“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 so the public can have full confidence in this process.”
– Alameda County Supervisor Wilma Chan, District 3 Chair, Housing Subcommittee of the Board of Supervisors Healthcare Services Committee
Overview
What is Measure A1?
In 2016, voters overwhelming voted for the Measure A1 General Obligation Bond to support the creation of new affordable housing opportunities. Measure A1 passed with 73% of the vote in favor of creating or preserving 3,800 affordable homes countywide to address the severe housing crisis in our community. This was a huge step toward progress for Alameda County. The Measure A1 funding also leveraged billions of dollars in state, federal, and private funds in order to build quality affordable housing throughout Alameda County.
Why Measure A1?
Alameda County leaders envisioned the Measure A1 Affordable Housing Bond as an important tool for addressing a worsening affordability housing crisis . The scale of the Bond would empower the County to produce a goal of 3,800 units of housing for the most vulnerable residents while also implementing innovative programs to address the root causes of the housing crisis, such as access to lending, barriers to homeownership, and rapid changes in the housing market. The Bond would replace some of the receding federal and state funding for affordable housing.
At the same time Measure A1 would open up opportunities – providing matching funds for emerging sources of funding and creating the institutional capacity to ensure that continued affordable housing efforts were not lost when the State of California ended redevelopment in 2012 and Alameda County lost $58 million annually towards affordable housing efforts county-wide. The Measure A1 Bond would have immediate impacts on the housing crisis while preparing the County to play a more active role in protection, production and preservation of housing.
Measure A1 Bond is a strong step in reversing the retreat in state funding to build new housing and helps make our communities more equitable and accessible to people no matter their incomes, no matter their stories.
Purpose, Vision, Impact
Alameda County leaders envisioned the Measure A1 Affordable Housing Bond program as a broadly supported revenue source large enough to make a significant impact in addressing the local affordable housing crisis. This tool would be at a scale large enough to have a meaningful impact by creating new affordable rental units, preserving existing affordable units and empowering people to access homeownership. In the face of retreating federal and state resources, Measure A1 would provide multiple programmatic resources to prevent displacement and homelessness while helping to move people experiencing homelessness into permanent housing. During program implementation, the COVID-19 Pandemic hit, making dramatically clear the unequal access to basic resources facing extremely and very low income households, who are disproportionately people of color. The range of programs funded by Measure A1 helped the complexity of the problem, and our rapid response to get multi family housing built ensured that funds were committed quickly to projects in the pipeline. This local fund leveraged other resources from State and Federal sources to maximize total impact, recognizing that Measure A1 funds would not be enough to address the crisis on their own. Each dollar of local funding leveraged seven dollars from state, federal and other sources.
Alameda County has a 65,000 unit short-fall of housing affordable to low- and extremely low-income households. The Measure A1 program will develop at least 3,800 affordable homes through-out Alameda County. It is a significant step to begin closing the gap and providing quality housing to thousands of our neighbors.
Measure A1 has made a profound impact in our community
See our complete progress landscape >
Measure A1 Reports
The Board of Supervisors values transparency in government and included in the Measure A1 Bond an Oversight Committee which would review expenditures and report out on accomplishments of the Board. More information about the Oversight Committee can be found here.
Update on the Measure A1 Labor Compliance Program for Affordable Housing Projects
The Oversight Committee compiles Annual Reports on the progress of Measure A1 Bond programs. Each report can be downloaded or printed below:
Reporting Periods
July 2020 – June 2021 – Coming in 2024