Activism

Advocates Back Bill to Increase Homeownership for Black Californians

“We envision a Bay Area with thriving, healthy and resilient Black communities, where all Black residents have a home. We want a region that rebuilds Black commercial districts destroyed by highway development, regains the Black homeownership losses from the racially targeted lending schemes that drove the Great Recession, and creates the affordable housing our region has failed to deliver over the last two decades,” sand Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation and Melissa Jones, CEO of Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative.

Published

4 years ago

June 9, 2022

Oakland Post

Caption: Fred Blackwell, CEO of the San Francisco Foundation (SFF Foundation photo) and Melissa Jones, CEO of Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII photo).

By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌, ‌California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

Last week, the Bay Area Black Housing Advisory Task Force (BABHATF) —‌ a coalition of more than 40 groups with housing and community expertise — ‌‌unveiled a $500 million plan to make housing more accessible and affordable for Black families.

BABHATF is asking the region’s leaders and residents to support the “Bay Area Regional Black Housing Fund” initiative. The organization is also calling on the Legislature to include funding for the effort in this year’s state budget.

The task force is supported by Assemblymember Lori Wilson (D-Suisun) who was sworn into office April 6 after winning a special election in the 11^th Assembly District.

The investment “will help repair the injustices that have shaped the housing experiences of Black people in the Bay Area and in California,” BABHATF leaders said in a letter drafted to bring awareness to a problem that the group says is statewide.

“It will also create new opportunities to expand housing for Black people in places where they have largely been — and are still — excluded. Increasing Black homeownership will benefit our entire region,” said task force members Fred Blackwell and Melissa Jones in the letter.

“The work we do to reduce the rent burden for Black people will provide a way forward for the Bay Area overall,” the letter continued.

Blackwell is CEO of the San Francisco Foundation, a community nonprofit committed to advancing racial equity and economic inclusion. Jones is executive director of the Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative. Her work focuses on health, social inequity, and well-being.

The task force points out that there has been no regional response to California’s housing crisis’ well-documented impact on Black communities. It believes “a targeted solution” is necessary for an “issue rooted in racial injustice,” Blackwell and Jones wrote.

The California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) reports that Black homeownership rates are the lowest among California’s ethnic groups.

The Black homeownership rate was 50.98% at its peak in 2004. Since then, the homeownership rates for Black Californians have fallen at a steeper curve than those of all other racial and ethnic groups in the state.

During the early 2000s, several mortgage lenders specifically targeted Black homebuyers offering them subprime loans. High default rates on those loans contributed to the Great Recession, which began in 2007 and lasted through 2009. As a result, the Black homeownership has dropped by more than 10% since 2004 and has yet to recover, according to CalHFA.

BABHATF illustrates how affordable housing impacts Black communities throughout the state, pointing out that there is no major ethnic group over-represented in the state’s homeless population than Black people.

Various reports state that 150,000 Californians experience homelessness on any given night and nearly 40% are Black.

The task force is certain that with California’s $98 billion budget surplus, there is a historic and unprecedented opportunity to help right past wrongs and invest in Black communities and housing.

The group is calling for the Legislature to include the fund in this fiscal year’s state budget. The fund will create more affordable housing with a $500 million investment that includes:

No.1: Financial support for initiatives such as down payment assistance for low- and moderate-income Black households, preserving Black housing and neighborhoods, pre-development resources for housing development by Black-led developers, and preserving cultural districts and anchor institutions.

No. 2: Community support for strengthening smaller, Black-led community groups so they can better serve the housing needs of Black communities, plus community planning to develop ideas and blueprints for future projects.

The Black community in the Bay Area has been disadvantaged in the state’s housing market for decades because of discrimination, including redlining, unequal access to wealth and good jobs, and other systemic problems.

All of these issues have been discussed in the last 12 months during meetings conducted by the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans, under Assembly Bill (AB) 3121.

BABHATF says that increased disadvantages will leave Black communities facing multiple systemic barriers leading to massive displacement in the Bay Area

“As a result, San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley each lost between 40% and 50% of their Black residents between 1990 and 2018. In Oakland alone, more than 60,000 Black residents have left. East Palo Alto had a 66% decrease. This is a profound loss,” Blackwell and Jones stated.

Efforts to combat housing across the state got a partial boost last week. Homeownership for low- and moderate-income moved closer to reality after the California Senate approved a plan to establish a $25 billion fund financed by voter-endorsed general obligation bonds.

Senate Bill (SB) 1457, authored by Majority Leader Emeritus Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys), now goes to the Assembly for consideration. It establishes the California Family Home Construction and Homeownership Bond Act of 2022.

If SB 1457 is adopted by voters on the November 2022 ballot, it will authorize the $25 billion bond fund to finance homeownership opportunities and promote new home construction.

Hertzberg stated that “the underlying problem is simple: A lack of supply” and says his plan “tackles this problem head on.

“California policymakers have a responsibility to create more opportunities for first-time or left-behind homebuyers,” Hertzberg said. “Purchasing a home, attaining a middle-class lifestyle and building generational wealth cannot be accomplished without addressing the severe lack of housing production that is fueling the state’s homeownership crisis.”

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Activism

The Ladies of Delta Sigma Theta Hold Day of Advocacy at the Capitol in Sacramento

A member of the “Divine Nine,” Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., was founded on Jan. 13, 1913, at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The organization was established by 22 women who sought to shift the group’s focus from social activities to public service, academic excellence, and social activism.

Published

6 hours ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro) presents a Senate resolution to the Delta Theta Sigma Sorority Farwest Region at the State Capitol on May 4. Photo courtesy of the Senate Rules Committee.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

On May 4, members of the Farwest Region of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., convened at the California State Capitol for the organization’s 23rd annual Delta Days in Sacramento.

The two-day advocacy event brings together chapters from across California to engage directly in the legislative process, connect with lawmakers, and advocate for policies impacting Black communities.

Members of the sorority were honored on the Senate floor by Sen. Laura Richardson (D-San Pedro), who is also a member of Delta Sigma Theta.

Richardson welcomed the Farwest Region during the presentation of a Senate resolution recognizing outgoing Regional Director Kimberly Usher for her leadership and service.

“In addition to the Far West Region, we are led by a fearless leader, regional director Kimberly Usher. She has now served her full term of what’s allowed,” Richardson said. “We are going to be having our regional conference, but we wanted to give it to her here, officially recognizing her service.”

The resolution was co-authored by Richardson and fellow members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) and Delta Sigma Theta, Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego) and Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom (D-Stockton).

Usher has served in the leadership role since 2022.

“We are founded on sisterhood that is deeply rooted in scholarship, service, and social action,” said Weber Pierson, a member of the Gamma Alpha chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

“Today, we continue a legacy of empowering communities and upholding the high cultural, intellectual, and moral standards established by our founders over a century ago,” she added.

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Activism

Rep. Kamlager-Dove Introduces Bill to Protect Women in Custody After Reports Detailing Miscarriages and Neglect

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

Published

7 hours ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

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By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) on May 7, reintroduced updated legislation aimed at strengthening protections and healthcare standards for pregnant and postpartum women held in federal custody, including in immigration detention facilities.

The Pregnant Women in Custody Act would expand safeguards beyond the federal prison system to include women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Refugee Resettlement. The proposal follows reports of pregnant women being shackled, denied medical care and suffering miscarriages while in immigration detention.

The legislation builds on a bipartisan version previously passed by the House during the 117th Congress. The updated bill includes new standards for healthcare access, mental health and substance use treatment, high-risk pregnancy care, family unity protections and increased federal oversight.

“Proper pregnancy care is a human right, regardless of your immigration or incarceration status,” Kamlager-Dove said in a statement. “It’s unacceptable that there are virtually no legal safeguards for pregnant women in federal custody.”

The bill would also limit the use of restraints and restrictive housing for pregnant women, improve data collection on maternal health in custody and require additional staff training and enforcement measures.

Supporters of the measure said the legislation is intended to address long-standing concerns about maternal healthcare and safety in detention settings, particularly for Black women and low-income women who are disproportionately impacted by incarceration and health disparities.

“Pregnant women in custody should never be subjected to dangerous and inhumane treatment that threatens their health, dignity, or the well-being of their babies,” said Patrice Willoughby, chief of policy and legislative affairs for the NAACP and a longtime public policy and government affairs strategist, in a statement.

A 2021 report estimated there are about 58,000 admissions of pregnant women into U.S. jails and prisons each year. Kamlager’s statement also cited a recent investigation by NBC News and Bloomberg Law that identified allegations of severe mistreatment or medical neglect involving at least 54 pregnant women or families in county jails between 2017 and 2024.

Federal policy under the Department of Homeland Security restricts the detention of pregnant, postpartum and nursing immigrants except in extreme cases. However, the agency reported that ICE deported 363 pregnant, postpartum or nursing women between January 2025 and February 2026, including 16 recorded miscarriages during that period.

The bill is cosponsored by several House Democrats and backed by organizations including the NAACP and the Vera Institute of Justice.

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Activism

OPINION: The Fire of Oakland’s Justin Jones

Jones made headlines three years ago when he was one of a pair of Justins. Along with fellow State Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), he fought their removal from the state house in Tennessee and won reinstatement. Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

Published

7 hours ago

May 17, 2026

Oakland Post

Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville). File photo.

By Emil Amok Guillermo

You may know Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville).

He grew up in Oakland and the East Bay. His mother is Filipino. You can tell by his full name Justin Shea Bautista Jones.

His father is African American.

He is fighting for all of us.

Now, Pearson is running for Congress and Jones is still fighting for all of us.

The recent 6-3 Supreme Court decision barring the use of race in drawing congressional districts marks a major turning point in U.S. history.

The decision took away the Voting Rights Act’s power to assure minority voices were both heard and represented.

“What we’re seeing now is this new Jim Crow system in which Black and Brown communities are without voice in our political process,” he told Fredricka Whitfield on CNN last weekend.

“That’s a canary in the coal mine for the rest of the nation. If they come for one of us, they’re coming for all of us, and some of my message to America is that the South is the front line of democracy,” Jones said. “They are dismantling multi-racial democracy here in the South, in states like Tennessee and Louisiana. But they aren’t going to stop here.”

That’s why Jones said we have to start paying attention to the South, and start helping them fight back there,” he said.

“I want to be clear that this terror, this type of system they’re enacting, are the same systems my grandparents told me about who grew up in Tennessee, a system where people like me couldn’t even be in political office. That’s the time they’re bringing us back to and I’m not sounding the alarm to be alarmist. But I am sounding it because we’ve seen this before in our history.”

Jones talked about Reconstruction and about what happened between the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1960s, when there was no Black political representation.

It’s a rebellion to keep our democracy going forward, he said.

“Stand with us and help us fight back against this extremist power grab — this racist power grab against our vision of a multi-racial democracy,” Jones added.

“While there is a litigation strategy, it’s important to maintain what he called a “movement strategy” that leads to the largest voter mobilization and registration that has ever been seen in the South,” he encouraged.

In 2026.

“Tennessee is an oppressed state,” Jones said. “It’s a state where one in five Black voters can’t vote because of felony disenfranchisement. It is where you can use a gun permit to vote, but you can’t use a student ID card to vote.

That’s the Asian American African American voice of Justin Jones.

Read his words for inspiration.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a veteran journalist, commentator, and comic stage monologist. His new show “69, Emil Amok: Anchorman—The News Made Me Do It,” is at the San Diego Fringe at New Destiny/Lincoln Park, 4931 Logan Ave. Ste. 102. May 14-23, at various times. Get tickets here.