Plan Bay Area

Public Advocates co-coordinates the 6 Wins Network, a coalition of more than 20 grassroots, policy, faith, and labor organizations across the Bay Area focused on targeting and shaping the regional housing and transportation plan called Plan Bay Area. The plan will determine how nearly $300 billion in transportation money will be spent and how the region will house more than 2 million new residents over the next 25 years. Public Advocates and the 6 Wins Network aim to ensure that Plan Bay Area will result in more affordable housing near jobs and transit, robust and affordable local transit service, investment without displacement, healthy and safe communities, access to quality jobs, and greater power for low-income communities of color in local and regional decision-making.

Investments in affordable housing and transit

Public Advocates works with statewide and community partners to ensure that investments made under the state Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities program reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide economic and health benefits to low-income communities.

Public Advocates also works with statewide and community partners to ensure that investments made using from state Cap-and-Trade revenues reduce greenhouse gas emissions result in affordable, accessible and reliable public transit for low-income riders.

Disadvantaged community benefits

Under SB 535, the state uses fees paid by polluters to improve conditions for California’s disadvantaged communities, who face the most poverty and pollution in the state. The SB 535 Coalition, co-led by Public Advocates, works to ensure that these investments result in meaningful and significant environmental, economic, and health benefits to disadvantaged communities. This document explains the four-step analysis we developed to define what constitutes a benefit to this type of community, and explains how climate investments can meet SB 535 requirements. The SB 535 Coalition worked to and succeeded in passing AB 1550, which builds on the success of SB 535 by increasing climate investments and benefits to disadvantaged communities and low-income communities statewide. AB 1550 was signed by the Governor on September 14, 2016.

Public Advocates and TransForm published a report in 2016 evaluating and recommending improvements to one of the state’s most important programs bringing climate investments to disadvantaged communities.
Investing in Mobility and Equity: Strengthening California’s Low Carbon Transit Operations Program