Alameda County Department of Housing and Community Development: Home is Here

Alameda County Department of Housing and Community Development: Home is Here

“Sharing solutions and success stories is critical to increasing support for housing affordability. But too often, public agencies are focused on defining the problem rather than trumpeting their impact. Change Consulting supported a dynamite Alameda County team in telling the story of “Home is Here” through video, earned media, and convenings. They brought top-notch strategic and tactical support to complex issues, garnering front-page attention and shaping a new narrative.” Sharon Cornu, Executive Director St. Mary’s Center

Background

Alameda County is home to more than 1.6 million people, with communities shaped by rich cultural traditions, diverse backgrounds, and generations of residents who have called this region home.

For too many Alameda County residents, finding and keeping an affordable home has become increasingly difficult. Like communities throughout the Bay Area, Alameda County faces severe housing shortages and rising costs. For families living on lower or moderate incomes, even the slightest increase in rent or an unexpected financial challenge can make it harder to stay in a home and possibly force families to leave the communities where they have built their lives.

For more than 30 years, the Alameda County Department of Housing and Community Development (Alameda County HCD) has served these communities as a key resource, convenor, and partner to improve community infrastructure and prevent displacement so all residents can have a safe, affordable, and stable place to call home. Through resource stewardship and innovative partnerships and forward-thinking policies, they are leading the way in addressing the county’s housing challenges.

Our Services

Beginning in 2025, and in partnership with St. Mary’s Center and Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice, we began our work with Alameda County HCD by providing overall communications strategy, messaging, training, and media relations support and implementation. Together, we launched Home is Here, a strategic outreach and storytelling initiative to put residents and their experiences at the center of the housing conversation, while making the County’s housing investments and resources more accessible and relatable.

The goals of this project were to build public awareness and support for robust, scalable investments in affordable and secure housing solutions that align with the County’s housing needs; increase the visibility and public understanding of Alameda County HCD by effectively communicating its mission, services, and holistic impact, ensuring access and fostering trust in their work; establish Alameda County HCD as a leading authority and trusted hub for housing affordability, homelessness prevention, and housing justice in Alameda County; and position Alameda County HCD as a go-to convenor and key resource for residents, organizations, and decision makers seeking innovative and equitable housing solutions.

To support this initiative, Change Consulting helped develop the name Home is Here Alameda County, authored a message guide, and designed and developed a microsite with web content aligned with the core messaging. We also assisted with strategy, messaging, and earned media for the Scalable Housing Investment Funding Toolkit (SHIFT) initiative. By accelerating affordable housing through streamlined construction and clear communication, the initiative supports faster access to safe, affordable homes, creating a more equitable future for all families.

In addition, we organized a press conference announcing an award of more than $50 million in Measure W Home Together Funds to 10 transformative projects through the Multifamily Homelessness Solutions Program. This investment creates more than 900 permanently affordable homes including 346 dedicated to individuals experiencing homelessness bringing real hope and stability to hundreds of people in the community.

Outcomes and Impact

Through a series of collaborative planning sessions, we partnered closely with Alameda County HCD to bring the Home is Here microsite to life, where the powerful stories of Alameda County residents and their unique journeys toward finding housing and what home means to them can be found. Each story reveals the vital role of institutions like Alameda County HCD in funding community support, public resources, and community organizations in keeping people housed and supported to build a stable and secure foundation. The stories continue to live on through videos, podcast episodes, and portraits of the storytellers – all developed by the Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice. 

We also led the media relations strategy and implementation to elevate the visibility of Measure W and the SHIFT initiative, securing 16 local and regional media stories featured across media outlets with a combined publication-wide audience of 94.7 million. Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle, East Bay Times, KRON 4, The Oaklandside, SF Gate, and Mercury News.