PRESS: In Search of Home Part 4: Strategies For Building Permanent Homes for the Unhoused
- bossbayarea
- Nov 10
- 2 min read
BOSS’s Step Up Housing Project in Berkeley Featured on KQED Forum as a Scalable Solution to Homelessness: Airdate: Tuesday, October 28 at 9 AM.
New interview highlights a permanent housing model where public vision and private design come together to restore dignity. BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency) was featured this week on KQED’s Forum radio show in a conversation that spotlighted Step Up Housing — a 39-unit permanent housing project in Berkeley built by Panoramic Interests and operated by BOSS.
One of the main drivers of homelessness in the Bay Area is simply a lack of affordable housing for people with the very lowest incomes. In Part 4 of our series “In Search of Home: Solutions for the Homelessness Crisis” we’ll take a look at some innovative strategies developers and cities are exploring to fund projects and lower the cost of construction. We bring together housing developers, housing experts and Bay Area residents to discuss what works to bring more permanent housing that formerly homeless people can actually afford.
Guests:
Patrick Kennedy, owner, Panoramic Interests - a development firm that has been building in the Bay Area since 1990
Carolina Reid, professor in affordable housing and urban policy, Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley
Matt Franklin, president and CEO, MidPen Housing
During the broadcast, listeners heard directly from two residents, Betty Stone and Greg Simon, both of whom transitioned from homelessness into stable housing through the Step Up program.
Their stories were raw, real, and a reflection of what’s possible when housing is treated as a right — not a reward.
This is about dignity. Step Up is one building, but it represents the blueprint for how we move forward as a region.
Built at a fraction of the typical cost of subsidized housing, Step Up demonstrates how innovation, public funding, and grassroots service providers can come together to address one of the most urgent issues in the Bay Area: chronic housing insecurity.
To support the program and help BOSS scale this program model across East Bay and beyond, visit:🔗 https://self-sufficiency.org/donate
Alexis Madrigal Oct 27, 2025 - Updated Oct 29, 2025 -
KQED | NPR | PBS
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