A Case Study in the Success of the Great Communities Collaborative: San Leandro's "The Crossings"

City Sets New Standard for Creating Inclusive, Walkable Communities in the Bay Area

On March 2, 2009, the San Leandro City Council unanimously approved 100 units of affordable apartments as part of "The Crossings", a major new mixed-use development next to the San Leandro BART station. The Crossings represents an important step towards creating a region of communities with affordable housing, jobs, shops, and services within easy walking distance of transit.

Why? Because new development in San Leandro could have easily gone a very different direction. Originally the plan for the area surrounding the BART station proposed only 500 homes, which would have prevented a project like The Crossings from happening.

Meanwhile, we need growth to be directed towards existing developed areas like the San Leandro BART station, not our precious remaining open space - especially with the Bay Area growing like it is.

But thanks to the efforts of Great Communities Collaborative (of which TransForm is a part of), the final plan allows 3,500 new homes downtown, up from 500 homes proposed before the planning process.

When the Collaborative and Congregations Organizing for Renewal surveyed existing residents about their needs in the face of new development, affordable housing and avoiding displacement were the top priorities. Residents were thrilled to learn that the local planning process could be a way to address these needs.

The Collaborative helped the residents identify a suite of investments and policies San Leandro could make to help meet these goals, including identification and early purchase of sites for affordable housing.

San Leandro's excessive parking requirements were also identified as a major obstacle to building more affordable homes, as it reduces the land available for homes near BART, thereby reducing density and increasing the price of each unit.

Hundreds of community members were engaged through the planning process and are the reason why the final plan allows 3,500 new homes downtown, up from 500 homes.

In most places "density" has become a bad word, but because the community saw that their requests had been fulfilled - significant levels of affordable housing for low and very low-income households, an anti-displacement policy, and pedestrian improvements - the support from residents was tremendous.

In a letter of support to the City, TransForm applauded the project because it will provide new affordable homes close to transit, which will result in fewer car trips and less greenhouse gas emissions. The Crossings is also located along the planned East Bay Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor.

This is the kind of smart infill development the region needs in order that future growth meets local needs and makes the entire region more sustainable.

The Alameda will be San Leandro's first new apartments geared toward very low income families built in over twenty years. Forty percent of the homes will be 3-bedroom apartments to accomodate larger working families that have often had to live in overcrowded conditions. As of 2005, less than 14% of San Leandro residents could afford a market-rate single family home.

Urban Habitat, also part of the Great Communities Collaborative, and Congregations Organization for Renewal were joined by TransForm and many other social justice and environmental groups in support of The Crossings.