We All Belong in Alameda County
Measure A1 is Alameda County’s voter-approved General Obligation Bond to create and preserve affordable housing for the residents most in need: seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, families, and frontline workers.
What is Measure A1, and why did we need it?
We have a housing crisis in Alameda County. Between 2010 and 2015, state and federal funding for affordable housing decreased by 89%, and when California ended redevelopment in 2012 the County lost $58 million annually for affordable housing efforts. The County and its cities faced a shortfall of more than 60,000 homes affordable to low‑income families.
Alameda County stepped up. In November 2016, voters overwhelmingly approved the Measure A1 General Obligation Bond, 73% in favor, providing $580 million to create or preserve at least 3,800 affordable homes countywide. The bond funds must be used for “the purchase and improvement of real property to create and preserve affordable housing.”
Every Measure A1 dollar drew about seven more from state, federal, and private sources, for $3.4 billion in total development investment across Measure A1 rental projects. Administration has been held to 7.9% of spending, under the bond’s 10% limit (through June 2025). Along the way, A1 has helped families buy homes, kept seniors safely in the homes they own, and moved people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing.
“In the face of a rising housing crisis, Measure A1 has been instrumental in providing critically needed affordable housing for individuals, families, and homeless residents throughout Alameda County. We have also ensured complete transparency through independent audits and taxpayer oversight.”
– Supervisor Wilma Chan, District 3 · Chair, Housing Subcommittee
How the $580 million bond is allocated
The $580 million bond by program. Board actions moved $10 million from Renew AC to AC Boost (FY2023–24) and $14.0 million from Homeownership Development to the OakDays and Edes Avenue conversions (FY2024–25); transfers net to zero against the $580 million total.
The story of Measure A1
Ten years after voters said yes, Measure A1 has grown into a full set of housing programs. The County designed them in rounds, put the funds to work, measured the results, and changed course when the moment called for it. These are the milestones along the way.
Read the full ten‑year story
Redevelopment ends; funding collapses
California dissolves redevelopment agencies, costing Alameda County $58 million a year for affordable housing. State and federal funding falls 89%, leaving a shortfall of more than 60,000 affordable homes.
Voters approve Measure A1 with 73% support
The $580 million General Obligation Bond passes, with a goal of creating or preserving at least 3,800 affordable homes. The Board of Supervisors establishes an independent Oversight Committee to review expenditures and report.
$580M Bond
Program policies adopted; implementation begins
Working with community leaders and the public, HCD designs the programs: a Rental Development Fund with Base City and Regional Pool shares, homeownership loans, and an acquisition fund for fast preservation deals. Hello Housing is chosen through a competitive process to run AC Boost, and Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley is recruited to run Renew AC.
RentalHomeownership
First bonds sold; AC Boost lotteries launch
The County issues the first series of A1 bonds. AC Boost conducts its first two application lotteries in May 2019, and Rental Development RFPs commit funds rapidly to a countywide project pipeline.
Issuance 1
The first Measure A1 building is completed
Coliseum Connections opens beside the Coliseum BART station in Oakland with 110 mixed‑income homes. It is Measure A1’s first completed development, an early, emergency‑funded project that broke ground before the first bonds were sold. Grayson Apartments in Berkeley and La Vereda in San Leandro follow within the year.
Rental
The acquisition fund splits into two programs
The original $35 million acquisition allocation is restructured into the Innovation & Opportunity Fund: a $25 million Acquisition & Opportunity Fund providing over‑the‑counter predevelopment and site‑acquisition loans to pre‑approved developers, and a $10 million Innovation Fund reserved for new approaches to affordable rental housing.
Innovation & Opportunity
Second issuance completes the $580 million
With the 2021 issuance, the entire voter‑approved authorization is in hand. Through the COVID‑19 pandemic, A1’s rapid commitment of funds keeps the multifamily pipeline moving when it is needed most.
Issuance 2
Acquisition funds power Project Roomkey & Homekey
When COVID‑19 made group shelters unsafe, Project Roomkey moved unhoused residents into hotel rooms, and Project Homekey gave counties the chance to buy those hotels and make the housing permanent. The County put the entire $25 million Acquisition & Opportunity Fund into this effort, alongside the state’s Homekey grants, to convert two Oakland hotels on Edes Avenue, OakDays and Edes Avenue Community Apartments, into 244 permanent homes, including 240 County‑restricted affordable homes protected for 55 years. Construction began in October 2024. In FY2024/25 the Board moved $14.0 million from Homeownership Development to the Rental Development Fund for the two projects.
Acquisition & OpportunityHomelessness Response & Housing
Funds move from Renew AC into AC Boost
With long waitlists of qualified first‑time buyers and slower demand for home repair loans, the Board moves $10 million from Renew AC into AC Boost, bringing the funds to $60 million and $35 million. It also raises the Renew AC loan limit from $150,000 to $200,000.
Homeownership
Tax‑defaulted properties & emerging developers
The Innovation Fund makes its first awards: a loan program for tax‑defaulted properties that puts delinquent parcels back to use as affordable housing, and a predevelopment program for emerging developers that helps smaller, community‑based builders take on affordable projects.
Innovation
SHIFT launches; 10‑Year Housing Plan adopted
The Board adopts the Alameda County 10‑Year Housing Plan (July 22, 2025). HCD launches SHIFT, the Scalable Housing Infill Funding Toolkit, a first‑of‑its‑kind pilot using pre‑permitted designs, streamlined approvals, and recent state law to build 4–16 unit infill projects at roughly 25% below typical subsidized cost. Inspired ADUs is selected as design partner; the first SHIFT funding round is anticipated in 2026.
InnovationRental
Program Income Expenditure Plan
Measure A1 loans are being repaid, and unspent bond proceeds earn interest: roughly $48 million in Program Income so far. On January 26, 2026, the Board’s Health Committee recommends a plan to reinvest it in affordable rental development, SHIFT, a Cares First Jails Last capital fund, and a senior ADU homeownership program. See the plan ↓
Program Income
A decade of Measure A1
November 2026 marks ten years since Alameda County voters approved Measure A1 with 73% support. Ten years on: thousands of homes built and preserved, hundreds of families in first homes, and a reinvestment plan carrying the work into its second decade.
AnniversaryThe Measure A1 program areas
Our programs are designed with one goal: to create and preserve affordable housing for the residents most in need, in ways that meet the different needs of a diverse County. Each has changed over the life of the bond as the County learned what works.
The Rental Development Fund
The Rental Development Fund is the largest Measure A1 program. It helps build and preserve affordable rental homes across the County. A $225M Base City Allocation gives every city and the unincorporated area a share based on housing need, and a $200M Regional Pool is awarded through competitive funding rounds in four regions of the County. Homes serve households earning less than 60% of the area median income, and one in five is set aside for households at 20% or less. Many are reserved for groups such as seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, essential workers, and people leaving homelessness or incarceration. Projects stand in 13 of the County’s 14 cities, in Ashland and Castro Valley, and in all five supervisorial districts. By June 30, 2026, 41 projects with 3,139 homes were complete, and 15 more with 1,132 homes were under construction or in predevelopment. Over each project’s 55‑year term, every Measure A1 dollar returns an average of $10.56 in rent relief to residents.
Homes for people exiting homelessness
Nearly one in three A1 rental homes is committed to people exiting homelessness, the supply the County’s homelessness response places people into.†
How this program has evolved
- 2017–19Base City and Regional Pool funding rounds open, and funds are committed quickly to projects across the County.
- 2021The second bond sale completes the fund. Commitments continue as projects close their financing and start construction.
- 2026The proposed Program Income plan would add $24.4M (56%) for affordable rental development, extending the fund beyond the original bond.
The Innovation & Opportunity Fund
The Acquisition & Opportunity Fund ($25M) was designed to give pre‑approved nonprofit developers quick, short‑term loans to buy sites and start predevelopment, so they can act as fast as the market and prevent displacement. When the pandemic hit, the County put the whole fund into Project Homekey, helping turn two Oakland hotels on Edes Avenue, OakDays and Edes Avenue Community Apartments, into 244 permanent homes. The Innovation Fund ($10M) backs new ways to build affordable rental housing for the same households the Rental Development Fund serves, including loans for tax‑defaulted properties and for emerging developers.
How this program has evolved
- 2019–20The original acquisition allocation is split in two: Acquisition & Opportunity for fast preservation deals, and Innovation for new ideas.
- 2020–24The full $25M Acquisition & Opportunity Fund goes to Project Homekey, helping convert the two Edes Avenue hotels in Oakland into 244 permanent homes.
- 2024Innovation funds open a loan program for tax‑defaulted properties, turning delinquent parcels into sites for affordable housing.
- 2024–25Innovation funds start a predevelopment program for emerging developers, helping smaller, community‑based builders get projects started.
- 2025SHIFT launches: pre‑permitted designs for 4–16 unit infill homes, faster approvals, and recent state law (SB 9, SB 4), aiming to build at about 25% below typical subsidized cost. The first funding round is expected in 2026, and the Program Income plan proposes $7.4M (17%) for SHIFT.
AC Boost · Renew AC · Homeownership Development
Measure A1’s homeownership programs help families buy a first home and help owners stay in the homes they have. AC Boost, run by Hello Housing, makes shared‑appreciation down payment loans of up to $210,000 to first‑time buyers earning up to 120% of the area median income who live or work in the County, with preference for educators and first responders. Renew AC, run by Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley, makes 1% deferred‑interest loans of up to $200,000 so seniors, people with disabilities, and low‑income owners can fix health and safety problems and stay in their homes. The Homeownership Development Program helps build new affordable homes for sale. After Board transfers, the funds are $60 million for AC Boost, $35 million for Renew AC, and $11.0 million for Homeownership Development (as of June 30, 2024).
How this program has evolved
- 2018–19Hello Housing is selected to run AC Boost and holds the first two lotteries on May 3, 2019. Habitat for Humanity launches Renew AC.
- Dec 2023The Board moves $10 million from Renew AC to AC Boost, to $60 million and $35 million, to match homebuyer demand: 12,555 households pre‑applied across three lotteries. It also raises the Renew AC loan limit to $200,000.
- FY23/24A record year: 128 AC Boost loans and $24.7 million disbursed, more than the first three years combined, and 62 Renew AC home repairs (Annual Report 5).
- 2024–25Homeownership Development funds support new for‑sale homes, such as Sequoia Grove. In FY2024/25 the Board moves $14.0 million of this fund to the OakDays and Edes Avenue hotel conversions.
- 2026The proposed Program Income plan sets aside $3.1M (7%) for a new senior ADU homeownership program, funding lot splits and accessible new homes for up to 20 senior households.
Projects
Every Measure A1 rental development on one map. Color shows status and marker size shows Measure A1 investment. Click a marker for the project summary, or click the map to zoom with your mouse wheel.‡
Project list (accessible text version of the map)
| Project | City | Homes | Status | Summary |
|---|
Stakeholder profiles
Measure A1 is counted in homes and dollars, but it is felt by people. A few of them, in their own words.
Meet the people of Measure A1
Charlotte
I have always lived here. It’s roots, and it’s history, and it’s memories.
Charlotte grew up in her Hayward home and bought it from her parents. When rain was pouring into her laundry room, Renew AC repaired the roof, siding, windows, and interior, keeping a family home secure for the next generation.
Linda St. Julian
If I sold it, where would I go?
Linda has lived in her 1910 home for more than thirty years, the house her sister bought so their mother would always have a place to live. Renew AC delivered a new roof, an insulated kitchen, and a peaceful blue paint job; the same crew went on to paint three more houses on her block.
Marilyn
A home is like a piggy bank – this is what it looks like to pass wealth on to another generation.
A retired Head Start educator, Marilyn’s renovation brought her electrical up to code, restored her original 1932 cabinets, and replaced a triple‑layered roof. “I can sleep at night without worrying about a wiring fire.”
Jonetta
Since moving into my new apartment, my depression has gotten better… the relief has been great.
After fifteen years in a single room with only a microwave, Jonetta moved into Grayson Street Apartments: 22 affordable homes operated by SAHA, 17 set aside for people with disabilities, supported with $691,394 of Measure A1 funds.
Nancy Pelayo
They walked into their new living room, hugged each other, and they all cried.
With $4.6 million from the Rental Development Fund, MidPen expanded Kottinger Gardens from 50 to 131 senior cottages and apartments serving households from 20% to 60% AMI. Nancy lives on site, managing leasing and building community.
Dr. Christine Ma
One of the most basic ways to feel stable is to know where you will sleep at night.
Dr. Ma cares for children in housing‑unstable families and sees the toll instability takes on health and development. Her prescription is the one A1 exists to fill: “One important way to stabilize a family is to give them a place that they can call home.”
Built by Alameda County
Workforce
Every Measure A1 construction hour is paid at prevailing wage, and the bond set goals for hiring County residents and contracting with local businesses.
Marks show each goal. Certified local businesses have been paid $108.4M, and small local businesses $48.0M, on completed projects. Apprentices worked 922,023 hours, 58.6% of them by County residents.
Explore the dashboards
Public beta
The dashboards track Measure A1 in detail and update as new program data comes in. Each is a public beta: use Version notes to see what changed, and Comment on this dashboard to send the team a note.
Scroll inside the window to explore a dashboard. Point at it, or tab to it, for Maximize and Open in new tab.
Accountability
The Board of Supervisors built oversight into Measure A1 from the start. Spending is audited, reported to the public, and reviewed in open meetings anyone can attend.
Citizens’ Oversight Committee
An independent committee reviews all Measure A1 expenditures and reports its findings to the Board and the public.
Committee composition
A volunteer committee of 15 members from community stakeholder groups, required by the bond measure and set up by the Board of Supervisors in 2016. It reviews spending and program results and compiles the Annual Reports. Meetings are public, and the roster is posted with the meeting calendar.
Independent audits
Annual independent financial audits verify that bond funds are invested in the purchase and improvement of real property to create and preserve affordable housing.
What the audits cover
Bond funds must be used for “the purchase and improvement of real property to create and preserve affordable housing.” Administration (staff, program administrators, consultants, and bond issuance) is capped at 10% of proceeds over the bond’s ten‑to‑twelve‑year implementation (expected complete FY 2027/28). Administration stands at 7.9% of expenditures to date.
Annual & live reporting
Annual Reports cover every year since January 2017, and live dashboards track spending, projects, and loans in between.
Two layers of reporting
The Oversight Committee compiles Annual Reports on program progress, spending, and projects, published in English, Simplified Chinese, and Tagalog. Between reports, the dashboards above keep the accounting current as new fiscal and program data arrive.
Labor compliance
A dedicated program monitors prevailing-wage and local-hire requirements on A1-funded construction and reports results to the Board.
Workforce results
Every hour of A1 construction is paid at state prevailing wage, and projects that meet County size thresholds build under a Project Labor Agreement with the Building Trades Council. Results are in the Workforce section and on the Labor & Workforce Compliance dashboard.
Reports & resource library
Annual Reports
Annual Report 1January 2017 – June 2018 (PDF) Annual Report 2July 2018 – June 2019 (PDF) Annual Report 3July 2019 – June 2020 (PDF) Annual Report 4July 2020 – June 2022 (PDF) Annual Report 5July 2022 – June 2024 · draft pending Board of Supervisors (PDF)Attend an oversight meeting. Measure A1 Committee meetings are open to the public. Agendas, materials, and dates are posted on the Alameda County HCD calendar.
View meeting calendarCarrying Measure A1 into its second decade
What’s next
The County’s 10‑Year Housing Plan builds on what Measure A1 taught, and a proposed plan would put the money the bond earns back to work.
The 10‑Year Housing Plan: built on a decade of Measure A1
Adopted by the Board of Supervisors on July 22, 2025, the Alameda County 10‑Year Housing Plan draws on what a decade of Measure A1 taught the County about moving money quickly, combining funding sources, and reaching the households with the greatest need. It sets the County’s approach to high housing costs, displacement, and homelessness for the next ten years. The Program Income Expenditure Plan is one of its first actions, and each proposed use ties to a Plan strategy.
Reinvesting Program Income
Beyond the bond itself, Measure A1 earns money: interest on unspent bond proceeds and repayments of rental and homeownership loans. The proposed Program Income Expenditure Plan would put about $43.4 million of it back to work, guided by community feedback and the 10‑Year Housing Plan.
Where the income comes from
| 2019 & 2022 issuance interest earned | ~$43,000,000 |
|---|---|
| Homeownership loan repayments | $3,121,689 |
| Rental development loan repayments | $1,900,569 |
| Interest earned on program loans | $218,538 |
| Total collected to date | $48,240,796 |
| Less administration (10%) | ($4,824,080) |
| Available to allocate to programs | $43,416,716 |
Where it’s proposed to go
Like the bond, every reinvested dollar goes to the purchase and improvement of real property to create and preserve affordable housing. Recommended by the Board’s Health Committee on January 26, 2026; pending Board adoption.
Notes, sources & methodology
* Statistic bases (program to date vs. Annual Report 5)
Every statistic on this page carries a declared basis, shown in its dotted‑underline tooltip. Most figures are program to date: rental figures from the rental dashboard’s project records (construction status as of July 1, 2026), spending from the expenditure dashboard (through June 30, 2025, the latest year loaded), and homeownership figures from the homeownership dashboard (administrator reporting through May 14, 2026). Figures from Annual Report 5 are marked as of June 30, 2024. For reference, Annual Report 5 reported the same commitments (56 projects, 4,271 homes, $414.9M), 724 homes completed in FY22/23 and FY23/24, and $405.5M spent (70% of the bond) as of June 30, 2024.
Card figures: Rental Development 56 projects, 4,271 homes and $414.9M committed (rental dashboard, matching AR5); 41 projects with 3,139 homes complete through June 2026, and 15 projects with 1,132 homes under construction or in predevelopment (status as of July 1, 2026). Homeownership 270 AC Boost homebuyers ($46.8M) and 174 Renew AC repairs ($24.1M), $70.9M in all (homeownership dashboard, through May 14, 2026); Annual Report 5 counted 237 AC Boost loans ($40.6M) and 127 Renew AC loans as of June 30, 2024. Innovation & Opportunity: the $25M Acquisition & Opportunity Fund is 100% invested in the OakDays and Edes Avenue Homekey conversions, per HCD program staff (October 2026). The expenditure dashboard runs through June 30, 2025 and shows $8.2M of Acquisition & Opportunity investment to that date; FY25/26 is not yet loaded. The Innovation Fund has no expenditure line to date. Embedded subsidy figures use the Clean Embedded Subsidy Model ruled values: $2.83B lifetime rent relief ($2.14B in A1‑restricted homes), $10.56 per Measure A1 dollar and $5.84 per local subsidy dollar, each an average of project‑level ratios, nominal and undiscounted over the 55‑year term.
† Formerly homeless units within the 4,271 total
The rollover calls out the 1,360 units committed to formerly homeless households within the 4,271 total, per project population commitments. Population and AMI categories overlap (a supportive unit is typically also a 20% or 30% AMI unit), so a single non‑overlapping breakout is shown rather than a full unit‑mix pie; the complete unit composition by AMI level and population lives on the rental dashboard’s Units & Populations tab. The bond’s “20% at 20%” pledge separately dedicates one in five rental units to households at 20% of Area Median Income.
Fund transfers & project count
Post‑transfer allocations follow Annual Report 5: Board actions moved $10 million from Renew AC to AC Boost (FY2023–24) and $14.0 million from Homeownership Development to the OakDays and Edes Avenue conversions (FY2024–25); transfers net to zero against the $580 million total. The project count is 56 rental developments, one record per development (BFHP Hope Center counted once), as ruled for Annual Report 5 and carried by the capital dashboard.
‡ Projects map dataset & summary links
All 56 projects, coordinates, unit counts, Measure A1 investment, and statuses come directly from the capital dashboard (v21, confirmed unchanged against v33; later versions through the embedded v36 change only the header, the public‑beta panels, and methodology wording): coordinates geocoded from the County project websites workbook (4 locations are approximate and say so in the popup), and status derived from construction start and completion dates as of July 1, 2026, 41 completed, 8 under construction, 7 in predevelopment. The basemap is OpenFreeMap Positron: open source, built from OpenStreetMap data, free to use with no key or usage limit, and drawn with MapLibre so city, neighborhood, and street names stay sharp at every zoom. If the browser cannot draw it, the map switches to Esri Light Gray Canvas tiles with their label layer, and then to an embedded basemap image. Status colors and investment‑scaled markers follow the dashboard’s map conventions, and the legend buttons hide or show each status.
Summary links: each popup’s primary link is the official Measure A1 project summary from measurea1.acgov.org/rental-project-summaries/, matched by the project name captioned under each summary thumbnail; the developer or partner page appears as a secondary link where one exists. 50 of 56 projects have a published summary; Berkeley Way and BFHP Hope Center share one combined summary. Name variations were reconciled to the dashboard’s project names (e.g., “Bermuda Gardens” = The Manzanita; “Regional Street” = Clover Terraces; “Albany Family” = Verana Hill; “Douglas Ford” = Doug Ford Community Apartments; the summaries page’s “1245 McKay” = the dashboard’s 1247 McKay). Six projects have no summary published yet, noted in their popups: OakDays, Edes Avenue Community Apartments, 15101 Washington Avenue, Stardust Gardens Family Apartments (RESHAP), 95th & International, and the Tri‑Valley REACH ADU project (the summaries page’s Tanager ADUs entry has not been posted).
Sources & notes
Content adapted from measurea1.acgov.org · high‑level accomplishments and Program Income figures from the draft MA1 Program Income Expenditure Plan board letter · SHIFT details from Alameda County HCD announcements (2025) · Oversight Committee composition from the HCD meeting calendar and Administration pages · topline figures verified against the expenditure, homeownership, and rental dashboards (reporting through May–July 2026) · program income “interest earned on program loans” combines rental ($88,919) and homeownership ($129,619) interest lines · leverage of $7 : $1 is non‑County dollars per Measure A1 dollar, consistent with the published Annual Reports; County conduit bonds are classified as private debt · project photography (Casa Sueños, Lazuli Landing, Timber Senior Housing, Edes Avenue, The Vineyard, Depot Community Apartments) and lifestyle imagery from the Annual Report 5 photo set, embedded; stakeholder profile photos from the existing Measure A1 website · projects map basemap tiles © Esri and © OpenStreetMap contributors · the per‑dollar leverage KPI was retired from the headline strip per AR5 alignment; leverage remains described in prose with its basis in this note (non‑County dollars per A1 dollar, capital dashboard) · comments are collected through the Measure A1 Microsoft Form, embedded in each dashboard’s comment panel and linked from the footer; the four dashboards appear in one place, the Dashboards section, embedded in this file as isolated frames in a scrolling window with Maximize and Open in new tab (Affordable Rental Development Program v37, Expenditure Accounting v28, Homeownership Programs v12, Labor & Workforce Compliance v14, each a public beta published October 22, 2026, with one shared header: the Alameda County Housing & Community Development logo, a data line, the version stamp, version notes, a comment form, and the same download pair) and keep their own downloads, filters, and tabs; workforce figures from the Labor & Workforce Compliance dashboard v14 · accessibility: the page was reviewed and revised against Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 AA (the standard California AB 434 applies to public‑agency sites): contrast ratios raised to at least 4.5:1, skip link and main landmark added, statistic bases made keyboard‑operable, data tables given header semantics, an accessible text version of the projects map added, and the menu marks the section in view for screen readers; the October 22, 2026 edition was re‑checked with axe‑core (WCAG 2.1 AA rules) on the page and on every dashboard tab, with zero violations.