Great News

We are excited to announce the recent launch of Evictorbook, a web-based tool that provides key data about properties, landlords, and the complicated webs of corporate ownership behind [...]

GCC is excited to announce publication of “Five Ways Funders Can Catalyze Affordable Housing Preservation,” in collaboration with the San Francisco Foundation and LISC Bay Area. We know that the [...]

Inspired by Earth Day 2022, we recognize the importance of climate resilience and how it intersects with housing justice. This intersection informs one of the key initiatives at the San Francisco [...]

GCC’s Public Land Working Group (PLWG) has created two new educational materials related to the Surplus Land Act (SLA) to help government agencies, housing advocates, and community members [...]

GCC recently published a research brief: “The Benefits of Affordable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) in the Bay Area and How to Improve It.” It is based on a UC Berkeley survey study funded by [...]

by Ola Jimoh (Initiative Assistant, GCC and HOPE SF) and Monet Boyd (Program Coordinator, GCC) The Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) works within the nine-county Bay Area, which houses a high [...]

A few weeks ago, GCC hosted an event with Montbello Organizing Committee (MOC), a community-based organization in the Montbello neighborhood of Denver. We were also joined by Mile High Connects, [...]

An abbreviated version of this statement was included in our July 2020 newsletter. It’s been 46 days since George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. This has sparked an incredible month [...]

On May 15, GCC’s Funder Network came together for a learning session that focused on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for equitable housing policy and investments. The [...]

Community advocates are increasingly calling on city governments to enact public lands policies for public good. The intention is for public land – parcels held by cities or other government [...]

As we consider ways to make Bay Area communities more affordable, accessible, and sustainable, we’re interested in data that answers questions about the current state of social conditions – [...]

GCC and our partners are focused on supporting the region’s low-income people and communities of color to prepare for the effects of climate change. To strengthen our contributions to this [...]

GCC is excited to share that a new regional financing tool for preservation is available!  In the last month, Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF) and the Low-Income Investment Fund (LIIF) [...]

The Bay Area housing crisis has led to innovative solutions to affordable housing development. Over the past several years, one of the housing solutions GCC has helped implement to combat [...]

Since its inception, GCC has focused on uplifting community voices and pushing for higher density, more affordable housing, and equitable outcomes in station area plans across the Bay Area. One [...]

Bay Area 4 All (BA4A), is GCC’s partnership with the 6 Wins for Social Equity Network (6 Wins) and Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), as part of the [...]

By the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo When BART expanded their south-bound line to Millbrae in 2000, they estimated that 30,000 riders a day would use their services. Eighteen years [...]

David Zisser from Public Advocates article ” Say It Loud: Renter’s Rights Are Civil Rights!” – featured in Shelterforce. David Zisser is a senior staff attorney at Public [...]

On December 7th, Bay Area 4 All, hosted the Keep Oakland Home convening which brought together affordable housing developers, base building tenant organizing groups and residents for an afternoon [...]

  CASA Public Lands Recommendations The Great Communities Collaborative Public Lands Working Group has met since 2016 to shape public land policies and practices in the Bay Area. The Group [...]

“Gentrification Explained” is a short video that unpacks what gentrification really means, getting beyond the buzzword.  It was produced through the collaboration of the San Francisco Federal [...]

“Pushed Out” is a short explainer video that helps paint a clearer picture of displacement and its long-term impact. It was produced through the collaboration of the San Francisco [...]

By: Elizabeth Wampler, GCC Initiative Officer Growing up in Houston, I quickly got used to watching the waters rise. I remember Sims Bayou, less than 1000 feet from my house, flooding over its [...]

Authors: Dessi Mia Carbajal and Anthony Federico – East Bay Housing Organization (EBHO) We know San Francisco, Oakland, and the Peninsula are ground zero for the housing and displacement [...]

It all started in Walnut Creek cafes, living rooms and churches in 2012. That’s the year East Bay Housing Organizations (EBHO), Greenbelt Alliance, and several congregations and nonprofits came [...]

Full Report Last year, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Silicon Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) adopted ambitious targets to prioritize the construction of affordable housing on their land [...]

What makes a great community? The Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) often answers that question by talking about places where families can afford a safe and healthy home, where it’s [...]

In August and September of 2016, former GCC IO Geeta Rao authored two Shelterforce articles highlighting the rationale and role of California transit agencies taking nuanced approaches to [...]

On July 27, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) made new rules for how money will be spent that makes the strongest connection between federal transportation dollars and housing yet. [...]

Written by: Chris O’Connor, Silicon Valley Leadership Group and Charisse Ma Lebron, Working Partnerships USA On April 7, 2016, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) Board of Directors [...]

By Anthony Federico, Associate Director of East Bay Housing Organizations In September, Uber announced its purchase of the Sear’s building in downtown Oakland, and in an instant, the story of [...]

By Clarrissa Cabansagan, TransForm South San Francisco—known by locals as South City—has always housed a predominantly working class community. Its identity as an industrial city is rooted in [...]

By Zoe Mullendore, Silicon Valley Leadership Group There is an intrinsic nexus between housing and transportation since people choose transit options based on where they live. Creating [...]

Written by Uri Pachter, Project Manager at Greenbelt Alliance On December 9, Mountain View took two important steps toward creating a more vibrant and affordable city by approving a long-term [...]

 A reflection on the Broadway-Valdez District Specific Plan by Gloria Bruce Maps can tell us a lot about a place’s “bones” and potential – how does a place connect to other neighborhoods? [...]

GCC is pleased to release our Implementation of Equitable and Sustainable Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Request for Proposals (RFP), due October 30, 2014. GCC has shaped 34 of the region’s [...]

On July 1st, 2014, the Oakland City Council unanimously approved the Broadway Valdez District Specific Plan, which calls for 1,800 new homes—many of which will be affordable to low- and [...]

By Allison Lasser, Executive Director of Congregations Organizing for Renewal (COR) On July 1st, Fremont’s Planning Commission took an important step towards approving one of the Bay Area’s [...]

Last night the San Jose City Council adopted the Diridon Station Area Plan. The Diridon station sits in the heart of San Jose, just outside of downtown, and currently serves as a major transit [...]

Written by Clarrissa Cabansagan, Community Planner, TransForm March 22 was an unusually sunny Saturday in South San Francisco—perfect weather for a walk around the City’s Downtown Plan Area. That [...]

Written by Joel Devalcourt, Regional Representative, East Bay, Greenbelt Alliance Concord is poised to achieve great changes for its communities. Following on the heels of its visionary Concord [...]

Written by Clarrissa Cabansagan, Community Planner, TransForm Last February the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved projects for the fifth and final cycle of Safe Routes to Transit [...]

Living in a compact neighborhood with a range of transportation choices—neighborhoods where you can take transit to work, walk to the store, or walk your children to school—reduces the amount of [...]

Written by Michele Beasley, Regional Director, Greenbelt Alliance Greenbelt Alliance has been engaged in the Diridon Station Area planning effort for several years, having spent considerable time [...]

Earlier this month, GCC was delighted to host our partner transit-oriented development collaboratives from other parts of the country, Mile High Connects in Denver and a nascent Collaborative in [...]

Bringing expertise across multiple disciplines and deep knowledge of our communities, we are pleased to launch this website as a hub for real-time activity and sharing best practices in equitable [...]

Preserving Affordability and Diversity in Silicon Valley Following their successful advocacy for the East Palo Alto Ravenswood Business District Specific Plan, the Envision-Transform-Build [...]

Health is a core tenet of the Great Communities Collaborative: research has shown that households located near high-quality transit have higher rates of walking and biking, lower likelihood of [...]