Public Advocates supported Renewed Hope Housing Advocates, a dynamic community group that has been fighting to increase affordable housing opportunities in Alameda since the nineties, in a successful campaign to repeal a 39-year ban on multi-family housing construction and adopt a legally compliant housing element for the first time since 1990. This win opened the door to as many as 2,300 new homes for lower-income workers and retirees.
Under California law, every eight years cities and counties are required to develop local affordable housing action plans called housing elements. Each housing element must identify land where new affordable housing can be built and commit to a concrete program to meet the housing needs of the community. The housing element is designed to make sure that low-income families can find an affordable place to call home in every community.
The Trump administration has eliminated disparate impact protections under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act—stripping the federal requirement that transit agencies consider whether their decisions disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income riders. Public Advocates Senior Transportation Policy Advocate Laurel Paget-Seekins calls it "a major rollback of civil rights protections" and is calling on California to fill the gap.
A new CARB rule is cutting funding for transit and affordable housing — here's what that means. Public Advocates' Laurel Paget-Seekins joined KPFA's UpFront to explain the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the Manufacturing Decarbonization Incentive, and what's really at stake when California breaks the promise Cap-and-Invest made to low-income communities.
"These are investments that determine whether a student can afford to take transit to school, whether a senior can get to a doctor's appointment, whether a family can live near reliable transportation instead of enduring long commutes and higher costs."—Public Advocates' Michelle Pariset told the AP exactly what's on the line as California guts its climate fund.
"These funds are overwhelmingly directed to the communities most impacted by pollution and climate change—the same communities that live near refineries, freight corridors, freeways, ports, and other major sources of greenhouse gas emissions." California's Cap-and-Invest program is under pressure. Public Advocates' Michelle Pariset spoke at a press conference Wednesday ahead of the May 28, 2026 critical CARB vote—on what's at stake for transit, affordable housing, and environmental justice.
Together, we will ensure that our movement can take on tomorrow’s challenges.
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