Report to the Board: May 15, 2025 | Association of Bay Area Governments

May 15, 2025

Updates

Registration is open for the annual ABAG General Assembly on Friday, June 20, at the Bay Area Metro Center. Please encourage delegates to register as soon as possible to ensure we have quorum. The event will feature keynote speaker and economist Dr. Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics LLC, followed by a panel of elected officials and leaders discussing how ABAG/MTC technical assistance has benefited their communities. Register on Eventbrite

As part of Affordable Housing Month, ABAG and MTC teamed up with our partners at East Bay Housing Organizations for two events. In addition to the May 1 SPUR event with Deputy Executive Director for Housing & Energy Daniel Saver, which focused on strategies for tracking cities' Housing Element progress, BAHFA co-hosted a webinar on May 6 in partnership with the Raise the Roof Coalition, the Stanford Community Law Clinic and All Home on recent and forthcoming research on evictions in the region and opportunities to protect tenants. BAHFA Anti-Displacement Manager Irene Farnsworth shared a preview of the forthcoming BAHFA regional eviction study findings, which are expected to be released later this summer. I also had the opportunity to attend the 29th Annual Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California Affordable Housing Leadership Awards with Daniel and Alix, which celebrates the individuals and organizations leading change in the Bay Area’s affordable housing sector. To see other events throughout the month, visit Affordable Housing Month website.

The Bay Area Housing Finance Authority has released Notices of Funding Availability for two programs: Housing Preservation Loan Pilot and Housing Preservation Project Technical Assistance Grant Program. Both programs will accept applications on a rolling basis and will be processed in the order they are received until all funds are committed.
In addition, on March 25th, the Strategic Growth Council released Round 9 Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) for approximately $775 million in funds available under the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program. All applications in the Bay Area are required to include a confirmation of consistency with Plan Bay Area 2050 from MTC. Applicants should email consistency@bayareametro.gov to request a consistency confirmation.

I spoke at a press conference on Tuesday, May 6, alongside representatives from Bay Area transit agencies and the Bay Area Air District for All Aboard Bay Area Transit Day. Transit Day invites the public to get out and ride transit – or perhaps try it for the first time. Transit Day also coincided with the start of Spare the Air summer smog season, when the Air District urges Bay Area residents to take transit, walk, bike or share rides to help cut air pollution.

May is also Bike Month in the Bay Area, and today is Bike to Work Day. Bike to Wherever Days bring together residents of the Bay Area counties to celebrate bicycling. It helps new and experienced riders build community, promotes pedaling as a means of transportation, and improves the health of residents, as well as the environment. Each year, MTC and the other organizers of Bike Month select a winner of the Bike Champion of the Year competition, one for each of the nine Bay Area counties. To see the list of this year’s winners, visit Bike Champion Winners. For more info on events the rest of the month, visit BayAreaBikeToWork.com.

The John Muir Land Trust has successfully completed the Pacheco Marsh restoration and public access project, funded in part by the San Francisco Restoration Authority. A dedication event was held on May 2 for elected officials, funders, and project partners, with the official public opening on May 3. The 84-acre tidal wetland now features 2.4 miles of trails, including a wheelchair-accessible path, elevated vistas, a bird blind, a kayak launch, and an environmental education pavilion. The project aims to restore vital ecosystems and provide educational and recreational opportunities for the adjacent communities. The Contra Costa County Flood Control District completed the habitat restoration following a 2021 levee breach that allowed Suisun Bay waters to flow back into restored channels. Contra Costa Supervisor John Gioia and ABAG Executive Board member and Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston were among the speakers at the event.

In April, BayREN released its 2024 Annual Report A Shared Horizon: Better Buildings, Brighter Tomorrow. This year’s report celebrates major strides in energy efficiency and electrification, including the start of four new initiatives, 218 energy upgrades for small businesses, and the launch of Existing Building Study Dashboard, offering local governments detailed building data to support decarbonization planning. Read the report at BayREN Annual Report.
BayRen has also selected five sites for its Decarbonization Showcase, designed to collect and share data on decarbonization for public buildings, offer free technical and financial support to participants, and share findings and insights through case studies and other methods. The five sites are Roosevelt Community Center (San José), Belle Haven Child Care Development Center (Menlo Park), The Village Sunnydale Avenue (San Francisco), San Anselmo Library, and Temescal Branch Library (Oakland).
The first project in the newly launched BayREN Refrigerant Replacement Program (BRRR) has been completed at Haight and Cole Liquors, which has served residents in the historic HaightAshbury neighborhood for more than 25 years. BRRR provides small businesses in the food and floral sector with environmentally friendly refrigerant alternatives and optimizes refrigeration systems at no cost to the business.

On June 16 and 17, MTC and ABAG are hosting Accessible Futures: Sharing. Listening. Learning — a regional gathering of the Bay Area disability community to identify the unmet needs and gaps in policies, services and advocacy for persons with disabilities across the topics of transportation, housing, the environment and other topics of priority for the community. Registration will open later this month.