Housing & Community Development

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 20 years Emily has spearheaded comprehensive housing and community development initiatives in some of the most economically challenged and under-resourced neighborhoods in California.

In the past year, Emily has served as the City of Oakland Housing and Community Development Department’s Deputy Director of Community Development leading the department through a strategic planning process to guide the City’s investment of $350M of Measure U bond funds, launching the City’s homelessness prevention pilot program and guiding the Community Development and Engagement and Rent Adjustment Program teams.

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. While at BRIDGE she pioneered the Trauma Informed Community Building model, which has been emulated across many other developments seeking to meaningfully address the multiple challenges faced by low income, historically excluded communities.

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.