In a bid to increase its sway, the local housing policy and advocacy group Generation Housing is launching an entity that will allow it to spend money with explicitly political intentions.
The new group, Gen H Votes, will be a 501(c) (4), a nonprofit structure that allows the group to spend money on political campaigns and lobbying — introducing a potentially key actor to the North Bay’s political landscape around one of its most challenging issues.
“We want to make sure we’re influential in every way that we can be,” Generation Housing Executive Director Jen Klose said in a recent interview.
Based in Santa Rosa and founded in 2020, Generation Housing has so far focused on researching housing markets and trends, producing reports, and hosting conferences. It has advocated for specific projects and policies, but only recently ventured into the political arena. This new entity signals its commitment to go much farther in that direction and a desire to be more of a force when it does.
“We pretty consistently say to our elected leaders and staff leaders, ‘Listen, you keep calling this a crisis, we need you to act like it’s a crisis,’” Klose said. “Likewise, if we think it’s a crisis — and we do — then I think we need all the tools in the toolbox. And one of those is helping to ensure we’ve got the right people making these critical decisions.”
She said legal paperwork to establish the new group is being finalized and it should be up and running in time to weigh in on the November elections.
As a 501(c) (3), Generation Housing is allowed to accept tax-deductible donations and to advocate for causes and policies, but it cannot spend money on political campaigns, endorse candidates, or otherwise stray from neutral political positions.
Donations to a 501(c) (4) such as Gen H Votes are not tax deductible, and the organization can endorse candidates, spend funds on political advertising and direct contributions to candidates, and conduct other lobbying activities related to its mission.
Klose said the new entity’s funds are expected to come from a widespread swath of contributors, from developers to other supporters of policies for which Generation Housing advocates.
Gen H Votes was in part driven by Generation Housing’s attempts to push forward its campaign to convince local jurisdictions to “right size” — slash — the fees developers are charged to offset their projects, Klose said. Doing this would make it more financially viable for developers to build affordable housing, the group argues.
But Generation Housing’s efforts, earlier this year, to convince officials to act while speaking, during public comment, before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, at the Santa Rosa City Council and the Windsor Town Council — its biggest thrust to that point into local politics — produced no or only halting results.
“It was not a primary motivator, but it certainly was part of the decision-making process” to form a 501(c) (4), Klose said. “We definitely are disappointed it has taken so long to move that issue forward.”
One political observer said the move reflected a recognition on the part of Generation Housing leadership that they had reached an inflection point at which many such issue-oriented groups arrive.
“It’s a decision an organization makes … about whether they’re going to take the next step into advocacy such that they become players,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma-based political analyst and consultant.
“If they’re serious about it, they have to be a player. And if you’re going to be a player, then you have to be able to raise money, give money, and be involved, hosting debates, doing whatever it may be to be in the mix,” Sobel said.
The group is still deciding where to target its spending this November, Klose said.
“We’re going to pick some of what we think are the most critical races this first time out,” she said.
In an announcement, Generation Housing said Gen H Votes will also focus equally on campaigns to educate the public and elected and appointed officials about housing issues and policies, and “mobilizing” voters through registration and turnout efforts.
You can reach Staff Writer Jeremy Hay at 707-387-2960 or jeremy.hay@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @jeremyhay