2022 Impact Report:
Building New Homes & Stronger Communities
June 2021 to July 2022
2022 Impact Report:
Building New Homes & Stronger Communities
June 2021 to July 2022
Construction started on 189 new apartments for approx. 349 people
Opened 2 new 100% affordable housing communities providing 130 new apartments
Resident Services staff engaged with almost 1,200 residents through 30 unique programs designed to meet the needs of our diverse population
Awarded $260mm in funding across 10 developments from city, county and state funding sources
Managed a pipeline of 1,400 new affordable apartments slated for development within the next five years
Dedicated 90% of our commercial space to community-serving non-profits or BIPOC-owned businesses
A Robust Pipeline
The future of RCD is looking bright! Our hard work and resilience is paying off and we are slated to have a fruitful next few years. By summer 2023, we will have 6 new developments in construction which will bring 548 new rental homes for 800+ residents. These new developments will bring much-needed affordable housing to cities around the Bay Area including Berkeley, Emeryville, Fremont, Concord, Milpitas and unincorporated Alameda County.
A high point of this year was the opening of Quetzal Gardens in San Jose. Inspired by the colorful Quetzal bird, the 6-story mixed-use building is an investment in the Mayfair neighborhood of East San Jose.
As RCD’s first development in San Jose, Quetzal Gardens received a warm welcome to the neighborhood with a successful grand opening attended by 135+ supporters. With the recent opening of the three community-serving commercial tenants on the ground floor – SOMOS Mayfair, Excite Credit Union and the Latino Business Foundation – this mixed-used building is complete!
As former Mayor Sam Liccardo remarked at the event, “What we have is a jewel of our city – as I look at Quetzal Gardens, I think, why can’t all our housing look this beautiful, this spectacular, this colorful?” We couldn’t agree more!
We celebrated our 2022 Irwin Mussen Resident Scholars at our annual event, Sparking Connections!
6 residents from properties in Antioch, Berkeley, Oakland and El Cerrito received scholarship funds to support their further education
Our Resident Services team and service partners continued to support residents throughout our portfolio. RCD staff engaged with almost 1,200 residents through 30 unique programs designed to meet the needs of our diverse population.
Resident Services celebrated birthdays and holidays, provided Tai Chi and yoga classes, led book clubs and early childhood reading sessions, helped with meal deliveries, and brought the community together through gardening, meetings and celebrations.
Resident Services also worked with our Systems and Technology team to distribute 27 laptops to lending libraries at properties.
Resident Survey
In 2022, we completed our first portfolio-wide survey to hear directly from residents. Our Resident Services Team worked hard to distribute over 5,500+ surveys to 2,326 apartments throughout our 63 communities. We were pleased to receive responses from 750 residents and gain a deeper understanding of our areas of strengths and improvement as well as how we can increase overall resident engagement.
Building Community
This year, we were awarded over $500,000 in multi-year grants to continue our Community Development work in the Eden Area.
RCD is the lead organization for the Ready2Recover Vaccination and Resilience Coalition, funded by the A link to: Alameda County Public Health Department. We are collaborating with A link to: Eden United Church of Christ, A link to: La Familia, A link to: Umoja Health Partners, and the Regional Pacific Islander Taskforce to educate and engage with residents around COVID-19 vaccinations, anti-eviction education, rental assistance, and food and other basic needs assistance.
And in partnership with A link to: Eden United Church of Christ, RCD is leading the assessment and planning for a new resource center in the Eden Area which will create a hub for connecting to services and programs that support economic security and well-being.
Our properties continued to be home to 20 commercial properties including nonprofit offices, daycares, art organizations and retail spaces. 90% of our commercial spaces are leased to community-serving nonprofits or BIPOC owned businesses
We welcomed A link to: SOMOs Mayfair, A link to: Excite Credit Union and A link to: Latino Business Foundation to the ground floor of Quetzal Gardens. These three community-serving organizations make up the newly named “La Esquina de Quetzal” and will bring resources and programs that support East San Jose families.
My Eden Voice
A highlight of the year was the conclusion of our incubation of My Eden Voice (MEV). In 2018, RCD staff, community members, and our local nonprofit partners created MEV to unite grassroots community organizations in the Eden Area.
Over the last three years, more than 250 residents have participated in meetings and 30 community members graduated from a leadership academy. MEV has already successfully advocated for more than $33 million in federal assistance for the unincorporated communities as well as expand funding for emergency food distributions and COVID-19 testing and vaccination programs.
Prioritizing Equity
In 2022, both our Board and staff held workshops to learn about and address structural racism and inequities that impact RCD’s work. A staff DEI Committee formed that will guide our ongoing efforts and innovate new ideas and initiatives. Our Board committed to recruiting new members who are RCD residents and/or have lived experience with affordable housing, to further strengthen resident and community voices within RCD’s governance.
We developed and implemented new internal policies that support equity and the personal and professional growth of RCD’s workforce, including transparency and equity of staff compensation and promotion, equitable hiring, and staff development programs.
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