We cannot make meaningful progress toward inclusive prosperity in the region without addressing the housing crisis. SFF-initiative Great Communities Collaborative (GCC) is working to address housing and more. The GCC is proud to support the launch of the Community Ownership for Community Power (COCP) Fund “a bold $22M philanthropic initiative that brings together community power building organizations and the expansive funder ecosystem to address the inequitable funding system for community ownership of real estate, land, and housing in California.” Their press release is excerpted below:
The Community Ownership for Community Power (COCP) Fund today launches its $22 million philanthropic initiative to propel the growing community ownership movement across California. Community ownership is recognized as one of the key strategies to permanently address the crisis of housing affordability in the state yet has been underfunded by philanthropy. This four-year initiative aims to address that shortcoming and provide a vehicle for funders to support California’s growing ecosystem of community ownership organizations. The COCP Fund will also spearhead the creation of an integrated capital acquisition fund of at least $100 million, California’s first to be governed directly by communities, and will further leverage public and private funds for the field.
Community ownership refers to community-led initiatives such as community land trusts, housing cooperatives, and other shared equity models that are developed by and for the benefit of residents, not speculative developers or other public and private institutions who often fail to engage community leadership. The launch of the COCP Fund is an important step toward building a robust ecosystem of community ownership groups and demonstrating the potential of community ownership to address rampant displacement of historically low-income communities and Black, Indigenous, immigrant, and communities of color and the catalytic role philanthropy can play in this work.
Read the full statement.
Great Communities Collaborative (GCC)
GCC is a collaboration of funders, nonprofits, and public sector partners working to ensure that low-income communities and communities of color have a strong voice in shaping community-based solutions to address the Bay’s housing, transportation, land use, and climate challenges. By involving more people in planning and decision-making about their neighborhoods, GCC helps bring a diversity of voices into conversations around the future of our cities, counties, and the Bay Area as a whole, leading to new policies and practices around regional planning. Read more about Great Communities Collaborative (GCC).
Learn more:
- Read more about SFF’s all-in on housing work
- Read more about the Community Ownership for Community Power (COCP
