We are thrilled to honor our 2024 Changemakers at this year’s Soiree by the Bay: Mayor Jesse Arreguín and Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services. In preparation for the 2024 Soiree by the Bay, we proudly feature profiles of these incredible Changemakers and their work. 

As Berkeley’s Mayor, Jesse Arreguín has made addressing homelessness and affordable housing some of his top priorities. In fact, Jesse has spent much of his career as a housing champion. 

Jesse was born in Fresno and raised in San Francisco. He grew up in a working-class household. When Jesse was young, his family was pushed out of their home in the midst of San Francisco’s skyrocketing housing market, due to owner-move-in evictions and rent increases. Jesse knows how disruptive and harmful evictions are to families, and how essential housing security is for the success of families and children. 

On his first visit to UC Berkeley as a high school student, Jesse fell in love with the city and knew this was where he was meant to be. While at the university, Jesse led efforts to increase student housing and fought for the interests of students in City Hall as the ASUC City Affairs Director. In 2007, Jesse became the first in his family to graduate college. 

Before his election to the City Council in 2008, Jesse served on Berkeley’s Housing Advisory Commission, where he helped secure funding for hundreds of new affordable units, crafted the Condominium Conversion Ordinance, strengthened inclusionary housing policies, and fought for City funding for student cooperative housing.

In 2004, he was elected citywide to serve on the Rent Stabilization Board. As Chair of the Rent Board, he strengthened renter protections to help keep families in their homes. He also served on the Zoning Adjustments Board, Downtown Area Plan Advisory Committee, and Planning Commission. Once he joined the City Council, he created the Affordable Housing Fee, helped raise the city’s minimum wage and co-wrote the Downtown Plan to revitalize the heart of the city. 

Jesse was elected Mayor in 2016, becoming the first Latino and youngest person elected to the office in a century. Within the first three weeks in office, Mayor Arreguín helped double the number of emergency shelter beds. Over the past two years, he has worked to change Berkeley’s approach to addressing homelessness, focusing on compassionate solutions and housing first. In late June 2018, the City opened the Pathways STAIR Center, a 24/7 shelter proposed by Mayor Arreguín for people living in homeless encampments. The STAIR Center provides case management, social services, and housing support when people move out.  

The Mayor has also led efforts to increase housing production, expand tenant protections, expand anti-displacement programs, and create a dedicated funding stream for affordable housing. Mayor Arreguín led efforts to successfully pass Measure O and Measure P on the November 2018 ballot to provide funding for affordable housing and homeless services. His leadership has also resulted in over $33 million in infrastructure projects, including improved streets, sidewalks, and public buildings. He launched Vision 2050, a 30-year plan for sustainable, technologically advanced infrastructure for Berkeley. 

Mayor Arreguín leads a city brimming with perspectives, sometimes making building multifamily housing, let alone affordable homes, a struggle. The Mayor and council members have worked hard to find common ground and compromises. Mayor Arreguín has led the City to ensure tenant rights, and through public processes and significant controversy, he has steered the City and citizens toward enabling more affordable and supportive homes to be built along transit corridors, at its BART stations, and even at key locations such as People’s Park.

During the pandemic, Berkeley expanded effective services for the homeless, securing $30 million to support two Homekey Projects totaling 86 units. He also established the Berkley Relief Fund to support impacted workers, greatly expanded rental assistance programs, and established an eviction moratorium that kept hundreds of families in their homes during the pandemic. Unsheltered homelessness has dropped in Berkeley by 45 percent over the past two years.  

Enterprise especially admires Mayor Arreguín’s leadership as the President of the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), which took on a whole new Bay Area Housing Finance Agency (BAHFA). He has been a unique and consistent champion in building up the confidence of members of the BAHFA Oversight Committee. We wish to honor Mayor Arreguín as our Changemaker of the Year to thank him for all he has done for Berkeley and the region. 

In case you missed it, read the honoree profile on Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services.