Press

Read, watch, listen and learn about us in these publications!

Full Press List

This Oakland Community Destroyed a Wall to Preserve Black History
Coyote Media Collective - December 9, 2025

Historic West Oakland Blues Club's Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History
KQED - October 30, 2025

The Facade at Esther's Orbit Room Is in Mortar Peril
Coyote Media Collective - October 20, 2025

Commodity or Human Right? How Community Wealth Building Can Address the Housing Crisis
KPFA - September 22, 2025

Crowdfunded Real Estate Projects Bring in Community Investors
Shelterforce - September 9, 2025

Why building inspiring alternatives is necessary to counter authoritarianism
Waging Nonviolence - May 15, 2025

Forever Home
On Saturn - May 08, 2025

Impact Investing Isn't Dead
Next City - April 29, 2025

People of the Pacific Circuit - Oakland's place in the global economy
East Bay Yesterday - April 2, 2025

Diagramming the Pacific Circuit
The Atlantic - March 18, 2025

Priced Out of Housing, Communities Take Development Into Their Own Hands
New York Times - May 13, 2024

Esther's Orbit Room Builds on its History as a West Oakland Cultural Hub
KALW Crosspoints - April 17, 2024

Historic West Oakland landmark may get long-awaited revamp after decades of neglect
SF GATE - April 16, 2024

Rethinking our Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis
KQED Forum - November 20, 2023

7th Street Thrives initiative plans reparation of West Oakland corridor
KALW - October 19, 2023

West Oakland's 7th Street was once a Black cultural hub. A new plan aims to restore it
Oaklandside - October 16, 2023

2023 Impact Report
Impact Assets - October 5, 2023

Just Transition Integrated Capital Fund Investment Policy Statement
Justice Funders - October 3, 2023

Justice And Land: How Communities Heal Through Ownership
Forbes - June 8, 2023

Turning local community ownership projects into a national movement
Impact Alpha - May 9, 2023

Cooperatives as Ancestral Technology
Nonprofit Quarterly - February 22, 2023

This Community-Controlled Real Estate Co-Op Is Proving Its Value
NextCity - December 20, 2022

Manifold Enclosures: Decommodifying Property at Esther's Orbit Room in West Oakland
Duke University Press, Public Culture - September 1, 2022

Community Through Collective Property Ownership in Oakland
LA Progressive - August 12, 2022

Collective Real Estate: Land Without Landlords? | Episode 308
The Laura Flanders Show - May 20, 2022

Grants will help Bay Area arts companies that serve people of color acquire real estate
SF Chronicle - January 14, 2022

Revitalizing Black Neighborhoods by Preserving Their History
New York Times - November 23, 2021

Meet the co-op activists who are changing Oakland's real-estate game
Shareable - November 18, 2021

Oakland Co-op Buys Historic Esther's Orbit Room Space
Oaklandside - October 21, 2021

Community Owned Real Estate
Cooperative Journal - October 20, 2021

Historic Oakland blues club to get new life as housing, art space
East Bay Times - October 18, 2021

A Changing Skyline
SF Business Times - September 28, 2021

Lack of Housing Is Not the Problem
Yes! Magazine - August 10, 2021

A unique grassroots model to address systemic housing and community issues
Voices of the Community (Podcast) - August 5, 2021

Building community-controlled resources in the neighborhood
Integrated Capital Investing - June 16, 2021

This Oakland co-op wants to revive the legendary Esther's Orbit Room and the Seventh Street corridor
Oaklandside - June 9, 2021

Permanence
East Bay Magazine - April 23, 2021

Reviving a Black cultural corridor in West Oakland – as a community-led cooperative
Impact Alpha - April 20, 2021

To Advance Community Self Determination Funders May Need to Leave Their Comfort Zones
Inside Philanthropy - April 20, 2021

Land Without Landlords
How to Citizen with Baratunde - April 19, 2021

This Real Estate Coop is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First
Next City - April 13, 2021

Smart, values-based banking: a tool to help alleviate Oakland's housing crisis
Oaklandside - January 27, 2021

How Would Oakland Community Groups Spend $30 Billion? We Asked Four of Them
KQED - October 23, 2020

What is Gentrification? How It Works, Who It Affects, and What to Do About It
Teen Vogue - October 20, 2020

How Blockbusting and Real Estate Profiteers Cash in on Racial Tension
dwell - August 13, 2020

Now Is the Time to Take Radical Steps Toward Housing Equity
Yes Magazine - May 6, 2020

A Permanent Real Estate Cooperative to combat the affordable housing crisis
The Response (Podcast) - March 9, 2020

Pathways to a People's Economy Toolkit (Case Study)
New Economy Coalition - February 2020

Social housing is the only way forward
Sustainable Economies Law Center (Blog) - January 8, 2020

These Organizations are Putting People Over Profits
Next City - January 8, 2020

Oaklanders remedy the housing crisis one home at a time
OaklandNorth - December 16, 2019

How the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative is using collective economic action to combat the Bay Area's housing crisis
Shareable - December 9, 2019

Author Richard Rothstein calls for new civil rights movement to address housing scarcity and injustice
Shareable - -November 12, 2019

In rapacious Bay Area market, they get beneath the bottom line
Providence Journal - November 3, 2019

Oakland's community capitalists are modeling an inclusive economy
ImpactAlpha - October 24, 2019

How affordable housing activists are trying to thwart cutthroat real estate capitalism
LA Times - October 21, 2019

Haas institute report outlines Bay Area's past of racially exclusionary housing
The Daily Californian - October 4, 2019

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative's New Way to Build Housing Equity
Oakland Magazine - October 2, 2019

EB PREC's Plan to Replace Landlords with Communal Ownership
Oakland Post - September 19, 2019

Community-Driven Bay Area Alliance Leads to More Sustainable Housing
Non-Profit Quarterly - September 6, 2019

Are We Diluting the Mission of Community Land Trusts?
Shelterforce - August 30, 2019

People power: A growing number of groups are flipping the Bay Area's insane housing system on its head
Mercury News - August 25, 2019

Night of Ideas Special Broadcast by Forum: Bottom Up Governance
KQED - February 2, 2019

Remaking the Economy: Who Will Own the Land?
Non-Profit Quarterly - December 18, 2018

Land Without Landlords in Oakland
Mercury News - December 11, 2018

Two Coops Focused on Community-Owned Housing and Solar Take Root
Locavesting - December 7, 2018

#LandWithoutLandlords in Black Oakland: An Interview with Noni Session
Black Agenda Report - December 5, 2018

Rooted in Home: Community Based Alternatives to the Bay Area Housing Crisis
Urban Habitat - November 15, 2018

How the EBPREC is Pioneering a Model for Equitable Housing
Shareable - July 30, 2018

Permanently Affordable Housing: Challenges and Potential Paths Forward
P2P Foundation - March 6, 2018

Podcasts & Interviews

Commodity or Human Right? How Community Wealth Building Can Address the Housing Crisis
KPFA - September 22, 2025

The Bioneers episode, "Commodity or Human Right? How Community Wealth Building Can Address the Housing Crisis," delves into the critical debate over whether housing should be viewed as a fundamental human right or a market commodity. The program explores how local economies can be restructured to prioritize the human right perspective, challenging the current paradigm.

People of the Pacific Circuit - Oakland's place in the global economy
East Bay Yesterday - April 2, 2025

The article describes a public interview between journalist Alexis Madrigal, author of The Pacific Circuit, and Noni Session, Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC). The discussion, held in West Oakland, explored the city's historical and contemporary role in the global economy.

Esther's Orbit Room Builds on its History as a West Oakland Cultural Hub
KALW Crosspoints - April 17, 2024

Esther’s Orbit Room, a legendary Black cultural hub on West Oakland’s historic Seventh Street, is being revived by the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC). The article chronicles the club's history, founded by Esther Mabry, "the Grand Lady of Seventh Street," in the 1950s, a period when Seventh Street rivaled San Francisco's Fillmore district as the "Harlem of the West.

Rethinking our Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis
KQED Forum - November 20, 2023

The KQED Forum segment, "Rethinking our Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis," addresses the Bay Area's astronomical housing prices, which are presented as the fundamental source of numerous regional issues. The program explores two systemic, "big ideas" aimed at spurring the creation of affordable housing by fundamentally altering conventional views on land and property ownership.

7th Street Thrives initiative plans reparation of West Oakland corridor
KALW - October 19, 2023

The "7th Street Thrives" initiative is a community-led plan for the reparative development of West Oakland's historic 7th Street corridor. Once a vibrant cultural center known as the "Harlem of the West," the area was severely damaged by mid-century urban renewal projects, including the construction of the Cypress Freeway and BART tracks.

Collective Real Estate: Land Without Landlords
The Laura Flanders Show - May 20, 2022

The episode "Collective Real Estate: Land Without Landlords?" from The Laura Flanders Show explores alternative housing models to address the systemic exclusion of African Americans from the housing market. Decades of discrimination have left many vulnerable to predatory lending and exploitative loans.

A unique grassroots model to address systemic housing and community issues
Voices of the Community - August 5, 2021

The article, an episode of "VOC Stories," features Noni Session, Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), discussing their innovative model for economic resilience and housing justice in the Bay Area. EB PREC facilitates Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities to collectively finance, purchase, and steward land and housing, permanently removing properties from the speculative market.

Land Without Landlords
How to Citizen with Baratunde - April 19, 2021

The podcast episode features Noni Session, Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), discussing a vision for a "Land Without Landlords" to combat racialized displacement and gentrification. Host Baratunde Thurston opens by reflecting on his childhood home's gentrification, highlighting the conflict between desirable neighborhood improvements and the destruction of existing culture.

A Permanent Real Estate Cooperative to combat the affordable housing crisis
The Response - March 9, 2020

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is pioneering a new legal and economic model to combat the affordable housing crisis by permanently decommodifying housing. Combining elements of community land trusts and housing cooperatives, EB PREC is structured as a multi-stakeholder cooperative involving residents, workers, community members, and investors.

Night of Ideas Special Broadcast by Forum: Bottom Up Governance
KQED - February 2, 2019

The KQED Forum broadcast, "Special Broadcast: Bottom Up Governance," explores new community-driven models for addressing local challenges when government action is insufficient. The discussion, recorded live at the Night of Ideas festival in San Francisco, focuses on the growing sentiment of "we'll just have to do it ourselves" among individuals seeking change.

#LandWithoutLandlords in Black Oakland: An Interview with Noni Session
Black Agenda Report - December 5, 2018

The article is an interview with Noni Session, Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) in Oakland, California. EB PREC is a movement-based, investor crowd-funded entity designed to reclaim land sovereignty for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, permanently taking property out of the speculative market to combat gentrification and displacement.

Historic & Cultural Preservation

This Oakland Community Destroyed a Wall to Preserve Black History
Coyote Media Collective - December 9, 2025

A community in West Oakland, led by the East Bay Permanent Cooperative (EB PREC), initiated the restoration of the historic Esther's Orbit Room, a legendary Black-owned blues and jazz club. The effort began with a "community rock breaking ceremony" to carefully remove the building's facade stones for later replacement, symbolizing a reclamation of cultural heritage.

Historic West Oakland Blues Club's Restoration Reveals Layers of Hidden History
KQED - October 30, 2025

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC) is restoring Esther’s Orbit Room, a historic blues club in West Oakland's "Harlem of the West. " Initial plans for a modern remodel faced community backlash, which criticized the design as "cultural genocide.

The Facade at Esther's Orbit Room Is in Mortar Peril
Coyote Media Collective - October 20, 2025

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), led by Noni Session, is restoring Esther's Orbit Room, a historic West Oakland jazz club that was a cultural hub for the Black community. The project's main challenge is preserving the building's iconic, faux-stone facade, which contractors insist must be torn down due to structural issues and a lack of skilled masons.

Esther's Orbit Room Builds on its History as a West Oakland Cultural Hub
KALW Crosspoints - April 17, 2024

Historic West Oakland landmark may get long-awaited revamp after decades of neglect
SF GATE - April 16, 2024

The historic 16th Street Station in West Oakland, once a vital entry point for African Americans during the Great Migration and dubbed "Ellis Island" by former Mayor Ron Dellums, has achieved a significant milestone by being accepted onto the National Park Service Register of Historic Places. This victory for the Oakland Heritage Alliance (OHA) follows decades of "demolition by neglect" since the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

7th Street Thrives initiative plans reparation of West Oakland corridor
KALW - October 19, 2023

West Oakland's 7th Street was once a Black cultural hub. A new plan aims to restore it
Oaklandside - October 16, 2023

The "7th Street Thrives" collective, comprising Bay Area nonprofits, residents, and businesses, released a 40-page report detailing a plan to restore West Oakland's Seventh Street corridor, once known as the "Harlem of the West. " The area, a former Black cultural and economic hub, was decimated by mid-20th-century "urban renewal" projects like the Cypress Freeway and BART construction, which displaced thousands and closed hundreds of businesses.

Justice And Land: How Communities Heal Through Ownership
Forbes - June 8, 2023

The article, "Justice And Land: How Communities Heal Through Ownership," argues that land ownership is a critical foundation for freedom, sovereignty, and healing for Black American communities, challenging historical dispossession and modern-day land commodification. It highlights the work of organizations pioneering new models of collective ownership and equitable development.

Revitalizing Black Neighborhoods by Preserving Their History
New York Times - November 23, 2021

The New York Times article, "Revitalizing Black Neighborhoods by Preserving Their History," focuses on a new wave of development in historically significant Black communities, exemplified by the Orange Mound neighborhood in Memphis. Once a vibrant hub of arts and business, Orange Mound had declined into a food desert marked by abandoned structures.

Oakland Co-op Buys Historic Esther's Orbit Room Space
Oaklandside - October 21, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) has purchased the historic Esther’s Orbit Room in West Oakland, a legendary Black cultural hub that closed in 2010. This acquisition is a key part of EB PREC’s mission to combat displacement and foster economic stability for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities by taking land off the speculative market.

Historic Oakland blues club to get new life as housing, art space
East Bay Times - October 18, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC) has purchased the historic Esther’s Orbit Room in West Oakland, a former blues and jazz club, with plans to transform it into a community-owned hub. This initiative addresses the Bay Area's housing crisis and the displacement of the Black community by establishing affordable housing for artists and commercial space for Black-owned businesses.

Building community-controlled resources in the neighborhood
Integrated Capital Investing - June 16, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is a democratically run, People of Color-led, multi-stakeholder cooperative with 388 member-owners, focused on transforming unjust finance and housing systems. EB PREC pioneers a non-extractive, cooperative real estate model to build collective ownership and wealth among historically disenfranchised Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.

This Oakland co-op wants to revive the legendary Esther's Orbit Room and the Seventh Street corridor
Oaklandside - June 9, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is spearheading a project to revive the historic Esther’s Orbit Room and the Seventh Street corridor in West Oakland, once known as the "Harlem of the West. " The article details the area's decline due to "urban renewal," including the construction of the Cypress Freeway, which displaced the Black community and destroyed the vibrant cultural and business district.

Reviving a Black cultural corridor in West Oakland as a community-led cooperative
Impact Alpha - April 20, 2021

The article details the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative's (EB PREC) effort to revive West Oakland's historic Black cultural corridor, anchored by the former Esther's Orbit Room. Led by Noni Session, EB PREC is a multi-stakeholder co-op that acquires property for permanent community use, preventing gentrification and building community wealth.

This Real Estate Coop is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First
Next City - April 13, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is launching a direct public offering to raise $50 million, primarily to finance community-centered real estate projects. Their immediate focus is the revitalization of Esther's Orbit Room, a historic jazz club in Oakland's former "Harlem of the West," into an arts and culture hub with housing.

Our Model & Experimental Economics

Commodity or Human Right? How Community Wealth Building Can Address the Housing Crisis
KPFA - September 22, 2025

Forever Home
On Saturn - May 8, 2025

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) in Oakland pioneers a model to remove homes and commercial spaces from the speculative market, transferring ownership to local Black and brown communities. EB PREC coordinates the purchase and renovation of properties, which are then collectively owned in perpetuity, ensuring permanent affordability and security for residents who co-own the cooperative.

Cooperatives as Ancestral Technology
Nonprofit Quarterly - February 22, 2023

Vanessa Coleman, posits that cooperative principles—group work, shared responsibility, and collective decision-making—are not modern innovations but are deeply rooted in the traditional practices and values of Indigenous and African communities. The author connects her personal journey into the cooperative movement, inspired by a visit to Benin and Dr.

This Community-Controlled Real Estate Co-Op Is Proving Its Value
NextCity - December 20, 2022

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is a community-controlled entity proving the viability of alternative real estate models by issuing its first dividend checks to investors. This move signals that community ownership can be a serious, scalable investment opportunity, challenging traditional development that often leads to displacement or fails to meet community needs.

Meet the co-op activists who are changing Oakland's real-estate game
Shareable - November 18, 2021

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is actively changing Oakland's real estate landscape to combat displacement and entrenched economic inequality disproportionately affecting Black and brown communities. Led by Noni Session, the cooperative employs a multi-stakeholder model, funded by "justice dollars" from investor-owners who prioritize social transformation over high financial returns.

A unique grassroots model to address systemic housing and community issues
Voices of the Community - August 5, 2021

A Permanent Real Estate Cooperative to combat the affordable housing crisis
The Response - March 9, 2020

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC) is pioneering a new legal and economic model to combat the affordable housing crisis by permanently decommodifying housing. Combining elements of community land trusts and housing cooperatives, EBPREC is structured as a multi-stakeholder cooperative involving residents, workers, community members, and investors.

Social housing is the only way forward
Sustainable Economies Law Center - January 8, 2020

The article argues that the private housing market, built on 400 years of racial exclusion and resource extraction, is fundamentally incapable of providing housing for all, evidenced by the "renter nation" crisis, massive displacement, and the racial wealth gap. It posits that social housing is the only way forward, advocating for a community-driven alternative to the profit-driven system.

These Organizations are Putting People Over Profits
Next City - January 8, 2020

The article highlights organizations pioneering a new economic paradigm that prioritizes collective benefit over profit-at-all-costs, driven by the AmbitioUS initiative. This movement supports entities like Crux, a Black-led XR studio building a cooperative model for artists, and The Runway Project, which addresses the racial wealth gap by providing collateral-free capital to Black entrepreneurs.

How the EBPREC is Pioneering a Model for Equitable Housing
Shareable - July 30, 2018

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) is pioneering a new legal and financial model to address the affordable housing crisis by permanently removing properties from the speculative market. Combining features of community land trusts, housing cooperatives, and real estate investment cooperatives, EB PREC promotes a multi-stakeholder approach to ownership and governance.

Investments & Financing

Crowdfunded Real Estate Projects Bring in Community Investors
Shelterforce - September 9, 2025

Crowdfunded real estate is emerging as a powerful model for community ownership, enabled by the 2012 JOBS Act, which eased restrictions on small-scale investing. Initially limited by a $1 million cap, the 2021 increase to $5 million made real estate projects viable for grassroots investors, allowing community members to become co-owners.

Impact Investing Isn't Dead
Next City - April 29, 2025

Despite political attacks on ESG and attempts to undermine federal funding like the CDFI Fund, the article argues that impact investing, particularly in racial equity and community-controlled projects, is thriving. New models are emerging to finance mission-driven initiatives, demonstrating resilience outside of traditional or government-backed systems.

Just Transition Integrated Capital Fund Investment Policy Statement
Justice Funders - October 3, 2023

The Just Transition Integrated Capital Fund (JTIC Fund) is a movement-controlled, democratically governed investment vehicle designed to shift capital and power toward building a regenerative economy. It operationalizes the Just Transition Investment Framework, serving as a learning vehicle for foundations to move endowed assets to community-controlled projects.

Turning local community ownership projects into a national movement
Impact Alpha - May 9, 2023

Local community ownership projects, utilizing models like land trusts and cooperatives, are actively working to combat gentrification and displacement while building community wealth. However, these efforts are currently fragmented and lack a cohesive national investment ecosystem, requiring immense local effort for each transaction.

To Advance Community Self Determination Funders May Need to Leave Their Comfort Zones
Inside Philanthropy - April 20, 2021

The article argues that for funders to genuinely advance community self-determination, they must move beyond conventional grantmaking and their comfort zones, which often favor the 501(c)(3) structure. It spotlights the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), a for-profit cooperative with a social mission, as a model for non-extractive finance and collective ownership.

Smart, values-based banking: a tool to help alleviate Oakland's housing crisis
Oaklandside - January 27, 2021

The article advocates for values-based banking as a solution to Oakland's severe housing crisis, which disproportionately affects people of color. It argues that traditional banks often fund extractive and harmful industries, while conscious banking directs deposits toward community healing and development.

How Would Oakland Community Groups Spend $30 Billion? We Asked Four of Them
KQED - October 23, 2020

The article explores how four Oakland community organizations would allocate a hypothetical $30 billion climate investment, prioritizing equity and social justice alongside environmental goals. People Power Solar Cooperative would fund community-owned solar projects, ensuring energy access and financial benefits for all residents, regardless of property ownership.

Oakland's community capitalists are modeling an inclusive economy
ImpactAlpha - October 24, 2019

Oakland is pioneering a model of inclusive, community-led economic development to combat racial inequality, gentrification, and a severe housing crisis. The city's activists are channeling capital and power back to residents through innovative initiatives.

How affordable housing activists are trying to thwart cutthroat real estate capitalism
LA Times - October 21, 2019

The article details a growing movement of affordable housing activists in the San Francisco Bay Area who are actively working to counteract the effects of speculative real estate capitalism, gentrification, and displacement. Individuals like former Tesla technician Oliver Burke and writer Carolyn North are using their personal wealth and property to create permanently affordable housing through innovative models like real estate cooperatives and land trusts.

Urban Development & Policy

Diagramming the Pacific Circuit
The Atlantic - March 18, 2025

The article, "Diagramming the Pacific Circuit," examines the profound socio-economic impact of the trans-Pacific trade system, which the author terms the "Pacific Circuit," on port cities like Oakland, California. consumption, has been immensely profitable for the technology industry but has simultaneously reshaped Oakland into an "environmental-sacrifice zone.

Priced Out of Housing, Communities Take Development Into Their Own Hands
New York Times - May 13, 2024

A growing movement of community-owned cooperative real estate is emerging across the U.S. as a powerful strategy to counter gentrification and ensure local residents benefit from neighborhood development.

A Changing Skyline
SF Business Times - September 28, 2021

Oakland's evolving skyline is characterized by new developments prioritizing community benefit alongside commercial growth. Key projects include the 622-foot office tower at 415 20th Street and the transformative Mandela Station at the West Oakland BART, which features 500,000 square feet of office space, 740 housing units (over 240 affordable), and retail.

What is Gentrification? How It Works, Who It Affects, and What to Do About It
Teen Vogue - October 20, 2020

The article defines gentrification as forced economic displacement, a process where wealthier newcomers move into working-class neighborhoods, causing rents and property values to rise. This forces out original, often Black and brown, residents who are then displaced to other cities or become unhoused.

How Blockbusting and Real Estate Profiteers Cash in on Racial Tension
dwell - August 13, 2020

The article examines blockbusting and other predatory real estate practices that have historically leveraged racial tension to profit from housing segregation. Blockbusting involved real estate speculators driving down property values by introducing Black families to white neighborhoods, then flipping the homes for quick profit.

Haas institute report outlines Bay Area's past of racially exclusionary housing
The Daily Californian - October 4, 2019

The Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society released the "Roots, Race, and Place" report, which details the history of racially exclusionary housing policies in the Bay Area from the 1850s to the 1970s. The report found that current residential segregation and housing inequities, including lack of affordability and gentrification, are direct consequences of historical tactics like extrajudicial violence and exclusionary zoning, which predate federal fair housing legislation.

Are We Diluting the Mission of Community Land Trusts
Shelterforce - August 30, 2019

The article explores the challenge of "mission drift" within Community Land Trusts (CLTs), arguing that their dependence on external grant funding for land acquisition and operations often leads to a shift from grassroots community organizing and democratic participation toward professionalized housing development. student, notes that while the CLT model, rooted in the civil rights movement, was intended for permanent community ownership and land decommodification, many contemporary CLTs prioritize housing production to secure grants, mirroring the path of Community Development Corporations.

Rooted in Home
East Bay Community Law Center

The report, "Rooted in Home," by Urban Habitat and the East Bay Community Law Center, addresses the Bay Area's acute housing crisis, arguing that the market-based system has failed to provide stable, affordable housing, especially for low-income communities of color. It advocates for a shift from a market economy to a "moral economy" that treats housing as a human right.

Combatting Displacement

Why building inspiring alternatives is necessary to counter authoritarianism
Waging Nonviolence - May 15, 2025

The article argues that countering rising authoritarianism requires a shift from merely resisting broken systems to actively building constructive programs—new, community-led alternatives for essential needs. Drawing inspiration from Gandhi's nonviolent movement, the author presents seven areas where communities can reclaim power: food security, housing, healthcare, education, energy, technology, and safety.

Rethinking our Way Out of the Affordable Housing Crisis
KQED Forum - November 20, 2023

Grants will help Bay Area arts companies that serve people of color acquire real estate
SF Chronicle - January 14, 2022

A $3 million grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, managed by Community Vision, is helping five Bay Area performing arts organizations serving communities of color acquire real estate. The Performing Arts Acquisition Fund aims to combat displacement and gentrification in one of the country's most expensive regions.

Lack of Housing Is Not the Problem
Yes! Magazine - August 10, 2021

The article posits that the housing crisis stems from a lack of affordability and popular power against speculative markets, not a shortage of housing units. It champions community-led solutions that focus on decommodifying land to stop displacement and homelessness.

Land Without Landlords
How to Citizen with Baratunde - April 19, 2021

Now Is the Time to Take Radical Steps Toward Housing Equity
Yes Magazine - May 6, 2020

The article argues that the COVID-19 crisis has made radical housing reform, including rent cancellation and guaranteed housing for all, a political necessity. It critiques the private housing market for creating a precarious "renter nation" and perpetuating a massive racial wealth gap through historical and modern practices like redlining and predatory inclusion.

Author Richard Rothstein calls for new civil rights movement to address housing scarcity and injustice
Shareable - November 12, 2019

Author Richard Rothstein, known for "The Color of Law," advocates for a new, vigorous civil rights movement to combat systemic housing injustice and racial segregation in the United States.

In rapacious Bay Area market, they get beneath the bottom line
Providence Journal - November 3, 2019

The article details a growing movement in the San Francisco Bay Area where individuals are actively working against the region's rapacious real estate market and gentrification. Driven by a desire for social equity over personal profit, people like former Tesla technician Oliver Burke are donating land and resources to create permanently affordable housing.

EB PREC's Plan to Replace Landlords with Communal Ownership
Oakland Post - September 19, 2019

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC) offers a transformative, community-driven model to combat the Bay Area's housing crisis. Operating as a "movement cooperative," EB PREC works to de-commodify land, enabling community control and disrupting racialized inequality by permanently removing properties from the speculative market.

Community-Driven Bay Area Alliance Leads to More Sustainable Housing
Non-Profit Quarterly - September 6, 2019

The East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (East Bay PREC) offers a community-driven model to combat the San Francisco Bay Area's severe housing crisis. Unlike conventional housing co-ops, the PREC is a "movement cooperative" designed to de-commodify land, ensure community control for marginalized groups, and disrupt racialized inequality in land ownership.

People power: A growing number of groups are flipping the Bay Area's insane housing system on its head
Mercury News - August 25, 2019

The article details how "people power" groups are challenging the Bay Area's housing crisis through innovative models like the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC). EB PREC combines micro-financing, a for-profit structure, and a partnership with a traditional Community Land Trust (CLT) to acquire properties and ensure permanent affordability.

Remaking the Economy: Who Will Own the Land?
Non-Profit Quarterly - December 18, 2018

This article introduces a webinar exploring the critical issue of land justice as a means to remake the economy and address vast racial and economic wealth gaps. It asserts that land ownership is highly concentrated and historically rooted in the dispossession of Native Americans, making it a key mechanism for inequality.

Land Without Landlords in Oakland
Mercury News - December 11, 2018

The article details the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EB PREC), a radical, community-based solution to Oakland's housing crisis and displacement of people of color. Founded in 2017, EB PREC aims to acquire property and permanently remove it from the speculative market, holding it in trust as a community asset.

#LandWithoutLandlords in Black Oakland: An Interview with Noni Session
Black Agenda Report - December 5, 2018

The article is an interview with Noni Session, Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC) in Oakland, California. EBPREC is a movement-based, investor crowd-funded entity designed to reclaim land sovereignty for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities, permanently taking property out of the speculative market to combat gentrification and displacement.

Two Coops Focused on Community-Owned Housing and Solar Take Root
Locavesting - December 7, 2018

The Sustainable Economies Law Center successfully launched two groundbreaking cooperatives: the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative (EBPREC) and the People Power Solar Cooperative. EBPREC addresses Oakland's housing crisis and gentrification by facilitating the cooperative ownership and stewardship of properties, permanently removing them from the speculative market.

Permanently Affordable Housing: Challenges and Potential Paths Forward
P2P Foundation - March 6, 2018

This article addresses the challenges and potential solutions for creating permanently affordable housing by removing land from the speculative market. It highlights the role of Community Land Trusts (CLTs), which struggle with inadequate funding and competition from private developers.