RCD 2023 Impact Report:
New Homes & Sustainable Investments
RCD 2023 Impact Report:
New Homes & Sustainable Investments
Growth
In 2023, Resources for Community (RCD) continued its streak of rapid growth with the construction of five developments on track to provide 446 new homes. These homes will provide much-needed affordable housing for over 860 residents, including low-income families, seniors, and households transitioning out of homelessness.
We opened Sango Court in Milpitas (below) which created 102 permanently affordable apartments. We also completed the renovation of the Bella Vista Inn which provides 65 interim homes for households transitioning out of homelessness.
We continued to work on our robust pipeline of affordable housing developments. We were awarded $113MM across five developments in five Bay Area cities, including local city and county support, rent subsidies for extremely low-income households, and state funding that supports local transit and active transportation projects in addition to housing. These awards will support the creation of 517 new homes in the next four years!
Investment
In 2023, we worked on two initiatives focused on maintaining our portfolio for decades to come: portfolio-wide energy and sustainable improvements, and renovations of existing properties.
We created a new internal position to focus on rehabilitation work of our existing portfolio. Last year, our team oversaw repairs and worked to position more developments for renovations through careful planning and pursuing funding opportunities.
Across our portfolio, we applied for funding to install 107 heat pump hot water heaters across eight of our properties. These efficient systems are more sustainable and help both our residents and properties save money, while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by converting from natural gas to electricity. We anticipate beginning the installations of these heaters later this year.
We also began installing solar panels at eight properties, with up to four more properties preparing for this upgrade in 2024. These will reduce both tenant utility bills directly and save on property operating costs.
People
Resident Services Spotlight: National Night Out
One spotlight from this year was the National Night Out in August. Each year, communities throughout the Bay Area come together to share a night of activities, fun, and new connections. Many events are attended by local law enforcement and fire departments, creating meaningful connections in the community.
This year, we hosted eight events with over 140 residents and community members in attendance. Activities included food trucks, BBQs, games, free haircuts, and raffles! These events are a true collaboration between our hard-working Resident Services Coordinators, our property management teams at the John Stewart Company, and resident and staff volunteers.
We continued to invest in uplifting and supporting our residents throughout our 64 communities, ensuring that all our residents have access to supportive services on site. This year, our team focused on improving data collection and reporting to better capture and communicate the impact of our work.
We are thrilled that our consistent effort and planning led to many Resident Services-led activities, events, and one-on-one meetings throughout the year. In 2023, RCD staff led 440+ activities throughout our properties including arts and crafts groups, Chi Gong, breakfast chats, community gardening, summer lunch programs, holiday parties, and empowerment groups. Our resident services team and partners also held informative workshops covering topics like recycling, digital literacy, and disaster preparedness.
Community & Advocacy
Our Community Development team continues to focus on our work in unincorporated Alameda County. After successfully incubating A link to: My Eden Voice, a grassroots nonprofit focused on the Eden Area of Alameda County, our team has continued their work there.
Ana Rasquiza, RCD’s Director of Community Development presents to the community.
Through our coalition work and in partnership with local organizations, we connected with more than 16,400 residents, providing information and connections to resources focused on health literacy, housing information, food distribution, and other basic needs. We have also helped conduct 4,000 individual meetings with community members, resulting in deeper engagement and stronger relationships.
Our Community Development team has also continued to be the lead convener for the Ashland Cherryland Food and Basic Needs Committee since 2020. In partnership with Supervisor Nate Miley’s Office, we are proud to lead this committee which has a monthly participation of over 35 partners and is dedicated to ensuring the community has access to basic needs including food, diapers, and vaccines.
Looking forward, the coalition is planning the creation of a new Eden empowerment hub. The hub will create a centralized location to provide programming focused on economic empowerment, community health, and advancing policy and systems change.
Advocacy
2023 marked the first year of our A link to: Policy and Advocacy Initiative. We launched this initiative to deepen our engagement in the creation of new policies and funding mechanisms for building and preserving affordable housing.
Through this initiative, RCD helped shape regulations, proposed legislation, budgets, and policies proposed at all levels of government, from local to Federal. Among our successes were:
- Secured eight impactful changes to California’s Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities funding program regulations – including advocating against a proposed change that would have unintentionally disincentivized developers from offering the best and most useful transit passes to their residents.
- Obtained amendments to Oakland’s affordable housing incentive program to create a new, streamlined approval pathway for affordable housing that provides additional flexibility beyond baseline state requirements.
- In coalition with affordable housing advocates, ensured San Jose’s Measure E funding remained dedicated to permanent affordable housing and facilitated the issuance of a Notice of Funding Availability, for which RCD subsequently applied.
Another feature of our new Policy and Advocate initiative is learning opportunities for our staff, like this lunch and learn about a potential statewide housing bond.
Equity
Our commitment to advancing Equity through different aspects of our work continues! A highlight of our on-going equity work is our Equity in Contracting Initiative which we launched in 2022.
In 2023, we built a new survey and system to evaluate diversity among our vendors, construction contractors, and subcontractors that includes self-reported data from our active vendors. With these survey results, we now have better visibility into our contracting with underrepresented firms and can quantify the diversity of our vendors. We are excited to continue and expand these data collection efforts with a focus on our architecture services in 2024.
With this better understanding, we have formally incorporated underrepresented status as a component of our vendor procurement policies and processes. We are actively expanding our pool of vendors and implementing policies that ensure unrepresented firms are always included in Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and other key processes. From 2022 to 2023, we saw a 12% increase in dollar amounts awarded to underrepresented groups.
Our staff is eager to continue this work and formed a committee to track our progress. This year, they adopted their mission and charter to set goals. They also planned and hosted events throughout the year focused on continued learning and discussions for staff.
Equity Spotlight: Free Community WiFi
In 2023, our Technology and Systems and Real Estate Development teams pursued funding for grants that would provide free internet for all residents at select properties.
They successfully received funding for seven of our developments in construction. We have successfully installed free internet access at two of our recently completed properties: Coliseum Place in Oakland and Sango Court in Milpitas. We also applied for additional funding for two existing properties.
This funding will provide each apartment with free, high-speed internet access, creating equitable access to the internet for all residents of the community!
Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.
