Background:

In 2010, Urban Habitat co-founded 6 Wins for Social Equity Network (6 Wins) at a pivotal political moment to ensure that regional planning decisions and investments are shaped by the voices and needs of those most impacted by policy decisions in the Bay Area. 

The 6 Wins is the only regional advocacy coalition which works together to ensure that the Bay Area’s transit, housing, jobs, and climate policies break the patterns of segregation, sprawl, and pollution that have disadvantaged low-income communities and communities of color for generations. 6 Wins is made up of the following social justice, faith, public health, and environmental organizations:

In the Bay Area, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) are responsible for the regional blueprint required by SB 375. Their plan, called “Plan Bay Area,” will determine how nearly $300 billion in public transportation money will be spent through 2040. The plan will also influence how and where the region will house the 2.1 million new residents projected to live here by 2040. 
 
The stakes are high for 6 Wins to achieve its six goals to create a more equitable Bay Area for all its residents include:
 
  • Frequent, reliable and affordable bus service provides us access to education, employment, health care, and other critical opportunities, plus free youth bus passes.
  • Affordable housing in areas including suburbs and near transit will give low-income communities access to more jobs, good schools, and healthy neighborhoods.
  • Investment without displacement ensures that transportation projects serve existing low-income communities, rather than uprooting them from their homes.
  • Quality jobs in communities struggling with high unemployment and low-wages will provide future prosperity for those most in need.
  • Healthy and safe communities can bring relief to the health of families living next to busy freeways, ports and oil refineries. Transportation investment must not, as in the past, provide all the benefits to affluent communities while pollution and other burdens fall on low-income families.
  • Community power for low-income communities of color in decision-making processes will ensure that investments and regional planning serve the needs of these communities. 
By working together, we can build a stronger, healthier, and more equitable future for everyone. Our campaign work in developing the most superior environmental scenario under Equity, Environmental, and Jobs (EEJ) for Plan Bay Area, to building out a regional housing equity agenda by centering tenant protections and affordable housing preservation and production for MTC’s CASA process, and advocating for the adoption of an actionable strategy for Plan Bay Area 2040 demonstrates that a regional policy agenda driven by community-identified needs will produce the most equitable solutions for the Bay Area. That means more affordable housing, fewer displaced residents, better transit service, healthier air, and the greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. 
 

Current Work:
In July of 2017, MTC and ABAG approved Plan Bay Area 2040 with an accompanying Action Plan which includes our anti-displacement policy priorities. The Action Plan is the result of a multi-year organizing campaign led by a collaboration between 6 Wins, Non-Profit Housing Association of California, and Greenbelt Alliance that pushed MTC and ABAG to advance a plan that invests in tenant protections, affordable housing, good jobs, and a healthier environment.

Plan Bay Area 2040 is also projected to exacerbate the housing crisis by exposing approximately 107,000 additional households to displacement risk. Soon after Plan Bay Area 2040 was approved, Urban Habitat helped launch an equity and anti-displacement strategy for MTC’s housing process known as CASA. It is up to CASA and strategies included in Plan Bay Area’s Action Plan to stem this tide. Through CASA, 6 wins is advocating for MTC to prioritize investments that address immediate concerns by protecting current residents, and then invest in future needs by preserving existing housing and producing new affordable housing. 
 
 
Two regional agencies responsible for adopting Plan Bay Area 2040 get a “D” for their performance, according to a report card issued today by the 6 Wins Network. - See more at: http://urbanhabitat.org/press-releases-0#sthash.B85rB2yj.dpufFor more information contact: Mashael Majid, Program Manager of Equitable Development, at mashael@urbanhabitat.org