Didacus Ramos

With Bay Area home prices skyrocketing, it’s more important than ever that we focus on affordable housing, so the hardworking people of Hayward aren’t priced out of their own neighborhoods as is the case in so many Bay Area cities. Stable, affordable housing is shown to increase economic growth, decrease crime, and create jobs.

Hayward has historically been a city where families could plant roots for generations to come. My own family came here 125 years ago, immigrating from the Portuguese islands to Hawaii and then to Hayward. I take pride in being born and raised here and watching our city grow. But how can we continue to build roots when average working people struggle to pay the mortgage or rent?

I’ve dedicated my life and career to the economic development of cities. I’ve worked for large and small cities with the mission to drive prosperity and share the promise of a better life for the city’s residents. I’ve contributed to the affordable housing stock of Montebello in Southern California managing the construction of 11 homes—all of them affordable to build, affordable to buy, and affordable to maintain. And, the construction of those homes caused a multiplier effect of jobs, incomes, and improvements to the neighborhood. Residents did not just survive, they thrived.

But it’s not just housing that we need, even affordable housing. The best way to make a house affordable is to increase your income so that you can afford it. The challenge is to provide opportunities to fill that part of the puzzle for a complete livable community. We need close access to food markets, job opportunities, and transportation other than just cars. Stuffing houses everywhere just makes traffic, congestion, and pollution. We need to build the rest of a living community as well—access to the goods and services we need for a full, happy life.

I went through the UCLA Masters program in Urban Planning and have decades of urban planning experience. I know firsthand what works and what doesn’t work to turn things around so a city like Hayward can be prosperous, secure, and affordable for all of our fine residents.

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