There is good news and not-so-good news regarding the state of affordable housing in California’s Bay Area.
First, the good news: data from the newly published Bay Area Affordable Housing Pipeline 2024 Report detailed that 433 projects are now in various stages of predevelopment that would create more than 40,896 affordable homes across the nine-county Bay Area. And then, the not-so-good news: this only accounts for nearly one-quarter of the 180,000 affordable homes the state’s Regional Housing Needs Allocation Plan determined are needed in the Bay Area by 2031.
The new report, which was released by Enterprise Community Partners and the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority (BAHFA), calculated that the Bay Area projects now in the predevelopment pipeline need $9.7 billion in public funds to move forward, and that a $20 billion regional bond measure proposed for the ballot in Bay Area counties this fall would help close this gap.
“We’ve been stuck in an affordable housing crisis that has overwhelmed the region,” said Heather Hood, vice president and Northern California Market Leader at Enterprise Community Partners. “The November ballot presents an opportunity to unlock thousands of affordable homes for Bay Area residents. We expect voters to have a chance to end our housing crisis and deliver the dignified, healthy homes the Bay Area community needs and deserves.”
“The need for affordable housing transcends jurisdictional boundaries,” said BAHFA Director Kate Hartley, who added that her organization’s “proposed bond measure would finally allow our Bay Area to take a regional approach to a regional problem. With significant new resources for every county, we can build at scale, deliver equitable solutions, and create a better way to deliver the affordable homes Bay Area residents need.”
