The Bay Area Council believes the housing crisis in the Bay Area is caused by increased housing production throughout the Bay Area, addressing the pre-existing housing crisis. We must seize the opportunity to rebuild and revitalize our region with smart growth strategies that address historic injustices and our ongoing environmental crisis in a manner that does not derail our fragile economy.
We come into 2025 committed to this fight with fresh ideas, more allies, and the same determination to remove the roadblocks that currently prevent the building of a more diverse, equitable, sustainable, and vibrant Bay Area. No other peer organization can boast our level of engagement on housing or our track record of passing bills that produce actual quantifiable results.
The Bay Area Council also fights for housing projects that it endorses by attending planning commission and city council meetings, among other tactics. If you would like to submit a project for consideration by our Project Endorsement Subcommittee, please fill out this form, or reach out to Louis Mirante, Vice President of Public Policy, at lmirante@bayareacouncil.org.
If you have an idea for a policy area the Bay Area Council should focus on and you work for a member company, please be in touch about our policy taskforces or about starting a new taskforce. Currently, we have the following issue-based task forces:
- Homeownership Barriers: reforming the Subdivision Map Act
- Coastal Housing: building more infill in the Coastal Zone
- CEQA: Reforming the California Environmental Quality Act to encourage housing
2025 Priorities
- Pass and defend local, regional, state, and federal housing policies that accelerate the production of housing in the Bay Area.
- Endorse and advocate for at least 12 projects in 2024 and win approvals for a minimum of 3,000 new homes.
- Improve the sustainability, both economic and environmental, of the building sector by encouraging innovating building techniques, such as mass timber products.
- Focus on and remove barriers to homeownership, especially through local implementation of state law allowing ADU condos.
- Increase awareness of Bay Area Council housing advocacy campaigns and achievements.
Housing Committee Co-Chairs
Ann Silverberg, CEO, Related California Affordable and NW Divisions
Robin Baral, Partner, Hanson Bridgett LLP
Andy Ball, President, oWow!
Project Endorsement Subcommittee Co-Chairs:
Catarina Kidd, Senior Manager, FivePoint
Linda Klein, Partner, Cox, Castle & Nicholson
Strategic Partnerships
Casita Coalition
Home Building Alliance
Up for Growth
Get Involved
The Housing Committee and Project Endorsement Subcommittee are open to Bay Area Council members. In addition, we invite members and non-members alike to submit projects to the Project Endorsement Subcommittee for review. Upcoming subcommittee meetings can be found on the Council’s calendar of events.
To engage in our legislative advocacy efforts please email Vice President Louis Mirante.
