CALIFORNIA HOUSING LAW & POLICY UPDATE

Alison Hughes is Chief Consultant to the California State Senate Housing Committee. She joined the committee in 2015. Before that, she was an Executive Fellow and Legislative Coordinator at the California State Transportation Agency, working on policy for its eight departments. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Redlands, and a J.D. from Pacific McGeorge School of Law with a certificate in public law and policy focused on housing.

Jennifer Gastelum is a Principal at PlaceWorks. She specializes in housing policy and programs, grant management, and public engagement. She has more than 25 years of experience with municipalities across California, Nevada, and Washington, and has managed updates to more than 100 housing elements since 2008. Her work also covers HUD consolidated plans, housing market studies, homeless plans, and CDBG and HOME grant management. She holds a B.S. in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Assemblymember Buffy Wicks represents the East Bay in the California State Assembly, in a district that runs from Oakland to Richmond and includes Berkeley. She chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and before that she chaired the Assembly Housing Committee for two years. Her priorities include California's housing and homelessness challenges, a stronger social safety net, protecting children online, and supporting women and working families. A longtime community organizer, she worked on both of Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and in his White House.

Senator Jesse Arreguín was elected in November 2024 to represent California's 7th Senate District. He brings twenty years of experience in local and regional government. As Berkeley's first Latino mayor, he passed a housing bond and led zoning reforms that set off the city's largest housing boom in decades, including 1,000 affordable units. He also helped cut unsheltered homelessness in Berkeley by 45%. In the Senate, he chairs the Housing and Public Safety committees and serves on the Business, Energy, Local Government, and Transportation committees. He is a graduate of UC Berkeley.