We have some exciting new updates about the affordable housing project, which will add 100% low-income housing to our First Church Berkeley campus, and help us do our part to mitigate the travesty of Bay Area homelessness and housing insecurity!
Last year you met our chosen developer, EBALDC, who has a long track record in the East Bay and build beautiful things with robust input from the community. Together with our affordable housing team (Scott Sporte and Kera Binns: co-chairs, Rev. Molly Baskette, Rev. Sophia Dewitt, Lorenzo Llanillo, and Alice Clark), EBALDC has chosen the joint architects for the project, Yes Duffy and David Baker Architects.
The next step will be to work out a joint development agreement between EBALDC and our church, including what development fee FCCB will earn for the use of the land, and whether that will be offered as a lump sum or an ongoing stream of payments to the church in exchange for use of the parcel (which is comprised of the north end of our parking lot and Durant House). We will be keeping the congregation abreast of the process as it unfolds with more regular updates in the Carillon, and will prepare you for a congregational vote on the joint development agreement when we have a firm recommendation to the congregation.
In the meantime, you can make affordable housing on faith lands easier for us and other churches to build by contacting your state legislator and asking them to support Senate Bill 4 (SB4), the Affordable Housing on Faith Lands Act, which will allow churches like ours to build low-income housing by right on the land they steward. You can read the SB4 talking points here and see who your state legislator is here.