Our Mission

Resources for Community Development creates and preserves affordable housing for people with the fewest options, to build community and enrich lives.

History

For 40 years, RCD has created and preserved affordable housing for those with the fewest options, to build community and enrich lives.

We began as a Berkeley-based membership organization, focused on limited equity cooperatives. The first project in West Berkeley was a five-unit complex that we acquired and renovated for the resident-owners.

In 1990, we completed our first housing development for homeless veterans. In 1991, we began to develop a rundown motel into permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness.

Our roots formed the base of our strong commitment to people with special needs as we expanded outside Berkeley and into integrated family housing. RCD now provides rental homes for more than 5,450 people in 25 cities in the region, about one third of which are reserved for people with special needs.

Today, our organization continues to build toward a better future – for families and for our communities.

The problem we continue to address is how very low-income individuals and families can continue to live, work and play in an increasingly expensive Bay Area.

Here’s how we approach this problem.

Real Estate Development partners in each community to assemble sites and funding to expand the supply of affordable housing, with over 1,500 apartments planned for completion in the next three years
Resident Services provides on-site support for residents in five areas — housing retention, economic stability and employment/education, health and wellness, social engagement and community development, and youth enrichment.
Community Development works with residents in the broader communities where we have housing so they are able to improve and strengthen their neighborhoods. It also focuses on incorporating principles of community development into our planning for new housing
Asset Management oversees our properties physically and financially, ensuring that our developments meet the needs of the community and current and future residents for safe, quality affordable housing

Together, these programs support inclusiveness and equity, build economic strength, and improve environmental sustainability.

Our passion for 40 years has been to collaborate with local communities to bring people and resources together to create affordable housing and to bring services and benefits to the whole community.

“RCD has provided hundreds of critically needed affordable homes in Berkeley over the years. They have consistently met the challenge of building the most innovative developments for resident and special needs families. RCD has truly lived up to its name as a tremendous home-grown resource for community development in Berkeley.”

— Former Mayor Tom Bates, City of Berkeley