December meetings; wildfires & housing in the news

Our December meeting is Monday, Dec 2 at the East Bay for Everyone space in Oakland, at 6:30pm. We will also have a social and networking happy hour on Tues, Dec 17 at Cafe Flore, at 6pm. We especially invite folks working and volunteering in other environmental, housing, or transportation-focused organizations to come say hello and share ideas!
It has been a busy month for news on the climate and housing front.

• Several opinion articles, including our own John Lisovsky, pointed out the link between our housing crisis and the wildfires and blackouts that swept California last month.
  • California’s intense fire seasons expose poor planning decisions by John Lisovsky in the SF Chronicle
  • California Is Becoming Unlivable by Annie Lowrey in the Atlantic
  • It’s the End of California as We Know It by Farhad Manjoo in the New York Times. We tweeted this comment in response. He was also interviewed on this topic on the Gimme Shelter podcast. In response to a related article, we argued strongly against statements that the wildfires suggest the state cannot accept more people.
    
• Housing and connections with climate have entered the national political conversation in a big way.
  • Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced a "Green New Deal" for public housing to decarbonize and upgrade existing public housing.
  • The presidential debate finally included a question about affordable housing, and three candidates got 4 minutes to say how they would encourage building more housing and other policies that address the historical inequities of redlining, support climate goals, sustainability, and rebalance federal policy to support renters.
  • Ilhan Omar introduced a bill aiming to fund the construction of 12 million new homes.