| | “Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.”
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | | Dear Friends, Partners, and Allies, Gratitude: As I reflect on 2020, I look upon this tumultuous year with a sense of heart-felt gratitude, growing confidence, and unwavering resolve. At Housing California, we are deeply thankful to our partners, colleagues, and supporters as we worked together to build a California with homes, health, and prosperity for all.
The sweet spot: This year, Housing California has stepped boldly into our unique role. From tradition to transformation, Housing California has emerged as a “go to organization” – connecting and serving at the intersection of housing, health, and racial justice. Through our network and coalition model, we are bringing together the affordable housing industry, the homelessness field, resident leaders and the broader, multi-sector housing justice movement to achieve maximum collective impact. In this role, Housing California has stepped into key spaces like the Community Vaccine Advisory Committee and the California Complete Count Committee. | | Achievements & our 3 strategic directions: Our collective contributions have helped to: (1) meaningfully shape a new statewide solutions-oriented narrative on housing and homelessness, (2) build and shift power through our multi-sector coalitions and community organizing networks for racial, justice-centered impact, and (3) unrelentingly push for transformational policy changes to create greater opportunities and better outcomes for Californians struggling the most, particularly our BIPOC neighbors. Just this week, we again partnered with national leaders like the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the National Alliance to End Homelessness to help advance a COVID-19 relief package that extends the CDC’s federal eviction moratorium and includes $25 billion in emergency rental assistance, helping tens of millions of families stay in their homes. I invite you to read more about the breadth of collaboration and achievements from this year in Housing California’s annual report, “Path to Success". | | | | Help Housing CA Build our Movement for Change | | | | | | 2020 Un-Conference: We also embraced the unknown and “went big and bold” to create our first ever virtual Un-Conference, which challenged us to own the past and transform the future. The experience drew over 1400 participants and cultivated conversations that helped to strengthen existing relationships while forging new ones and growing our base of co-conspirators to actively pursue racial justice in all of our work. I invite you to view the recorded sessions, which are now publicly available. | | | | What’s coming: These concerted efforts have laid the groundwork for bold initiatives in the coming year, starting with the recent launch of the Bring California Home campaign, the grassroots organizing and community-building of the Residents United Network, and the upcoming launch of California’s Roadmap HOME 2030, which will create greater synergy and even more opportunity for strategic collaboration as we make the case for bold, systemic change in California. | | | | Looking ahead: Now, as we look ahead at 2021, let us remain inspired by the awakening we have seen manifest across our country this year. Spurred by historic and, at times, tragic events, we witnessed millions of people taking swift action to bring meaningful relief to loved ones and neighbors affected by the coronavirus outbreak. As the world, our country, and our state emerge from the pandemic, racial injustice, economic strife, and natural disasters, we are committed to taking courageous actions that seize this moment, lean into this new era of growing consciousness, and collectively create a more just and equitable California.
Final reflection: During this holiday season, many of us will contemplate what we hold most dear. Let those reflections, and the successes of this year, fuel our sense of optimism, galvanize our resolve, and light the way for our actions next year. | | In solidarity, strength, and gratitude,
Lisa Hershey
Executive Director | |  | | | | | Housing California
1107 9th Street, Suite 560
Sacramento, California 95814
916-447-0503 | staff@housingca.org | | | | | | | | | |
