Can Religious Groups Help Build Affordable Housing?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A UC Berkeley study estimates there are about 38,000 acres of land owned by faith groups in California, an area roughly the size of Stockton, that are largely going unused. Some churches want to build affordable housing on that extra land— but building any kind of housing in California means jumping through a lot of hoops. Reporter Adhiti Bandlamudi finds out what it would take for houses of worship to house people in God's backyard. Additional Reading: California Churches Want to Build Affordable Housing on Their Land, So Why Is It So Hard? Transcript of this episode Preorder the Bay Curious Book! Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org Chronicle Books. International buyers go here! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Adhiti Bandlamudi. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Amanda Font and Brendan Willard. Special thanks to Erika Kelly, Christopher Beale and Paul Lancour for their help on this story.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From K-QED. Let's start today's episode in a communal garden in Berkeley.
0:07.0	We got the sunflowers, we got mint, and we got cucumber.
0:13.0	Ira Hudson is looking over all the herbs and vegetables she's growing outside her new apartment, deciding what to pick for dinner.
0:20.0	There are zucchini and tomatoes.
0:22.0	We got the chides and collagreens. There are zucchini and tomatoes.
0:22.8	We got the chives and collagreens and onions.
0:26.8	Ira's 71 years old, a lifelong Alameda County resident,
0:30.8	and she loves this new apartment.
0:33.6	Before she moved here, she was living at a place in downtown Oakland.
0:37.2	It started out fine, but when the management changed, the building became run down.
0:41.9	New neighbors moved in next door and she didn't feel safe.
0:44.8	They was just starting to let any and everybody come in there.
0:48.6	And then, and I couldn't stand the bugs.
0:51.0	Ira wanted to move out, but when she looked at other apartments, the prices were too high.
0:56.2	On a whim, she submitted an application to Jordan Court, a low-income apartment building
1:01.0	for seniors that opened last March.
1:04.0	Her application was one of more than 850 to fill a mere 34 spots.
1:09.9	Aira didn't like her chances, but...
1:12.4	Out of the blue, I got a call. I didn't like her chances, but?
1:12.5	Out of the blue, I got a call.
1:15.6	It said you got an apartment here.
1:17.6	I said you got to be kidding.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.