Board Member Profile: Shawn Danino on Housing and Economic Justice
Shawn Danino is a policy manager for the City of San Jose and a candidate for Oakland City Council’s at-large seat. He also finds time in that busy schedule to serve on Transform’s board. We recently spoke with him about what drew him to work on housing issues, what it’s like to run for city council, and what he’s excited about working on with Transform.
Housing insecurity experience
Danino’s work in affordable housing is driven by life events. “I have lived experience around homelessness,” he says. “I slept in my car for several weeks while working full time.” As a result, he says, “I care really deeply about housing access and affordability.”
He noted that current zoning codes would make thousands of Oakland’s homes illegal to build today. But he sees an urgent need to build dense, mixed-income housing, calling it a “climate necessity.”
Danino likes to dig into the details of legislation and zoning regulations. He notes that being on the autism spectrum is his superpower because it gives him focus to get through long, boring documents and zero in on critical details.
City council run is about the details
“I decided to run for city council because it’s always been a dream of mine to write laws for local government,” Danino says. He’s a zoning expert and would love to be able to relegalize mixed uses like neighborhood markets and accessory commercial space in residential buildings.
Campaigning is tiring but rewarding work. Danino has knocked on thousands of doors and led walking tours to talk about his policies. “Crossing the streets should not be one of the most dangerous things we do,” he says. “People need to be able to move around our city safely.”
Housing figures in his plans for Oakland as well. “I believe homelessness is a policy choice, and I believe it’s the wrong one,” he says.
Threading the needle on climate, housing, and transportation
In a prior job at the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Danino reviewed public comments, and Transform’s were “some of the most thoughtful things I’d ever read,” he says. He’s excited to work with Transform on the intersection of climate, housing, and transportation, three issues he cares deeply about. “It’s been an incredibly exciting seat at the table,” he says.
Danino serves on the board’s recruiting committee, and he sees that role as a way to expand Transform’s reach. He sees Transform as an incubator for future leaders. “I’m excited about helping the organization be the best version of itself,” he says.
Dreaming big and dining local
Danino’s vision for the future of the Bay Area is more bus rapid transit routes to improve mobility and more housing — a lot more housing. “I think Oakland can be a city with a few million people, easily,” he says, if we can unwind the urban planning mistakes of the last 50 years.
When he’s not campaigning, poring through arcane legalese, or mapping out his vision for the future, Danino likes to go to Point Isabel with his partner and walk Phyllis, a pitbull, and pug Petunia. He also loves eating out and sampling local cocktails. “One thing I love about the Bay Area, and especially the East Bay, is our third places,” he says.
Whatever role he’s in, Danino says, “I feel really privileged to be doing work with so many thoughtful people.”
Transform does not endorse candidates for office. To see the positions of all the candidates for Oakland’s At Large city council seat on transportation issues, see these candidate questionnaires.