Part of bringing about abundant and affordable housing and transit for everyone is electing good officials who will make pro-housing votes and make sure city staff follow pro-housing values. East Bay for Everyone has made the following endorsements in East Bay elections so far:
- AC Transit Director At-Large (representing all five wards of the AC Transit District, which is almost all of the East Bay west of the hills): Alfred Twu, an artist, architect, and activist who believes that frequent and equitable transit service and abundant housing can support each other and allow the East Bay to grow without forcing people to drive for every trip. Alfred has advocated for this vision as a member of the Berkeley Planning Commission and the Democratic Party. We are impressed by Alfred’s deep knowledge of transit. They recognize that significant changes must be made to improve our transit service.
- Albany City Council: Nick Pilch, a longtime supporter of better housing policy in Albany. Nick has organized support for denser zoning along San Pablo Avenue, which would allow more people to live in high-income Albany near shops, jobs, and frequent buses. He knows that city councils can greatly improve conditions for walking and biking, and intends to work toward those goals while in office.
- Berkeley City Council District 1: Rashi Kesarwani, who has distinguished herself by supporting new housing on North Berkeley BART, in her own district, against a small but loud group of NIMBYs. She has also supported Berkeley’s landmark elimination of off-street parking requirements citywide, and more ADU opportunities than the state’s minimum requirements. Rashi believes that stronger tenant protections can and must go hand in hand with increasing the housing supply. She was a vocal supporter of Berkeley’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act which gives tenants a chance to purchase the building where they live if the landlord sells.
- California Assembly District 20 (representing San Leandro, Eden Area, west Dublin and Pleasanton): Shawn Kumagai, who in his city council tenure has supported a wide range of affordable housing projects near BART, again against vocal NIMBYs.
- California Senate District 10 (representing Hayward, Fremont, Union City, Newark, Milpitas, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara): Aisha Wahab, a progressive beacon of her area and supporter of tenant protections and fair housing.
California’s constitution also restricts actions cities can take on their own, so often we need to vote for ballot measures to further the cause. East Bay for Everyone has endorsed six local measures in Berkeley and Oakland. Since they overlap in content, we show them in the below table
| East Bay for Everyone-Endorsed Local Measures | ||
| Kind of measure | Berkeley | Oakland |
| Raise bond money for safe streets, affordable housing, and infrastructure | Measure L: raises $650 million | Measure U: raises $850 million |
| Preemptively authorize a large quantity of affordable social housing (which often needs a local vote under the racist Article 34 of the state constitution) | Measure N: authorizes up to 3,000 homes | Measure Q: authorizes up to 13,000 homes |
| Tax vacant properties to reduce vacancies and raise money for housing / homelessness | Measure M: homes units that are vacant more than six months of the year, $3,000 for the first year, then rising over time | (No measure – Oakland had a successful similar Measure W in 2018 which EB4E supported) |
| Increase tenant protections | (No measure) | Measure V: strengthen requirement of just cause for eviction, including extending protections to all homes more than 10 years old, prohibiting no-fault eviction of children/educators during school year, & closing various loopholes |