Berkeley City Council heard a report on Alameda County’s housing needs from the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority during its regular meeting Tuesday, attended once again by protestors calling for
Berkeley’s homeless shelters remain at reduced capacity and continue to have pandemic precautions in place, with more people in need than there are beds.
The city of Berkeley was the first in the nation to enact exclusionary zoning laws responsible for racial segregation in housing. Earlier this week, Berkeley City Council took a stride toward ending this legacy by voting to do away with single-family zoning.
The resolution, which was unanimously approved during the council’s Tuesday meeting, is a statement of intent signaling the start of the longer process to eliminate single-family zoning throughout the city by 2022. When enacted, the resolution will allow affordable multi-family housing, such as apartments and duplexes, to be built in areas that were previously zoned exclusively for single-family houses.