Community-Driven Housing Solutions in California

Since 1990, the population of Antioch, California, has nearly doubled to 112,000 residents. This surge is largely due to an influx of low-income residents, primarily people of color, who were displaced from the Bay Area’s major urban and employment centers. This demographic shift has transformed Antioch into one of the East Bay’s most racially and ethnically diverse areas, with higher proportions of Black and Hispanic residents compared to Contra Costa County and the broader East Bay region. However, this rapid population growth has highlighted Antioch’s struggle to provide adequate housing. Recent community assessments reveal a significant issue: many Antioch residents—particularly renters, low-income families of color, and households with young children—are severely cost-burdened, spending over 50% of their gross income on housing. Addressing this challenge requires a concerted effort to expand the city’s affordable housing stock to meet the diverse needs of its growing population.

The housing crisis, fueled by an inadequate supply, has exacerbated housing instability and homelessness across California. Approximately 1.2 million new affordable homes are needed by 2030 to meet the needs of low-income Californians. To address this urgent need, California must implement innovative strategies at scale to create more affordable housing units. In Contra Costa County, the affordable housing crisis continues to worsen, with a current shortfall of over 34,000 homes for extremely- and very low-income individuals and families. This shortage is pushing people into precarious economic situations, overcrowded and unsafe housing, and homelessness.

The 2022 Contra Costa Point-in-Time Count reported nearly 3,100 homeless individuals in the county, though experts believe the actual number could be closer to 10,600. Notably, Antioch alone has seen over 1,160 people lose their homes according to the 2022 count. Traditional on-site construction methods, compounded by soaring raw material costs, take too long and are too expensive to adequately address the housing shortage. Recent reports indicate that in California, building a one-bedroom affordable housing unit can cost nearly $1 million after including all required approvals, procedures, and government mandates. These financial burdens and regulatory complexities deter affordable housing development despite the unprecedented demand.

In response to this crisis, the Partnership for the Bay’s Future awarded Hope Solutions, the Multi-Faith ACTION Coalition, and the City of Antioch a Policy Grant, providing $500,000, technical assistance, and additional capacity through a housing policy fellow. These two-year grants enable local governments to build trusting, effective partnerships with community organizations to develop equitable policies and ensure those often excluded from the policy process are central to efforts for change. This grant allowed the Antioch Policy Grant team to pursue two initiatives to increase affordable housing inventory:

1. Streamlining and building cottage communities on faith-owned land.

2. Making the process of building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), also known as backyard cottages, more feasible and accessible for lower-income homeowners who wish to contribute to the affordable housing inventory and generate new income streams for themselves.

Community engagement and organizing are foundational to both initiatives, prioritizing the voices of individuals and communities with lived experience in the planning and execution of these projects. Involving the community in policymaking ensures that solutions are designed with a deep understanding of the actual challenges faced, making policies more responsive and effective. This equitable approach directly involves those most affected by housing crises, addressing racial and economic disparities by empowering underrepresented voices to shape policies that directly impact their lives.