Local Preference Policy:
HACCC and the Policy Grant Team are working with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to utilize a Local Preference Policy in both the selection of the non-profit development partners and for the targeted buyers. Any housing units built on any of the sites must give priority to former public housing residents of Las Deltas, then to current and former North Richmond residents and, lastly, the general public.
Organizations Involved
The Housing Authority of Contra Costa County (HACCC) was chosen as one of 11 jurisdictions throughout the Bay Area to work on a Policy Grant Team on advancing equitable housing policies. Launched in June 2022 and spanning two years, the program will help accelerate policies that preserve and produce affordable housing. Each entity is partnered with community organizations, which ensure community voices are represented in the policy process. A housing policy fellow is also embedded in each jurisdiction to serve as a catalyst to advance policy innovation. The following organizations are involved in the North Richmond Policy Grant Team, with the support of County Supervisor John Gioia.
History of Las Deltas
HACCC has played a significant role in North Richmond since the 1950s by providing affordable housing to the community through a robust public housing program, that at its peak, offered 224 units of affordable housing across an 11.38-acre main campus, 48 scattered site duplexes, and 4 single family homes throughout the neighborhood. Las Deltas, the main campus, represented more than 20% of the neighborhood’s housing stock at the time the project was decommissioned in 2020. Decades of unsuccessful attempts to bring additional financial resources to the maintenance of the public housing portfolio resulted in the transition of the properties through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program and the Section 18 Demolition and Disposition process. Long-time North Richmond residents were relocated from 2017 – 2020 and the affordable rental funding attached to the public housing units at Las Deltas were dispersed throughout the County through the project-based voucher program.
As the HACCC releases the vacant public housing sites for sale, this process will be the single most transformative factor in determining the future of North Richmond for decades to come. It will have a significant regional impact, due to the sheer scale of the housing development within the Bay Area. This is a pivotal moment in North Richmond and creative policies are needed to support existing and displaced residents’ ability to stay, return, and thrive. This is a once-in-several-generations opportunity to integrate affordable housing preservation and production with comprehensive revitalization and community development of the neighborhood in a manner that achieves long-term community wealth-generation, integrates health equity and climate resilience.
Documents and Resources
For additional information, please see the reports and external articles listed below.
Las Deltas Redevelopment Presentation
North Richmond Quality of Life Plan
ouR-HOME: Resilient by Design
To Place Our Deeds by Shirley Ann Wilson Moore
The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein