Ashby, North Berkeley BART housing developments aim for affordability
Ryan Kendrick/Staff
A $53 million housing investment around the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations was approved by Berkeley City Council. According to Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, Berkeley has a memorandum of understanding with BART to reach “35% affordability at both sites.
Last Updated May 3, 2021
Berkeley City Council approved a $53 million investment in building housing around the Ashby and North Berkeley BART stations to ameliorate the city’s long-standing affordable housing crisis.
BART will leverage this investment to secure greater federal and state funding for the project, Rebecca Saltzman, vice president of the BART Board of Directors added.
Beautiful to broken elevator to bedbugs: My 17 years at Acton Courtyard Apartment Complex
April 25, 2021
Leroy F. Moore Jr., pictured here with POOR Magazine’s Tiny Gray-Garcia, has lived in the Acton Courtyard Apartments in Berkeley for 17 years, experiencing the same difficulties disabled people report facing due to neglect of subsidized housing all over the country, from broken elevators to bedbugs. – Photo: San Francisco State University
by Leroy F. Moore Jr.
It was 2004-05 when I saw Acton Courtyard go up, because I lived next door in a small studio and saw an empty lot grow into a beautiful, state-of-the-art, large apartment complex. I was excited for a chance to go from a studio that was so small I had to go outside to change my mind.
An approximately yearlong rent strike led by residents of University Village in Albany, or UVA, is continuing to push for rent forgiveness in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since April 2020, the UVA Tenants Union has been coordinating the rent strike as part of its campaign for the cancellation of rent payments, according to the UVA Tenants Union website.
A survey conducted by the UVA Tenants Union in April found that about 95% of UVA residents were rent-burdened, meaning they were spending more than 30% of their income on rent, and more than 85% of residents said their ability to afford rent had been or would be impacted by the pandemic.
More than $667 million in federal funding will support local affordable housing programs and projects across California, as announced Thursday by U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California. The city of Berkeley is receiving about $2.7 million of the funding.
The American Rescue Plan Act, which Padilla helped pass, is providing the money, according to a press release from Padilla’s office. This funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HOME Investments Partnerships Program, which provides grants to states and other localities for community needs, will increase the availability of affordable housing for low-income families.
“California has a shortage of affordable housing, and it’s going to take all levels of government working together to close the gap,” Padilla said in the press release. “As we work to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, I will continue to advocate for investments that help meet our state’s housing challenges and support the lon