen, the research and policy director for \u003ca href=\"https://workingeastbay.org/\">East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy\u003c/a>, a nonprofit that advocates for economic, racial, and social justice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hansen said that when the pinch of increasing housing costs pushes people farther from the region’s major job centers, it disconnects them from their families and communities and adds to their transportation costs as commutes increase.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077592\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077592\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260307-CHIARAMONTEDELI00673_TV-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Old photos of Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages from the 1920s and onward are hung on a shelf at Chiaramonte’s Deli & Sausages in San José on March 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Moving from bigger cities like Oakland to smaller burbs in Contra Costa and Solano counties also means tenants often give up renter protections, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One consequence of all that movement has been an explosion of supercommuters, people who commute more than an hour to their workplaces. In the Bay Area in 2019, just under 9% of regional workers identified as supercommuters, according to U.S. Census data, nearly double the national rate at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The pandemic-driven remote work wave “took the edge off of the number of supercommuters in the Bay Area,” McEntarfer said, but the percentage of these commuters in the region in 2024 was still well above the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Increasing strain\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As more people fan out in search of housing they can afford, that puts pressure on lower-income neighborhoods and the people who live there. Black workers have historically been underrepresented in tech and other white-collar sectors, Hansen said. They are also more likely, according to the index, to be paid less even when they do hold the same degrees and jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About half of Black workers in the East Bay were considered rent burdened, meaning they paid more than 30% of their income toward rent, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12058985\">an October report\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Labor Center. More than four in every 10 Latino workers were rent-burdened, compared to about a third of white renters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078837\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078837\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00285_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Twenty-four-year-old Kassandra Gutierrez embraces her 4-year-old son Esteban while getting him ready for school at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kassandra Gutierrez said the financial strain of trying to stay in the Bay Area has taken a huge toll on her emotional well-being. She works full-time and is a single parent to a 4-year-old.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been trying to see if I can get a second job just to make sure I can maintain a roof over my son’s head. It’s very mentally frustrating, mentally draining,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gutierrez, 24, is a case worker at a mental health care agency in Oakland, where she serves up to 30 clients at a time. Despite living in an affordable apartment complex in Richmond, she worries she could face eviction because she’s struggling to pay a recent $250 increase in rent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078834\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078834\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260406-kassandragutierrez00217_TV_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kassandra Gutierrez, a single mother, gets ready at her mother’s home in Oakland on April 6, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Raised in Oakland, she said, “everything was easier” when she was younger, and it’s been painful to see the costs of daily life spiking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I first started driving, gas was like $2.50, so filling up [my car]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>wasn’t such an issue. Just seeing that increase in gas, seeing an increase in groceries, just buying a pack of strawberries is already almost 10 bucks, or a gallon of milk is six bucks,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a fast increase that no one can really catch up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>What comes next?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Walker, the Berkeley professor emeritus, said the inequality gripping the Bay Area is difficult to escape without drastic action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What comes next? Well, nothing. It’ll just be more of the same unless you get a mass popular movement and significant political change. We need to reclaim our state and reclaim our country from the rich,” Walker said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He suggested everything from higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, to stricter AI regulation and more subsidized housing like the public housing projects of the New Deal era that helped house the burgeoning workforce of the Bay Area after WWI. A proposed one-time 5% tax on billionaires in the state has gained momentum in recent months but faces vehement opposition from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.wsj.com/business/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-opposition-6a00047d?gaa_at=eafs&gaa_n=AWEtsqcxAnMF28subEWffDfgqSmdc38fyPNQOMOVQdP7pWka8zRT2Z8xERxYnwFSNLk%3D&gaa_ts=69c6c184&gaa_sig=tcbkMNY46yjBYaXnaTCAb1Os9mLrNtN7ZWT_ZDJ86L2LPBzWIWU-my8nNz26ctCDKI4uHEyUIv61kij89en1Cw%3D%3D\">subjects of the tax\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>McEntarfer, who moved from Washington, D.C., to the Bay Area in the fall and lived in accessory dwelling units before finding an apartment, said she loves the region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s really easy to see why the area is in high demand,” she said. “There is great weather, natural beauty and a lot of jobs. There are very few places in the U.S. that are blessed with all three of those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But those blessings come with a downside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Silicon Valley, San Francisco — they’ve created an enormous number of jobs, but they haven’t built enough housing to house all of those workers. And it’s pushing up prices, it’s pushing people to take very long commutes to try and find some affordable housing,” she said. “Consistently, what you hear on the East Coast about San Francisco and the Bay Area is that it’s lovely but it’s unaffordable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Kogura, whose family business is approaching the century mark in Japantown, the rising costs are eroding the close-knit neighborhood he grew up in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our people know each other, and it’s a real small community,” he said. “But we’re losing that, and it’s almost inevitable.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/ebaldassari\">\u003cem>Erin Baldassari\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "the-great-squeeze-bay-area-residents-downsize-and-adapt-to-rising-costs",
"title": "The Great Squeeze: Bay Area Residents Downsize and Adapt to Rising Costs",
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"headTitle": "The Great Squeeze: Bay Area Residents Downsize and Adapt to Rising Costs | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooke Dawson wanted the house. She wanted the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marriage\">marriage\u003c/a>, the kids — one boy, one girl — and the financial freedom to make and sell ceramics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, at 42, one kid and one divorce later, that dream has been squeezed into an Airstream trailer parked in the side yard of her mother’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/north-bay\">North Bay\u003c/a> suburban home, her kiln and throwing wheel relegated to storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, she realizes it may appear as though she’s far from achieving what she had wanted. But the act of whittling down her dream to fit her economic reality has changed her, she said, and made her reevaluate how her life should look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just looks different,” the hospice nurse said. “I was struggling so hard up through January, and I’m at the point just now where I’m starting to see some daylight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in a smaller space has forced her to own and spend less. But now she has access to a yard and is putting the energy she spent on ceramics into gardening. Being close to her mother and brother, who also live in the house, has provided flexible childcare for her 5-year-old son that wasn’t possible when she lived almost an hour’s drive away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trade-off has been worth it, Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m OK. I’ve found a way,” she said. “And I thank God for every little thing. I’ve never had this degree of gratitude in my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson makes a sandwich in the Airstream where she lives in her mother’s backyard on March 27, 2026. She shares the property with her mother and brother, a living arrangement that makes staying in the area more affordable. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078566\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078566\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-2000x660.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-2048x676.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Brooke Dawson and her son Everest walk out of their Airstream. Right: Brooke Dawson blows bubbles with her son, Everest, and brother, Cameron. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dawson’s choice to downsize isn’t unusual. When \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069608/californias-cost-of-living-keeps-climbing-how-are-you-coping\">KQED asked Bay Area residents\u003c/a> how they’re managing the region’s high cost of living, many described similar compromises: moving into smaller homes, doubling up with family, taking on extra work, or cutting back on everyday expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their experiences reveal how rising housing costs and inflation are reshaping middle-class life in the Bay Area — forcing people to rethink what “enough” looks like and how to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also mirror two national polls from the Washington Post and New York Times that found Americans see \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/politics/affordability-poll.html\">upward mobility\u003c/a> as less attainable and consider maintaining the trappings of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/27/affordability-homeownership-poll/\">middle-class lifestyle\u003c/a> increasingly unaffordable — feelings that are expected to influence November’s midterm elections, with likely voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-early-look-2026-midterms\">repeatedly citing\u003c/a> the \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/golden-age-americans-doubt-trumps-claim-booming-economy-midterms-near-2026-02-27/\">cost of living\u003c/a> as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/poll-trump-struggles-immigration-prices-iran-democrats-midterm-edge-rcna261861\">top concern\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both nationally and in California, the pandemic-era inflation spike is a big part of that story, with prices rising for everything from new cars to groceries. In turn, that’s putting into sharp relief cracks in the foundations of major industries, such as healthcare and child care, said Neale Mahoney, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy and Research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078640\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson holds her son, Everest, in her mother’s backyard. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inflation, he said, has “really revealed and emphasized the underlying structural issues we have with the cost of healthcare that have been around for a long time, issues with the costs of child care that have been around for a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At their core, he said, is the cost of housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Housing,” Mahoney said, “is at the root of many of the affordability issues we see in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, the typical home value was nearly $1.2 million last year — lower than the 2022 peak of about $1.3 million — but still 77% higher than it was in 2012, even when accounting for inflation, according to researchers at the \u003ca href=\"https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/home-values\">Metropolitan Transportation Commission\u003c/a>. Meanwhile, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Bay Area was $3,300 as of early April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/bay-area-ca/?bedrooms=2\">according to Zillow\u003c/a>, about 83% higher than the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The big squeeze\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those escalating rent prices aren’t new: Many respondents could trace their decisions about how and where to live to major changes in the housing market over the past two decades, including the 2008 financial crisis that left \u003ca href=\"https://www.har.com/blog_56675_the-foreclosure-crisis-10-years-later\">nearly 8 million homeowners\u003c/a> in foreclosure or the \u003ca href=\"https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/rent-payments\">rapid rise in Bay Area rents\u003c/a> during the post-dot-com tech boom of the 2010s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keith Alvord, 65, and his wife, Lisa Alvord, were one of the families that found themselves underwater on their mortgage in 2010, eventually foreclosing on their home in the Trinity County town of Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That house had been part of their retirement plan, a home base they could return to while they spent the majority of their golden years sailing. Instead, they went with Plan B: living full-time on their 35-foot sailboat. For the past three years, the Alvords have been docked at Bay Area marinas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Alvord prepares the sailboat he shares with his wife, Lisa, for a sail in the Bay in Emeryville on March 20, 2026. The couple had been living aboard while fixing it up for a planned trip down the California coast, but have since shifted course to support their family while still planning to make the journey in the future. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-2000x667.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-2048x682.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Lisa Alvord holds a photo of an ADU they are building on their son’s property on the sailboat she shares with her husband, Keith. Right: Keith and Lisa Alvord prepare their sailboat for a sail in the Bay on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Winters are the hardest, Keith Alvord said. But, “We kind of felt like we didn’t really have many other options.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, though, they’re trading the sailboat for a garage at their 43-year-old son’s home back in Weaverville, after their son suffered a financial crisis of his own. They hope to convert the space into an ADU, a move Alvord said will help both them and their son. Still, Alvord is worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really didn’t want to be in this situation, where I was basing mine and my wife’s stability off of my son’s stability,” he said. “If he gets to a point where he wants to sell the house, then we are kind of back in that situation where we’re like, ‘Well, where are we going to live?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078660\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Alvord prepares the sailboat he shares with his wife, Lisa, for a sail in the Bay. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But with home insurance prices rising, Alvord sees little other option than to stick close because, he said, “I don’t know how a single family is supposed to make that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/one-big-happy-household-how-families-and-the-data-are-shaping-multigenerational-living\">survey last year\u003c/a> from the National Association of Realtors found more families are making this choice, with multigenerational homebuying at an all-time high, representing 17% of homes purchased in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey also found that 36% of homebuyers cited “cost savings” as the primary reason for the joint purchase, up from 15% in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Misha Kurita-Ditz, 24, found themselves doubling up with a parent last year, when they moved back to their mother’s San Francisco condo after going to college and working in Oregon for several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation isn’t always ideal: “I’m a little bit cleaner than my mom,” they said. But it has its benefits, too. “It’s been really lovely to be able to have an adult relationship between me and my mother.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078641\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Misha Kurita-Ditz works on a sewing project at the apartment they share with their mom in San Francisco on March 24, 2026. After Misha returned to the city and moved in, they are navigating the high cost of living and the shift to sharing space as adults. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"828\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-1536x509.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Barbara Ditz grades students’ work in her bedroom. Right: Misha Kurita-Ditz and their mom, Barbara Ditz, update each other about recent events in their lives at their apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The artist and retail worker grew up in a rent-controlled Edwardian walk-up in the city’s Western Addition/Lower Haight neighborhood with their parents and keenly felt the impacts of rising rents as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/publications/urbanist-article/2013-12-17/tech-boom\">tech industry boomed\u003c/a> in the 2010s, pushing up prices across the city. New landlords began pressuring them to leave, Kurita-Ditz said, and they were ultimately evicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these things definitely contributed to feeling a lot of resentment and anger,” Kurita-Ditz said. That perspective has only further hardened after watching the latest AI boom \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/02/san-francisc-rents-ai-boom-tenants/\">drive rents even higher\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we carve out a future for the culture of San Francisco, for the culture of the Bay Area in the face of impossible housing prices?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the margins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When housing eats so much of one household’s budget, it’s harder to feed other needs. KQED’s survey respondents said that it’s forced them to make choices about items they once considered essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Citlali Iriarte, 39, buys less meat when her monthly budget grows tight. Between 2019 and 2025, grocery prices rose \u003ca href=\"https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUSA422SAF11\">roughly 34%\u003c/a> for the average Bay Area resident, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Iriarte found herself telling her two kids: “OK, this week we’re gonna eat different. We’re going to see more vegetables.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078659\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers sort fresh produce into boxes at the San Francisco‑Marin Food Bank warehouse in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She works two jobs, one taking care of her special-needs daughter through In-Home Supportive Services and the other as an early childhood educator at the YMCA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life in the Bay Area has never been particularly affordable for Iriarte, who immigrated from Mexico 13 years ago. But after years spent working nights, earning a high school diploma, securing her work authorization and eventually moving herself and her children into their own place, she said it would be difficult to move anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It took me years to be able to find a community that I can belong to,” Iriarte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even some two-income households bringing in far more than Iriarte are finding themselves forced to cut back. Marion Gloege, 54, who immigrated from Germany 23 years ago and bought a Los Gatos home in 2021, said she’s always felt comfortably middle class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, unexpected budget items she might have previously dismissed weigh on her: new tires for their car or paying for urgent care and an ER visit when her 17-year-old son suffered a concussion playing soccer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Five years ago we would have said, ‘Oh well, too bad,’” Gloege said. “Now we gulp, and my husband squeezes my hand in the car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christy Brown works at Rotator Taproom in Walnut Creek on March 21, 2026. A school counselor in Danville, she supplements her income by bartending and teaching yoga. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"828\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-1536x509.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Chad Morrison prepares bread to bake at Red Bird Bakery in Santa Rosa on April 1, 2026. They share an apartment with their boyfriend to keep rent manageable, but rising costs have cut into savings and limited everyday spending. Right: Chad Morrison sits in their car during a break at the bakery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make ends meet, Christy Brown, 48, a counselor at a public high school in Danville, said she’s taken on several part-time jobs — teaching yoga, bartending and extra work at her school district — to get by. Together, she estimates she works up to 65 hours a week. But that, too, takes its toll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just more tired, I guess. And I kind of feel a little bit like — I don’t know how to say this — frustrated and angry sometimes,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m constantly working so much, and it’s barely enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working more and carefully watching budgets means less time and money for recreation and travel. But Chad Morrison, 37, is now reconsidering something they once thought essential: owning a car. They had planned to buy a new electric vehicle when their 2013 Honda Fit, with 240,000 miles on it, finally gave up the ghost. But they no longer think they can afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, the average total cost per 15,000 miles of car ownership rose 45% between 2017 and 2024, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bts.gov/content/average-cost-owning-and-operating-automobilea-assuming-15000-vehicle-miles-year\">Bureau of Transportation Statistics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that I’d be able to save money while making car payments,” Morrison said. “I’d have to make other choices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A small start\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the North Bay, Brooke Dawson is feeling more committed than ever to the choices she’s made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The past year has been one of her hardest — watching her marriage dissolve, moving in with her mother, taking out a loan to buy the Airstream, installing it in her mother’s yard and hoping she didn’t make a mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078639\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson feeds her two chickens in the backyard she shares with her family. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Living in a small space has its drawbacks, she said, including a finicky electrical system, limited water and having to pump out her septic tanks by hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, it’s forced her to spend most of her time in the backyard, where she’s planted an array of edible flowers and herbs — calendula, oregano, sage, lemon verbena — along with fruits and vegetables — sweet peas, figs, grapes, spinach, passion fruit, strawberries.[aside postID=news_12069608 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/019_KQED_RichmondHousing_08162022_qed.jpg']She’s more self-reliant than she’s ever been, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more I learn about what I’m capable of doing, the more I get to know what kind of human I am,” Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s no longer dreaming of owning a home for only herself and her family. Now, she dreams of buying a vacant plot of land and installing a collection of tiny homes where several families could live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She imagines an intergenerational community, with other mothers and grandparents, who could support each other with child care and aging in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’d be a different way of living — more cooperative, less isolated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And this is a small start,” Dawson said of this seed of an idea, rooted in necessity. “It’s been the biggest gift that I’ve ever given myself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "KQED asked readers and listeners how rising costs are reshaping their lives. You’re moving into smaller homes, cutting expenses and taking on extra work — all just to get by in the Bay Area.",
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"title": "The Great Squeeze: Bay Area Residents Downsize and Adapt to Rising Costs | KQED",
"description": "KQED asked readers and listeners how rising costs are reshaping their lives. You’re moving into smaller homes, cutting expenses and taking on extra work — all just to get by in the Bay Area.",
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"headline": "The Great Squeeze: Bay Area Residents Downsize and Adapt to Rising Costs",
"datePublished": "2026-04-06T07:00:54-07:00",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Brooke Dawson wanted the house. She wanted the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/marriage\">marriage\u003c/a>, the kids — one boy, one girl — and the financial freedom to make and sell ceramics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, at 42, one kid and one divorce later, that dream has been squeezed into an Airstream trailer parked in the side yard of her mother’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/north-bay\">North Bay\u003c/a> suburban home, her kiln and throwing wheel relegated to storage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the surface, she realizes it may appear as though she’s far from achieving what she had wanted. But the act of whittling down her dream to fit her economic reality has changed her, she said, and made her reevaluate how her life should look.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It just looks different,” the hospice nurse said. “I was struggling so hard up through January, and I’m at the point just now where I’m starting to see some daylight.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Living in a smaller space has forced her to own and spend less. But now she has access to a yard and is putting the energy she spent on ceramics into gardening. Being close to her mother and brother, who also live in the house, has provided flexible childcare for her 5-year-old son that wasn’t possible when she lived almost an hour’s drive away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The trade-off has been worth it, Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m OK. I’ve found a way,” she said. “And I thank God for every little thing. I’ve never had this degree of gratitude in my life.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078565\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078565\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260327-AffordabilityIntroBrooke-08-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson makes a sandwich in the Airstream where she lives in her mother’s backyard on March 27, 2026. She shares the property with her mother and brother, a living arrangement that makes staying in the area more affordable. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078566\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078566\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"845\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-2000x660.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-1536x507.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Brooke-2048x676.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Brooke Dawson and her son Everest walk out of their Airstream. Right: Brooke Dawson blows bubbles with her son, Everest, and brother, Cameron. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Dawson’s choice to downsize isn’t unusual. When \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12069608/californias-cost-of-living-keeps-climbing-how-are-you-coping\">KQED asked Bay Area residents\u003c/a> how they’re managing the region’s high cost of living, many described similar compromises: moving into smaller homes, doubling up with family, taking on extra work, or cutting back on everyday expenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their experiences reveal how rising housing costs and inflation are reshaping middle-class life in the Bay Area — forcing people to rethink what “enough” looks like and how to make ends meet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They also mirror two national polls from the Washington Post and New York Times that found Americans see \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/us/politics/affordability-poll.html\">upward mobility\u003c/a> as less attainable and consider maintaining the trappings of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/02/27/affordability-homeownership-poll/\">middle-class lifestyle\u003c/a> increasingly unaffordable — feelings that are expected to influence November’s midterm elections, with likely voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fox-news-poll-early-look-2026-midterms\">repeatedly citing\u003c/a> the \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/golden-age-americans-doubt-trumps-claim-booming-economy-midterms-near-2026-02-27/\">cost of living\u003c/a> as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/poll-trump-struggles-immigration-prices-iran-democrats-midterm-edge-rcna261861\">top concern\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both nationally and in California, the pandemic-era inflation spike is a big part of that story, with prices rising for everything from new cars to groceries. In turn, that’s putting into sharp relief cracks in the foundations of major industries, such as healthcare and child care, said Neale Mahoney, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy and Research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078640\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-23-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson holds her son, Everest, in her mother’s backyard. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Inflation, he said, has “really revealed and emphasized the underlying structural issues we have with the cost of healthcare that have been around for a long time, issues with the costs of child care that have been around for a long time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At their core, he said, is the cost of housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Housing,” Mahoney said, “is at the root of many of the affordability issues we see in the Bay Area.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the Bay Area, the typical home value was nearly $1.2 million last year — lower than the 2022 peak of about $1.3 million — but still 77% higher than it was in 2012, even when accounting for inflation, according to researchers at the \u003ca href=\"https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/home-values\">Metropolitan Transportation Commission\u003c/a>. Meanwhile, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the Bay Area was $3,300 as of early April, \u003ca href=\"https://www.zillow.com/rental-manager/market-trends/bay-area-ca/?bedrooms=2\">according to Zillow\u003c/a>, about 83% higher than the national average.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>The big squeeze\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Those escalating rent prices aren’t new: Many respondents could trace their decisions about how and where to live to major changes in the housing market over the past two decades, including the 2008 financial crisis that left \u003ca href=\"https://www.har.com/blog_56675_the-foreclosure-crisis-10-years-later\">nearly 8 million homeowners\u003c/a> in foreclosure or the \u003ca href=\"https://vitalsigns.mtc.ca.gov/indicators/rent-payments\">rapid rise in Bay Area rents\u003c/a> during the post-dot-com tech boom of the 2010s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keith Alvord, 65, and his wife, Lisa Alvord, were one of the families that found themselves underwater on their mortgage in 2010, eventually foreclosing on their home in the Trinity County town of Weaverville.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That house had been part of their retirement plan, a home base they could return to while they spent the majority of their golden years sailing. Instead, they went with Plan B: living full-time on their 35-foot sailboat. For the past three years, the Alvords have been docked at Bay Area marinas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078590\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078590\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-14-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Alvord prepares the sailboat he shares with his wife, Lisa, for a sail in the Bay in Emeryville on March 20, 2026. The couple had been living aboard while fixing it up for a planned trip down the California coast, but have since shifted course to support their family while still planning to make the journey in the future. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078589\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078589\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"853\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-2000x667.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-1536x512.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AffordabilitySeriesIntro_Keith-2048x682.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Lisa Alvord holds a photo of an ADU they are building on their son’s property on the sailboat she shares with her husband, Keith. Right: Keith and Lisa Alvord prepare their sailboat for a sail in the Bay on March 20, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Winters are the hardest, Keith Alvord said. But, “We kind of felt like we didn’t really have many other options.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, though, they’re trading the sailboat for a garage at their 43-year-old son’s home back in Weaverville, after their son suffered a financial crisis of his own. They hope to convert the space into an ADU, a move Alvord said will help both them and their son. Still, Alvord is worried.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really didn’t want to be in this situation, where I was basing mine and my wife’s stability off of my son’s stability,” he said. “If he gets to a point where he wants to sell the house, then we are kind of back in that situation where we’re like, ‘Well, where are we going to live?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078660\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078660\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilityIntroKeith-21-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keith Alvord prepares the sailboat he shares with his wife, Lisa, for a sail in the Bay. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But with home insurance prices rising, Alvord sees little other option than to stick close because, he said, “I don’t know how a single family is supposed to make that work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.nar.realtor/blogs/economists-outlook/one-big-happy-household-how-families-and-the-data-are-shaping-multigenerational-living\">survey last year\u003c/a> from the National Association of Realtors found more families are making this choice, with multigenerational homebuying at an all-time high, representing 17% of homes purchased in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The survey also found that 36% of homebuyers cited “cost savings” as the primary reason for the joint purchase, up from 15% in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Misha Kurita-Ditz, 24, found themselves doubling up with a parent last year, when they moved back to their mother’s San Francisco condo after going to college and working in Oregon for several years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The situation isn’t always ideal: “I’m a little bit cleaner than my mom,” they said. But it has its benefits, too. “It’s been really lovely to be able to have an adult relationship between me and my mother.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078641\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-03-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Misha Kurita-Ditz works on a sewing project at the apartment they share with their mom in San Francisco on March 24, 2026. After Misha returned to the city and moved in, they are navigating the high cost of living and the shift to sharing space as adults. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078648\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078648\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"828\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-1536x509.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260324-AffordabilitySeriesIntroMishaBarbara-BL-DIP-1-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Barbara Ditz grades students’ work in her bedroom. Right: Misha Kurita-Ditz and their mom, Barbara Ditz, update each other about recent events in their lives at their apartment. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The artist and retail worker grew up in a rent-controlled Edwardian walk-up in the city’s Western Addition/Lower Haight neighborhood with their parents and keenly felt the impacts of rising rents as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.spur.org/publications/urbanist-article/2013-12-17/tech-boom\">tech industry boomed\u003c/a> in the 2010s, pushing up prices across the city. New landlords began pressuring them to leave, Kurita-Ditz said, and they were ultimately evicted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“All of these things definitely contributed to feeling a lot of resentment and anger,” Kurita-Ditz said. That perspective has only further hardened after watching the latest AI boom \u003ca href=\"https://missionlocal.org/2026/02/san-francisc-rents-ai-boom-tenants/\">drive rents even higher\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“How do we carve out a future for the culture of San Francisco, for the culture of the Bay Area in the face of impossible housing prices?”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On the margins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When housing eats so much of one household’s budget, it’s harder to feed other needs. KQED’s survey respondents said that it’s forced them to make choices about items they once considered essential.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Citlali Iriarte, 39, buys less meat when her monthly budget grows tight. Between 2019 and 2025, grocery prices rose \u003ca href=\"https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUSA422SAF11\">roughly 34%\u003c/a> for the average Bay Area resident, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Iriarte found herself telling her two kids: “OK, this week we’re gonna eat different. We’re going to see more vegetables.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078659\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078659\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/251031-SFMarinFoodBank-21-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Volunteers sort fresh produce into boxes at the San Francisco‑Marin Food Bank warehouse in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>She works two jobs, one taking care of her special-needs daughter through In-Home Supportive Services and the other as an early childhood educator at the YMCA.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Life in the Bay Area has never been particularly affordable for Iriarte, who immigrated from Mexico 13 years ago. But after years spent working nights, earning a high school diploma, securing her work authorization and eventually moving herself and her children into their own place, she said it would be difficult to move anywhere else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It took me years to be able to find a community that I can belong to,” Iriarte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even some two-income households bringing in far more than Iriarte are finding themselves forced to cut back. Marion Gloege, 54, who immigrated from Germany 23 years ago and bought a Los Gatos home in 2021, said she’s always felt comfortably middle class.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, unexpected budget items she might have previously dismissed weigh on her: new tires for their car or paying for urgent care and an ER visit when her 17-year-old son suffered a concussion playing soccer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Five years ago we would have said, ‘Oh well, too bad,’” Gloege said. “Now we gulp, and my husband squeezes my hand in the car.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078594\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260325-AffordabilityIntroChristy-06-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Christy Brown works at Rotator Taproom in Walnut Creek on March 21, 2026. A school counselor in Danville, she supplements her income by bartending and teaching yoga. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078651\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2500px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078651\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2500\" height=\"828\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1.jpg 2500w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-2000x662.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-160x53.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-1536x509.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-AffordabilitySeriesIntroChad-09-BL-DIP-1-2048x678.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Chad Morrison prepares bread to bake at Red Bird Bakery in Santa Rosa on April 1, 2026. They share an apartment with their boyfriend to keep rent manageable, but rising costs have cut into savings and limited everyday spending. Right: Chad Morrison sits in their car during a break at the bakery. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make ends meet, Christy Brown, 48, a counselor at a public high school in Danville, said she’s taken on several part-time jobs — teaching yoga, bartending and extra work at her school district — to get by. Together, she estimates she works up to 65 hours a week. But that, too, takes its toll.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m just more tired, I guess. And I kind of feel a little bit like — I don’t know how to say this — frustrated and angry sometimes,” Brown said. “I feel like I’m constantly working so much, and it’s barely enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Working more and carefully watching budgets means less time and money for recreation and travel. But Chad Morrison, 37, is now reconsidering something they once thought essential: owning a car. They had planned to buy a new electric vehicle when their 2013 Honda Fit, with 240,000 miles on it, finally gave up the ghost. But they no longer think they can afford it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nationally, the average total cost per 15,000 miles of car ownership rose 45% between 2017 and 2024, according to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.bts.gov/content/average-cost-owning-and-operating-automobilea-assuming-15000-vehicle-miles-year\">Bureau of Transportation Statistics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t know that I’d be able to save money while making car payments,” Morrison said. “I’d have to make other choices.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A small start\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In the North Bay, Brooke Dawson is feeling more committed than ever to the choices she’s made.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The past year has been one of her hardest — watching her marriage dissolve, moving in with her mother, taking out a loan to buy the Airstream, installing it in her mother’s yard and hoping she didn’t make a mistake.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078639\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078639\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260320-AffordabilitySeriesIntroBrooke-10-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Brooke Dawson feeds her two chickens in the backyard she shares with her family. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Living in a small space has its drawbacks, she said, including a finicky electrical system, limited water and having to pump out her septic tanks by hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, it’s forced her to spend most of her time in the backyard, where she’s planted an array of edible flowers and herbs — calendula, oregano, sage, lemon verbena — along with fruits and vegetables — sweet peas, figs, grapes, spinach, passion fruit, strawberries.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She’s more self-reliant than she’s ever been, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The more I learn about what I’m capable of doing, the more I get to know what kind of human I am,” Dawson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And she’s no longer dreaming of owning a home for only herself and her family. Now, she dreams of buying a vacant plot of land and installing a collection of tiny homes where several families could live.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She imagines an intergenerational community, with other mothers and grandparents, who could support each other with child care and aging in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’d be a different way of living — more cooperative, less isolated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And this is a small start,” Dawson said of this seed of an idea, rooted in necessity. “It’s been the biggest gift that I’ve ever given myself.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "1 Way to Help Oakland Teachers’ Salaries Go Further? Affordable Housing",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> will soon join a growing list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> cities allocating housing for public school teachers, as districts across the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913422/campus-closures-and-teacher-layoffs-bay-area-public-schools-in-crisis\">raise concerns \u003c/a>about the cost of living for educators, leading many to leave urban districts — and the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Fund, a nonprofit based in the city, announced Thursday that it purchased a 33-unit residential building in the Temescal District, with the goal of providing affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a teacher to not have to worry about whether they can pay their rent, or whether they can even afford to stay in the community that they love … it’s going to make such a difference,” OUSD interim Superintendent Denise Saddler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know what difference it’ll make in terms of when we’re responsible for getting our best people here to do what is so important,” Saddler said\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913161/how-do-you-get-by-in-the-pricey-bay-area\">cost of living\u003c/a> outpaces the rate of teachers’ salaries, cities across the Bay Area, including San Francisco, have introduced workforce housing developments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044911/san-francisco-starts-construction-on-its-second-teacher-housing-project\">opened a 134-unit building in October\u003c/a> and broke ground on another 75-unit project last June. San Mateo’s Jefferson Union High School District also has a 122-unit development, which houses about 25% of its eligible workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Barbara Lee, Kyra Mungia, co-founder of Rooted, politicians, teachers and supporters participate in a ribbon cutting during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The housing model’s appeal is growing as teachers’ strikes mount in several Bay Area school districts. Earlier this year, Oakland’s teachers union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074272/oakland-teachers-approve-a-strike-as-report-calls-districts-pay-not-competitive\">threatened to strike\u003c/a> after a year of contract negotiations, citing low pay and sky-high costs of living in the city. Union President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer said about 60% of the district’s teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland with their current salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of affordable housing options for educators has made it difficult for the district to attract and retain educators. Oakland loses about 400 teachers each year, according to the teachers’ union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kyra Mungia, The Oakland Fund’s chief executive officer, said that when staffing instability and classroom vacancies occur, “it’s our kids who end up paying the price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we are showing that a different path is possible,” Mungia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078514\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kyra Mungia, co-founder of Rooted, speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unlike many of the workforce housing developments that Bay Area districts have pursued, the housing will be converted from existing residential units, not built from the ground up. Transferring the units to educators will be a gradual process, as turnover among tenants occurs naturally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the nonprofit, rental rates will vary by unit and be set at 30% of educators’ household income. One bedrooms will be priced between $1,120 and $2,240, while two bedrooms could cost up to $2,560.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Turner, a special education teacher at Emerson Elementary School, moved into the Idora building in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078518\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teacher Melanie Turner speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been here for now my third year, and I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon because of where I live,” she said at the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, prior to becoming a teacher, Turner and her preschool-aged son had been couch-hopping at friends’ and family members’ homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was not able to provide for my child in the way that I expected to,” she said. “Now, I can stand here in front of you and say, not only am I able to do that, but I can have savings.[aside postID=news_12078253 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240104-PEOPLES-PARK-MD-05-1020x680.jpg']She originally got a lowered price on the unit through a separate program called Teachers Rooted In Oakland. Now her rent will be reduced to 30% of her income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have to worry about, ‘Do I have enough to pay my rent and my groceries and my medical bills and commute costs, if I need to have them?’ I am at peace,” Turner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit has raised $14 million to purchase a total of 150 residential units for educator housing over the next three years. It also partnered with the city, which committed more than $7.6 million in affordable housing financing toward the first acquisition, the Idora Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mungia said that currently, the city’s multifamily real estate market is depressed, meaning “buildings like these are changing hands.” The Idora Building on Claremont Avenue sold for $12.6 million, half the price it sold for in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question is, who will own Oakland?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are choosing Oakland, owning Oakland,” Mungia said. “We are choosing to invest in the very people who make the city work: Our educators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/epeppel\">\u003cem>Eliza Peppel\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a> will soon join a growing list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/bay-area\">Bay Area\u003c/a> cities allocating housing for public school teachers, as districts across the state \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913422/campus-closures-and-teacher-layoffs-bay-area-public-schools-in-crisis\">raise concerns \u003c/a>about the cost of living for educators, leading many to leave urban districts — and the profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Oakland Fund, a nonprofit based in the city, announced Thursday that it purchased a 33-unit residential building in the Temescal District, with the goal of providing affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a teacher to not have to worry about whether they can pay their rent, or whether they can even afford to stay in the community that they love … it’s going to make such a difference,” OUSD interim Superintendent Denise Saddler said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I know what difference it’ll make in terms of when we’re responsible for getting our best people here to do what is so important,” Saddler said\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent years, as the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101913161/how-do-you-get-by-in-the-pricey-bay-area\">cost of living\u003c/a> outpaces the rate of teachers’ salaries, cities across the Bay Area, including San Francisco, have introduced workforce housing developments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12044911/san-francisco-starts-construction-on-its-second-teacher-housing-project\">opened a 134-unit building in October\u003c/a> and broke ground on another 75-unit project last June. San Mateo’s Jefferson Union High School District also has a 122-unit development, which houses about 25% of its eligible workforce.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078519\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078519\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-30-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Barbara Lee, Kyra Mungia, co-founder of Rooted, politicians, teachers and supporters participate in a ribbon cutting during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The housing model’s appeal is growing as teachers’ strikes mount in several Bay Area school districts. Earlier this year, Oakland’s teachers union \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074272/oakland-teachers-approve-a-strike-as-report-calls-districts-pay-not-competitive\">threatened to strike\u003c/a> after a year of contract negotiations, citing low pay and sky-high costs of living in the city. Union President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer said about 60% of the district’s teachers can’t afford to live in Oakland with their current salaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lack of affordable housing options for educators has made it difficult for the district to attract and retain educators. Oakland loses about 400 teachers each year, according to the teachers’ union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kyra Mungia, The Oakland Fund’s chief executive officer, said that when staffing instability and classroom vacancies occur, “it’s our kids who end up paying the price.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today, we are showing that a different path is possible,” Mungia said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078514\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078514\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-02-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kyra Mungia, co-founder of Rooted, speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Unlike many of the workforce housing developments that Bay Area districts have pursued, the housing will be converted from existing residential units, not built from the ground up. Transferring the units to educators will be a gradual process, as turnover among tenants occurs naturally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the nonprofit, rental rates will vary by unit and be set at 30% of educators’ household income. One bedrooms will be priced between $1,120 and $2,240, while two bedrooms could cost up to $2,560.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Melanie Turner, a special education teacher at Emerson Elementary School, moved into the Idora building in 2024.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078518\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078518\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-25-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland teacher Melanie Turner speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“I’ve been here for now my third year, and I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon because of where I live,” she said at the press conference.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, prior to becoming a teacher, Turner and her preschool-aged son had been couch-hopping at friends’ and family members’ homes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was not able to provide for my child in the way that I expected to,” she said. “Now, I can stand here in front of you and say, not only am I able to do that, but I can have savings.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>She originally got a lowered price on the unit through a separate program called Teachers Rooted In Oakland. Now her rent will be reduced to 30% of her income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I don’t have to worry about, ‘Do I have enough to pay my rent and my groceries and my medical bills and commute costs, if I need to have them?’ I am at peace,” Turner said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The nonprofit has raised $14 million to purchase a total of 150 residential units for educator housing over the next three years. It also partnered with the city, which committed more than $7.6 million in affordable housing financing toward the first acquisition, the Idora Building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mungia said that currently, the city’s multifamily real estate market is depressed, meaning “buildings like these are changing hands.” The Idora Building on Claremont Avenue sold for $12.6 million, half the price it sold for in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question is, who will own Oakland?” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are choosing Oakland, owning Oakland,” Mungia said. “We are choosing to invest in the very people who make the city work: Our educators.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/epeppel\">\u003cem>Eliza Peppel\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "east-bay-racetrack-golden-gate-fields-could-soon-be-a-new-public-waterfront-park",
"title": "East Bay Racetrack Golden Gate Fields Could Soon Be a New Public Waterfront Park",
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"headTitle": "East Bay Racetrack Golden Gate Fields Could Soon Be a New Public Waterfront Park | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The 160-acre waterfront property that was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955826/golden-gate-fields-racetrack-set-to-close-this-fall\">once home to Golden Gate Fields\u003c/a> horse racing track could soon become a new public park, linking more than eight miles of open space along the East Bay shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trust for Public Land, a national conservation group, announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to purchase the site and transfer it to the East Bay Regional Park District, with intentions to restore the natural landscape of the bayshore and create recreation space for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put nature and public access to the forefront,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, Trust for Public Land’s state director. “We at the Trust for Public Land are super excited to turn the page over on a new chapter of what this property can mean for generations to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the nonprofit has until the end of the year to raise $175 million to purchase the site, which has been known as a prominent horse racing track at the border of Albany and Berkeley for more than 80 years. Even decades before Golden Gate Fields shuttered in 2024, residents, local elected officials and developers have considered what could become of the rare expanse of undeveloped waterfront land in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring the shoreline and creating park space that links McLaughlin Eastshore State Park to the south and Albany Bulb and Point Isabel Regional Shoreline to the north has always been popular among residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Golden Gate Fields is located in the middle of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. Its protection will fill a missing gap in public lands and is the culmination of decades of work and advocacy,” said Robert Cheasty, the executive director of the Citizens for East Shore Parks. “From the very creation of this 8.5-mile shoreline park … [a] major parcel has been missing — the centerpiece that has been occupied by the racetrack. Now, this crucial piece can be added.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078408\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078408\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track along the Berkeley shoreline, on April 1, 2026. The track closed in 2024, and the Trust for Public Land is working to turn the site into a public park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1990, Albany voters passed Measure C, which restricts the waterfront land in the city to open space, parks and recreation and other water-related uses. It also permits building restaurants, bars and commercial recreation or entertainment spaces. To pursue housing or a large commercial or retail development would require another vote. Berkeley zoning codes also restrict the prospective uses for the property, about 40 acres of which are in its city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am excited to partner with the East Bay Regional Park District to engage our community in reimagining the former racetrack as a vibrant public space, expanding opportunities to gather in community and experience the beauty of our shoreline,” Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii said. “From kayaking and kite flying to sunset dining, Berkeley’s waterfront parks are a treasured destination enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 2000s, Albany also conducted a wide outreach project that found significant support for a park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s “Voices to Vision” report, which surveyed about 10% of Albany residents, found that the vast majority wanted to expand its waterfront open space, while some were concerned about the loss of tax revenue that the racetrack generated.[aside postID=news_12078253 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/01/240104-PEOPLES-PARK-MD-05-1020x680.jpg']According to the city, the property generates about $1.1 million in special revenues for the city and $700,000 for the Albany Unified School District annually. When it was operating, the racetrack fueled another $150,000 to $300,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report concluded that the majority of the land should be maintained as open space, and a park should be created. It recommended that a smaller portion could be used for commercial and nonprofit development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, developers have proposed other uses for the site, similar to the massive projects at other former Bay Area racetracks, like San Bruno’s Tanforan, which is now a major mall, and Bay Meadows in San Mateo, a mixed-use development that includes more than 1,000 housing units, as well as significant retail and office space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 2000s, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso proposed a mixed-use \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2005-10-14/article/22509?headline=Albany-Council-Will-Oversee-Mall-Development-By-F.-Timothy-Martin-Special-to-the-Planet\">development\u003c/a> featuring an outdoor mall and apartments at Golden Gate Fields, and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory eyed it for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2011/11/15/seventy-years-of-racing-history-may-make-way-for-new-lab-2/\">new campus \u003c/a>in 2011. More recently, after the track announced it would close, UC Berkeley graduate students considered alternative uses of the site that included housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley professor Zachary Lamb said his students took on the project to examine ways to address the “dire need to build housing in the inner Bay,” especially in places close to transit infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to be responsive to the housing crisis and demonstrate through these hypothetical design exercises that this site is big enough and it’s well-positioned enough that you could accomplish a lot of open space, ecological restoration, climate resilience … lots of goals that could really benefit the wider community — while also building a lot of housing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078407\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track along the Berkeley shoreline, on April 1, 2026. The track closed in 2024, and the Trust for Public Land is working to turn the site into a public park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the Bay Meadows project, which features about a dozen acres of open space, makes sense for its location, but that for the Bay Area’s third major racetrack redevelopment, “we have the opportunity to put nature and public access in front of the line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next year, Trust for Public Land will be focused on raising the funds needed to act on their purchase option, which stands until the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The East Bay Regional Park District has already offered to put $20 million toward the purchase. That funding will come from an Alameda and Contra Costa County bond measure from 2008, which provided half a billion dollars in bonds to expand regional parks and protect open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the nonprofit will also pursue state funds as well as private donations, noting that Proposition 4, California’s 2024 climate bond initiative, set aside significant funding to acquire properties like the Golden Gate Fields site.[aside postID=news_12077281 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/042924_State-Capitol-Session-MG_CM_25.jpeg']“We’re approaching various state agencies who have a high interest in the property, who have high interest in restoration of the Bay, who have a high interest in expanding biodiversity and protecting biodiversity,” he said. “We think we have some real opportunities to knock on the public doors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local state representatives Sen. Jesse Arreguín and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks have already voiced support for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the purchase goes through, the land would then be transferred to the East Bay Regional Parks District, which manages an extensive system of parks and open spaces across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear what the park could look like, or how much it could cost. The agency would conduct a community engagement process, which Rodriguez estimated could take around five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’s heard interest from residents in expanding opportunities for “active recreation,” like ball fields similar to those at the Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex, south of the property, and restoration of the natural shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With 161 acres, you really have the opportunity to dream big,” Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Echols, the East Bay Regional Parks District director who represents the area, told \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em> that the district still needs to determine what environmental remediation the land needs, and how it would pay for the development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The 160-acre waterfront property that was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11955826/golden-gate-fields-racetrack-set-to-close-this-fall\">once home to Golden Gate Fields\u003c/a> horse racing track could soon become a new public park, linking more than eight miles of open space along the East Bay shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trust for Public Land, a national conservation group, announced Tuesday that it had reached an agreement to purchase the site and transfer it to the East Bay Regional Park District, with intentions to restore the natural landscape of the bayshore and create recreation space for residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This really is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put nature and public access to the forefront,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, Trust for Public Land’s state director. “We at the Trust for Public Land are super excited to turn the page over on a new chapter of what this property can mean for generations to come.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the nonprofit has until the end of the year to raise $175 million to purchase the site, which has been known as a prominent horse racing track at the border of Albany and Berkeley for more than 80 years. Even decades before Golden Gate Fields shuttered in 2024, residents, local elected officials and developers have considered what could become of the rare expanse of undeveloped waterfront land in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Restoring the shoreline and creating park space that links McLaughlin Eastshore State Park to the south and Albany Bulb and Point Isabel Regional Shoreline to the north has always been popular among residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Golden Gate Fields is located in the middle of McLaughlin Eastshore State Park. Its protection will fill a missing gap in public lands and is the culmination of decades of work and advocacy,” said Robert Cheasty, the executive director of the Citizens for East Shore Parks. “From the very creation of this 8.5-mile shoreline park … [a] major parcel has been missing — the centerpiece that has been occupied by the racetrack. Now, this crucial piece can be added.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078408\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078408\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-06-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track along the Berkeley shoreline, on April 1, 2026. The track closed in 2024, and the Trust for Public Land is working to turn the site into a public park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In 1990, Albany voters passed Measure C, which restricts the waterfront land in the city to open space, parks and recreation and other water-related uses. It also permits building restaurants, bars and commercial recreation or entertainment spaces. To pursue housing or a large commercial or retail development would require another vote. Berkeley zoning codes also restrict the prospective uses for the property, about 40 acres of which are in its city limits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am excited to partner with the East Bay Regional Park District to engage our community in reimagining the former racetrack as a vibrant public space, expanding opportunities to gather in community and experience the beauty of our shoreline,” Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii said. “From kayaking and kite flying to sunset dining, Berkeley’s waterfront parks are a treasured destination enjoyed by residents and visitors alike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the late 2000s, Albany also conducted a wide outreach project that found significant support for a park.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city’s “Voices to Vision” report, which surveyed about 10% of Albany residents, found that the vast majority wanted to expand its waterfront open space, while some were concerned about the loss of tax revenue that the racetrack generated.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to the city, the property generates about $1.1 million in special revenues for the city and $700,000 for the Albany Unified School District annually. When it was operating, the racetrack fueled another $150,000 to $300,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report concluded that the majority of the land should be maintained as open space, and a park should be created. It recommended that a smaller portion could be used for commercial and nonprofit development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the years, developers have proposed other uses for the site, similar to the massive projects at other former Bay Area racetracks, like San Bruno’s Tanforan, which is now a major mall, and Bay Meadows in San Mateo, a mixed-use development that includes more than 1,000 housing units, as well as significant retail and office space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the early 2000s, Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso proposed a mixed-use \u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/issue/2005-10-14/article/22509?headline=Albany-Council-Will-Oversee-Mall-Development-By-F.-Timothy-Martin-Special-to-the-Planet\">development\u003c/a> featuring an outdoor mall and apartments at Golden Gate Fields, and the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory eyed it for a \u003ca href=\"https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2011/11/15/seventy-years-of-racing-history-may-make-way-for-new-lab-2/\">new campus \u003c/a>in 2011. More recently, after the track announced it would close, UC Berkeley graduate students considered alternative uses of the site that included housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley professor Zachary Lamb said his students took on the project to examine ways to address the “dire need to build housing in the inner Bay,” especially in places close to transit infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We really wanted to be responsive to the housing crisis and demonstrate through these hypothetical design exercises that this site is big enough and it’s well-positioned enough that you could accomplish a lot of open space, ecological restoration, climate resilience … lots of goals that could really benefit the wider community — while also building a lot of housing,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078407\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078407\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260401-GOLDENGATEFIELDSPARK-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Golden Gate Fields, a former horse racing track along the Berkeley shoreline, on April 1, 2026. The track closed in 2024, and the Trust for Public Land is working to turn the site into a public park. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the Bay Meadows project, which features about a dozen acres of open space, makes sense for its location, but that for the Bay Area’s third major racetrack redevelopment, “we have the opportunity to put nature and public access in front of the line.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the next year, Trust for Public Land will be focused on raising the funds needed to act on their purchase option, which stands until the end of the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The East Bay Regional Park District has already offered to put $20 million toward the purchase. That funding will come from an Alameda and Contra Costa County bond measure from 2008, which provided half a billion dollars in bonds to expand regional parks and protect open space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rodriguez said the nonprofit will also pursue state funds as well as private donations, noting that Proposition 4, California’s 2024 climate bond initiative, set aside significant funding to acquire properties like the Golden Gate Fields site.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“We’re approaching various state agencies who have a high interest in the property, who have high interest in restoration of the Bay, who have a high interest in expanding biodiversity and protecting biodiversity,” he said. “We think we have some real opportunities to knock on the public doors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Local state representatives Sen. Jesse Arreguín and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks have already voiced support for the project.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the purchase goes through, the land would then be transferred to the East Bay Regional Parks District, which manages an extensive system of parks and open spaces across Alameda and Contra Costa counties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not yet clear what the park could look like, or how much it could cost. The agency would conduct a community engagement process, which Rodriguez estimated could take around five years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said he’s heard interest from residents in expanding opportunities for “active recreation,” like ball fields similar to those at the Tom Bates Regional Sports Complex, south of the property, and restoration of the natural shoreline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With 161 acres, you really have the opportunity to dream big,” Rodriguez said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elizabeth Echols, the East Bay Regional Parks District director who represents the area, told \u003cem>Berkeleyside\u003c/em> that the district still needs to determine what environmental remediation the land needs, and how it would pay for the development.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/shossaini\">\u003cem>Sara Hossaini\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cdiv class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__shortcodes__shortcodeWrapper'>\n \u003ciframe\n src='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header?embedded=true'\n title='https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5v6Atf-zIWjJr8ZXgyOmDSRVu2kSdv4_RdPTIWLdBmnVoXg/viewform?usp=header'\n width='760' height='500'\n frameborder='0'\n marginheight='0' marginwidth='0'>\u003c/iframe>\u003c/div>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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