prepared by: Catherine Lee

updated: [date]

Website: http://www.bridgehousing.com

Mission: BRIDGE pursues an ambitious goal of "quality, quantity and affordability" while meeting the growing demand for affordable housing in California's high-cost areas. Beyond creating homes, BRIDGE aims to build and revitalize communities on a large scale. BRIDGE specializes in the development of affordable apartments and homes in an array of revitalization, transit-oriented, urban infill, and mixed-use/mixed-income developments.

Inspiration/History:

BRIDGE was founded in 1983 after a major anonymous grant was given to the San Francisco Foundation to spearhead new solutions to the worsening shortage of affordable housing. Members of the Bay Area Council were concerned that high housing costs were undermining the region's workforce and economy and created a special blue-ribbon task force to establish an organization that could actually build high quality affordable housing at a large scale (not just hundreds, thousands), and selected Rick Holliday and Don Terner to lead the organization.

Business Model:

Theory of Change:

Providing affordable homes that act as the catalyst for revitalizing and strengthening neighborhoods and building communities.

Core Programs:

BRIDGE has grown into a multifaceted organization with a staff of more than 200 with the capabilities to handle every aspect of affordable housing development, including project financing, community outreach and planning, construction management, property maintenance, and asset management.
Within each of those categories:

Real estate development:
creative methods of site acquisition
experience in community relations
site planning to optimize use of land
tax benefits and incentives for donated resources
focus on community-responsive design and smart growth
efficient navigation of permit and entitlement processes
design for quality and "constructability"
hands-on construction management
senior housing and life care services

Resident Services

Built-in resident services incl. child care, computer centers, learning programs, and homeownership education
Community services and facilities: senior programs, parks, libraries
Scholarships

Investment Catalyst:
BRIDGE Urban Infill Land Development (BUILD)l
largest financial intitiative is with CalPERS: $175 million t catalyze new large-scale projects in urban infill locations.

Neighborhood Partnership Intiative
goal to create a community partenership model for neighborhood revitalization
blend housing with commercial activity and new retail services
provide incentives for the development of neighborhood-serving and locally owned businesses.

Recent Developments (if applicable):

BUILDing in Oakland, Palo Alto:
MacArthur BART Transit Village, part of US Green Building Council's new LEED Neighborhood Development pilot program

Biography of [Presenter’s Name]:
Carol J. Galante
Carol Galante is the President of BRIDGE Housing Corporation. Ms. Galante is responsible for the overall direction of BRIDGE, including real estate development, property and asset management, and corporate administration, as well as its major affiliates such as BUILD and BASS, a licensed life care provider. She joined BRIDGE as Vice President in 1987. She is a Director of the national Housing Partnership Network, the California Housing Finance Agency, the California Housing Consortium and the Center for Creative Land Recycling. Ms. Galante co-chaired California’s successful Proposition 1C campaign in 2006 that garnered approval for a $2.85 billion bond for affordable housing and urban infill development. Among Ms. Galante’s honors have been Builder Magazine’s Top 50 Most Influential People in Home Building 2006, Multifamily Executive Magazine’s 30 Most Influential Men and Women in the Multifamily Industry 2006, San Francisco Business Times 2003 Deal Maker of the Year and Most Influential Women in the Bay Area, and the 2002 U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design Distinguished Alumna Award. She is a licensed real estate broker and holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan and a Master of City Planning from U.C. Berkeley.

Questions to be Raised During Visit (3-4):

What are the biggest changes that BRIDGE has gone through during the 20 years (from when you first arrived at BRIDGE to now)?

Business model - couldn't find much information online, is BRIDGE entirely government funded?

What are some of the biggest challenges for BRIDGE?

How do you choose where to start new projects?

Further Resources (2-3):