Housing for All | Town Politics Podcast – Episode 4
In Episode 4, hosts Pecolia Manigo and Chaney Turner of Oakland Rising Action bring together two brilliant powerhouse organizers Vanessa Riles and Valarie Bachelor, for a raw, real, and grounded conversation.
Affordable, stable, dignified housing is becoming harder and harder to access for working families, people with disabilities, and long-time Oaklanders. For too many, it’s already out of reach. In this episode, we break down why that is, and what it will take to build a future where everyone has a home.
We get into all of it:
* The history of disinvestment that shaped today’s housing landscape
* How political decisions fuel displacement
* The real drivers of homelessness—not the myths
* Why Black and Brown communities hold the deepest impacts
* And most importantly: what real solutions look like
We name the problems—the systems that create and exacerbate the problems—but also the solutions that our elected leaders could and should invest in. Through organizing, city accountability, and prioritizing people over profit, we can dig ourselves out of this affordability hole and have a community where everyone is housed. All we need is the political will and the investments our community deserves.
About Our Guests
Vanessa Riles
Campaign Coordinator at the East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy. Vanessa is looking forward to ensuring that there is visionary, equitable development in Oakland that ensures that people have a say in what happens in their own neighborhoods. Vanessa is also a generational Oakland resident and was born and raised in the Town.
Valarie Bachelor, Director of ACCE Oakland, a non-profit that works and organizes with low-income people of color throughout Oakland's diverse communities. Valarie was born in Bolivia and immigrated to the US East Coast in the 90s. She was a union organizer for the California Federation of Teachers and has been active in the labor movement for 15 years. Valarie is a passionate activist and community organizer who gives her all to the people of Oakland.
Support the Podcast
Like, follow, and subscribe if you’re here for political education rooted in community power. Your support helps us keep producing this work.
If you made it to the end of this description, drop a comment and tell us about your relationship with housing in Oakland!
About Oakland Rising Action
Established in 2010, Oakland Rising Action (ORA) forwards a vision of Oakland that realizes our shared dreams of health, happiness, safety, and opportunity for all.
ORA engages in voter education and GOTV operations that encourage Oakland’s working-class, immigrant, and communities of color to think critically about voting for or against issues, policies and candidates based on our shared vision and values for an Oakland for all.
Oakland Rising Action is a community-led political organization focused on supporting candidates and issues that drive a progressive agenda for Oakland’s working-class, immigrant and communities of color living in the flatlands of Oakland.
