Emily Weinstein’s passion for affordable housing and community development is rooted in the city of Oakland, where she was born and raised. For the past 25 years Emily has spearheaded comprehensive housing and community development initiatives in some of the most economically challenged and under-resourced neighborhoods in California.
For the past 5 years, Emily has been leading the City’s Housing and Community Development Department, first as the inaugural Deputy Director of Community Development and now as Director. During her time, she has led the department’s strategic deployment of $350M of Measure U bond funds resulting in the greatest production of affordable housing and permanent supportive housing in the City’s history. She also launched the City’s homelessness prevention pilot program and developed and implemented the City’s Rental Registry. In 2026, she initiated a partnership with the Housing Accelerator Fund to scale HCD’s Acquisition and Conversion to Affordable Housing (ACAH) program, which has delivered the City's first housing development dedicated to OUSD educators.
Prior to joining the City, Emily worked as an independent strategy consultant advising developers and public agencies on how to maximize the economic, social and health equity outcomes of their projects by applying a wide set of community-centered strategies throughout the real estate development process. Emily spent over 10 years at BRIDGE Housing where she served as the Director of Rebuild Potrero and then as the Director of the Community Development and Evaluation Department.
Emily earned a dual degree in City Planning and Real Estate Development from MIT and recently completed a fellowship as a Culture of Health Leader for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She also served two terms as a Planning Commissioner for the City of Oakland.