Berkeley City Council adopted a resolution to alter the Affordable Housing Preference Policy and passed the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan at its Tuesday evening meeting.
The Affordable Housing Preference Policy went into effect in 2024 and established a preference system for assigning affordable housing units.
The policy revision aims to simplify the verification process for applicants. By replacing the previous point system with a tier system, applicants only need to provide documentation for their highest-qualifying preference rather than multiple, as was the case in the points-based system.
“We are seeing families reconnect with community that generational displacement pulled apart, and that means something,” said District 3 Councilmember Ben Bartlett.
The consent calendar, which included the adoption of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan, also passed. This plan allows developers to build apartment complexes up to seven stories tall along 2.35 miles of the street from the Berkeley-Albany border to the Berkeley-Oakland border, among other changes.
“The reason why we have an affordable housing preference policy is because we don’t have enough affordable housing,” said District 1 Councilmember Rashi Kesarwani. “I think we did a very important thing along San Pablo Avenue. We paved the way for thousands of new homes to come to that corridor.”
This plan was controversial among public commenters at the last City Council meeting, and commenters at Tuesday’s meeting continued to share concerns about whether the San Pablo Avenue Plan is the most effective method to create more affordable housing.
Multiple public commenters also shared that they felt unheard by the council in regard to the San Pablo Avenue Plan.
“I don’t want folks to feel like we’re not listening,” said Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii. “We absolutely are. It’s just we may not agree and change our minds on issues all the time.”