| |  | |  | | It’s time to fall into some CCB updates |
| Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Happy September! It’s officially fall, post-Labor Day, and still hot — which means the “I’m at a conference and slow to respond” automatic replys are in full swing. In this newsletter we’re excited to share a few updates, both conference- and non-conference related, including: |
| | But before that I’d like to return to my primary job for the next ~36 days: promoting our upcoming Dream Builders awards dinner & celebration!
This will be our first-ever large gathering and we thought it would be important to do an event this year for a few different reasons: First, there are leaders out there who are doing the hard, sometimes technical, oftentimes frustrating work of expanding housing and homeownership opportunities and we think it’s important to recognize them for that.
Second, we could give an award to each and every one of our partners and colleagues because there’s a lot of amazing work being done by a lot of amazing people...but our trophy budget is too small and that would be a very long ceremony. In lieu of that, we are working hard to make sure this event is about celebrating our individual awardees and our network of friends. Plus we’ll take any excuse to throw a party.
These events don’t just happen, so besides our staff and amazing host committee, I’d like to thank our very generous event sponsors. A huge thank you goes to our presenting sponsor US Bank as well as our very generous event sponsors JP Morgan Chase, Comerica, HomeStarter, HR&A Advisors, Oportun, First Citizens Bank, W Strategies LLC, UnidosUS, and Ventura County Community Development Corporation.
Bottom line: Join us! Seriously, it’s truly going to be a lot of fun. You can RSVP here and, if you’re interested in sponsoring now’s the time! Shoot us a quick email and we’ll get you signed up! |
| | |  | Top: California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, CPA; Bottom L-R: Muhammad Alameldin, Laura Arce |
| CCB’s Inaugural Dream Builder Awardees |
| We’re so proud to have three amazing, diverse leaders join us as our inaugural Dream Builder awardees! These leaders are working to expand homeownership, wealth building, and prosperity for all communities — in California and throughout the nation – and we wanted to share a little about them and their work in advance of our event in October:
California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, CPA – Treasurer Ma has been at the forefront of economic equity in a career spanning the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, California State Assembly, and now as leader of the California State Treasury. For anyone following CCB’s work, you also know that Treasurer Ma and her staff oversaw the creation of the California Dream for All shared appreciation mortgage program, which has created thousands of new homeowners throughout the state.
Laura Arce, UnidosUS SVP for Economic Initiatives – Laura leads the housing work for UnidosUS, the country’s largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, and is a key driver behind their goal to create four million new Latino homeowners in the coming years. Laura’s work in Washington DC has a direct and positive impact on housing for working families throughout the country, and she is leading the charge to connect the pro-housing movement to the long-standing fight for mortgage access and access to capital.
Muhammad Alameldin, Terner Center for Housing Innovation Policy Associate – Muhammad, this year’s young leader award recipient, has spent his career working to advance equitable housing policy at leading advocacy and research organizations. Muhammad is also leading on issues near and dear to CCB’s work: increasing condo production, supporting developers of color, and building more small-lot homes! |
| |  | California Community Development Financial Institution |
| Starting earlier this year, CCB has been working to launch a new community development financial institution (CDFI) focused on financing middle-density, “missing middle” housing, which we believe will help to actualize all of the political victories that the pro-housing movement has achieved these past few years.
We’re excited to share that we recently had two op-eds published on the topic — one in the Commercial Observer and one in the American Banker, co-authored with our good friend Tunua Thrash-Ntuk — on this new initiative of ours.
Here’s a snippet, with links to both articles* below: The White House has also pointed out important gaps in available construction financing, noting that “market gaps exist for the construction and rehabilitation of single-family homes, two- to four-unit properties, ADU construction, manufactured and modular housing delivery, and smaller multifamily properties.” This financing gap has clearly slowed progress in building more middle-density housing, and CDFIs can help. They can fund some projects themselves, but they don’t have to do it all: If they demonstrate that this type of lending can be profitable, commercial lenders will naturally follow. |
| | *Note: While both the American Banker and Commercial Observer have very good paywalls, you can always sign up for a free account to read the full article or just shoot us an email! |
| |  | Fourth from left: Chairman of the FDIC Board of Directors, Martin J. Gruenberg. All (L-R): Julius Robinson, Hyepin Im, Marcos Morales, Martin Gruenberg, Elisabeth Coats, Giuliana Ramirez, Adam Briones, Steve Figueroa |
| California Community Builders <> Washington, DC! |
| CCB is doing its part to keep the morning-pastries-and-boxed-lunch catering industry going — most recently in Washington, DC! We’re very proud to have supported our good friends at the Alliance to Close the Racial Wealth Gap for two days of Capitol Hill visits and a day-long gathering in Washington, DC.
We were especially excited to join the Alliance in bringing together an extraordinary group of folks to share their work on the intersection of economic justice and housing supply. A big thank you goes out to fantastic speakers, including: Laura Arce (UnidosUS); Leda Bloomfield (Federal Housing Finance Agency); Elisabeth Coats (National Community Stabilization Trust); Karl Eckhart (National Association of Home Builders); Hyepin Im (Faith and Community Empowerment); Eli Kahn (Mercatus Center); Mike Kingsella (Up For Growth); Gillian Pressman (YIMBY Action); Richard Rothstein (our pal & famous author), and David Sanchez (Federal Housing Authority) for sharing their knowledge with the audience. Here’s a video recording for anyone that’s interested!
We also met with FDIC Board of Directors Chair Martin Gruenberg, Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senator Sherrod Brown, and Speaker of the House Congressman Mike Johnson. Our primary goal during these meetings was to share that abundant housing is not just an economic issue, but also a civil rights issue.
A very special thank you goes out to the board of directors of the Alliance — Marcos Morales (Board Chair), Marcia Griffin, Dina Harris, Brian Townsend, Natalie Aguilera, and Pastor Alonzo Bell; as well as its executive director, John Gamboa, coalition coordinator Sylvia Aguilar, stellar interns Giuliana Ramirez, and Saraya Ashley, plus everyone that made the journey to DC to join the event! |
| |  | Oct 9 - UnidosUS Homeownership Conference! |
| We’re very proud to support our great friends at UnidosUS for a half-day conference in Sacramento on October 9th.
Join us at the Capitol Event Center in Sacramento for a day filled with insightful panels, expert speakers, and networking opportunities. The goal of the event is to create a space for discussion and collaboration for leaders to discuss the future of homeownership in California. |
| | |  | Oct 8 - Terner Center Webinar! |
| We hope you’ll join us for the Terner Center’s webinar on construction defect reform on October 8th!
This is a timely webinar exploring the intersection of Construction Defect Liability and Homeownership. Condominiums— an issue near and dear to our hearts and one we’ve been thinking about since we published our very first report — have seen a significant decline in development across California, with construction defect liability laws serving as a key barrier. This panel will discuss the current state of the industry and what can be done to increase this type of housing that is most naturally affordable for first-time homebuyers. |
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