S.F. Bay Area Cooperative Offers New Affordable Housing Model

A California cooperative brings together investors to make homeownership more accessible and finance housing projects that help to slow gentrification.

1 minute read

December 18, 2019, 1:00 PM PST

By Camille Fink


Downtown Oakland

kropik1 / Shutterstock

Oscar Perry Abello looks at the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative, an organization in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates purchase and shared ownership of properties for low- and moderate-income households. With funding from investors, the cooperative is pursuing affordable housing projects while also promoting a vision and goals that differ from those of conventional real estate development ventures.

"The cooperative sees its work as an attempt to demystify the entire process of real estate — securing properties for acquisition, assembling capital stacks, and managing properties for the long-term — so that community organizers everywhere, of every marginalized group, can bring in communities to participate as an active player in their own development instead of just being passive recipients or victims of displacement," says Abello.

One feature that distinguishes the cooperative, he says, is the fact that investors do not have to be residents of the properties. "In some ways EB PREC resembles the savings-and-loan associations of yesteryear, where neighbors invested into a communal pot of money that they took turns borrowing from in order to support each other’s acquisition of property," notes Abello. 

Tuesday, December 3, 2019 in Next City

portrait of professional woman

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Close-up of "Apartment for rent" sign in red text on black background in front of blurred building

Trump Administration Could Effectively End Housing Voucher Program

Federal officials are eyeing major cuts to the Section 8 program that helps millions of low-income households pay rent.

April 21, 2025 - Housing Wire

Logo for Planetizen Federal Action Tracker with black and white image of U.S. Capitol with water ripple overlay.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker

A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

April 23, 2025 - Diana Ionescu

Ken Jennings stands in front of Snohomish County Community Transit bus.

Ken Jennings Launches Transit Web Series

The Jeopardy champ wants you to ride public transit.

April 20, 2025 - Streetsblog USA

Yellow electric school bus with preteen students exiting.

California Invests Additional $5M in Electric School Buses

The state wants to electrify all of its school bus fleets by 2035.

April 25 - Associated Press

City Hall building in Austin, Texas.

Austin Launches $2M Homelessness Prevention Fund

A new grant program from the city’s Homeless Strategy Office will fund rental assistance and supportive services.

April 25 - Spectrum Local News

Brick school building with mid-sized tree on front lawn.

Alabama School Forestry Initiative Brings Trees to Schoolyards

Trees can improve physical and mental health for students and commnity members.

April 25 - Governing