A Letter in Support of Housing

The following is a letter in support of a development with significant levels of housing planned for the Brisbane Baylands. The Baylands project would fill 684 vacant acres 15 minutes south of San Francisco with office space, sports fields, other commercial space, a site for a high school, and most importantly, housing. 4,400 homes, to be exact. Such a boom of housing would help in the continued effort to reverse the housing shortage. The Brisbane City Council meets tonight August 7th to decide the fate of housing in the Brisbane plans. This letter is written in lieu of an in-person delivery during the public comment portion of the council meeting. It was sent to the council via email.

To the honorable Brisbane City Council,

Tonight, many housing activists will attend your meeting where the fate of nearly 700 vacant acres in your city will be decided. I’m sorry we’ll be there tonight, to pester you, our regional neighbors, into allowing more housing here in Brisbane.

But that’s precisely the reason we have to be here tonight.

Because so many other regional neighbors before you did not allow housing.

Because so many other regional neighbors with transit access, like you, did not allow housing.

Because so many other regional neighbors with small town charm, like you, did not allow housing.

Because so many other regional neighbors, like you, prefer people to stay during the workday, but go home — -elsewhere, at night.

And now.

We’re here.

Asking you to contribute when so many other regional neighbors have shirked their responsibility to allow housing to be built.

We’ll stand before you tired.

Tired from the almost endless list of tragedies of this housing shortage.

Tired from organizing to save one family at a time.

Tired from clawing our way to housing security.

You see we rally around our neighbors in trouble, facing threats of displacement. But there’s so many facing displacement now, we are losing the ability and energy to save each one. We have organized ourselves from many backgrounds and will do as much as we can when it comes to saving those already here and we will continue to do so. But, we have to face our perceived enemy and say we won’t let the fear of new housing harm any more of us.

We will build housing. Everywhere in the Bay. And we will build housing for everyone. And as long as your village, township, town, city, municipality, whatever you want to call it, has vacant or unused land here in the bay area, you’re helping to halt more displacement.

You’re contributing to the housing stock of which there is a shortage. We are no longer “bedroom communities.” Feeding off of each other’s office spaces and returning home each night to an exclusive enclave. We contribute more than that for one another now. Starting with housing.

I urge you to only consider a development plan that maximizes the number of homes that can be built in this community. Homes that will house the citizens who will send their children to school here, visit their doctor down the street, play recreational sports in the new facilities, and contribute to a safe healthy environment just by living near where they work.