Fresno DRIVE and other place-based partners tackle housing inequities with educational events

In Fresno County, more than 50% of residents are experiencing rent burden and nearly 75% of low and extremely low-income households are struggling with housing affordability. As a result, Fresno DRIVE established a Permanent Affordable Housing Initiative to address the critical issue of housing security. This year, several Fresno County housing organizations hosted educational events to inform residents about the state of housing in the county. Organizational leads, South Tower Community Land Trust Executive Director Kiel Lopez-Schmidt, San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative Executive Director Miguel Arambula and Lowell CDC Executive Director Esther Carver, share about the latest housing events and learning labs designed to educate residents, amplify advocacy and encourage housing reform.

Queer Housing Summit

An issue of critical relevance to a Fresno neighborhood became the center of a national convening as demonstrated by the annual Queer Housing Summit over the past four years. What started as the South Tower Community Land Trust's commitment to hold the LGBTQ+ experience at the center of its housing strategy has grown far beyond one neighborhood. Three facts have driven the Queer Housing Summit's growth:

1. People with LGBTQ+ identities intersect with folks of all racial identities, all economic statuses and all geographies.

2. LGBTQ+ folks and specifically Black trans individuals experience some of the highest rates of homelessness, housing insecurity and discrimination.

3.  The Queer community holds a high degree of creativity and innovation that has opportunity to benefit housing access and affordability for all.

Those facts were highlighted at the fourth annual Queer Housing Summit held August 21^st to 22^nd at the Fresno City College Old Administration Building. The two-day event brought together over 200 impacted community members and thought leaders from across the country. The 47 speakers included nonbinary Black sociologist Dr. Amber Alton and Mercury Stardust known as the “Trans Handy Ma’am.”

The Queer Housing Summit is deeply committed to accessibility, providing hybrid, in-person and virtual attendance options and embedding the event with Queer joy and creativity. Attendees gained exposure to jobs in the housing industry, new collaborations, the spread of innovative ideas, policy engagement and solidarity across communities. To learn more about the Queer Housing Summit or to donate, visit  www.queerhousingsummit.org. 

San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative

In September 2026, the San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative (SJVHC) held their 15th Annual Affordable Housing Summit over a two-day period that convened housers from across the Central Valley together to learn, connect and chart the road ahead. Day one's learning labs focused on practical issues, including tax credit financing, design and cost containment and the crossroads facing permanent supportive housing. Day two commenced with keynote speaker Gregg Colburn, co-author of “Homelessness Is a Housing Problem,” and featured a plenary conversation with Tomiquia Moss, Secretary of the new California Housing and Homelessness Agency. Secretary Moss came to the Valley to explain the State's agency reorganization that aims to unify the housing application process to mitigate delays and — just as importantly — to listen. The SJVHC acknowledges that the greatest impact of the Summit may take years to fully realize, but some of the progress happens in real time, including developers trading notes with lenders, city staff comparing fixes with their neighbors and partnerships that will carry this year's work forward.

The Summit may be the headline, but the Collaborative works year-round, and that's where folks can get involved. SJVHC hosts online webinars and in-person networking events throughout the year, and their legislative roundtables gather on-the-ground feedback from Valley practitioners that are relayed to Sacramento. Anyone working on housing, or wanting to, can become a member of the Collaborative. When you become a member, they will meet with you, learn what you're working on and help connect you to organizations and resources that fit your framework. Housing in the Valley gets built the same way this network was: one relationship at a time. To learn more about SJVHC or to become a member or sponsor, visit www.sjvhc.org/.

Housing Learning Labs

The Children's Movement (TCM) and Lowell Community Development Corporation (CDC) co-hosted the Housing Learning Lab Series, a housing-related educational series that aligns Residents Summit, an event that tackles issues impacting families such as housing, and Lowell neighborhood residents’ priorities, over the course of five sessions, with 175 adults and 64 children in attendance. The overarching housing topics were affordable housing, blight and housing systems, community land trusts, homeownership and Policy Change: Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA). Every session featured a brief introduction, presentations, Q&A’s, tabling partners with available resources and translation and interpretation in Spanish.

Every session was presented by a coalition of partners including TCM, Lowell CDC, Fresno Housing, UPholdings, RH Community Builders, Tenants Together, South Tower Community Land Trust, Central Fresno Neighborhood Trust, CA Community Land Trust, Central California Land Trust, Southwest Fresno Community Development Corporation (CDC), Llaves de tu Casa, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, City of Fresno code enforcement and homebuying/lending and individuals with expertise in tenant/landlord law. The goal of the learning labs was to provide education, resources and access to housing-related topics and to continue to bridge pathways for advocacy. The post-event survey underscored that many attendees were grateful for the learning lab series and expressed interest in attending future events where they can learn about more housing topics such as loans, financial assistance for homeownership, rent and more. To learn more about the Housing Learning Series or get involved, email Lowell CDC Executive Director Esther Carver at esther@lowellcdc.org.