The Affordable Housing Committee is happy to report that we have received multiple responses to our Request for Qualifications document circulated to affordable housing developers around the East Bay. Respondents were asked to describe their experience working with congregations, their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, sample projects they have built and ways they can imagine entering into a partnership with our church. Each responding group is a nonprofit organization with extensive experience in affordable housing development, ability to take on new projects and demonstrated commitment to community outreach and inclusion.
The Committee has invited three of the responding nonprofits to interview in person this week (June 6 – 10). From there we intend to select a finalist organization to recommend to the congregation to begin working with us to explore options to develop affordable housing on our campus. It is an exciting time!
For anyone interested in seeing a successful example of how churches work with affordable housing developers, this recent Berkeleyside (berkeleyside.org) article describes the First North Berkeley affordable housing in over 30 years, Jordan Court, opens, a partnership between All Souls Episcopal Parish and SAHA, a Berkeley-based nonprofit developer.
Please contact any member of the Affordable Housing Committee, Alice Clark, Sophia DeWitt, Dan Leaverton, Lorenzo Llanillo, Scott Sporte, or Rev. Molly, with questions about the committee’s work.