Housing Leadership Day

For more than 20 years, Housing Leadership Day has served as a valuable platform for sharing knowledge and tools to bring affordable homes to our neighborhoods. Our HLC community has accomplished so much during this time, constantly inspired by the strength and resilience of our communities, especially during challenging times like the present. This year’s event, Meeting the Moment, took place on October 20, 2023, at the CZI community space in Redwood City.


Thank you to our sponsors!


2023 Conference Highlights

Here was this years HLD Workshop Lineup!

Workshop Session 1 (10:30 AM – 11:45 AM)

Social Housing in My Backyard

Design Matters: Form and Function of Navigation Centers

Workshop Session 2 (12:00 PM – 1:15 PM)

Effective Management of BMR Programs

A POWERFUL Step Toward Solving the Bay Area Housing Crisis

Planning Commissioner Roundtable

Workshop Session 3 (2:25 PM – 3:40 PM)

Farmworkers Housing Rights & Racial Justice

Critical Role Non-Housing Organizations can play to create Affordable Housing

Planting the Seeds of Community-Driven Development


2023 Keynote Speaker: Tomiquia Moss, CEO of All Home

Tomiquia Moss is the founder and CEO of All Home, a regional organization disrupting the cycles of homelessness and poverty in the Bay Area. She is locally and nationally recognized as a visionary in the fields of housing and homelessness, public policy, and community development.  

Before founding All Home, Tomiquia was the CEO of Hamilton Families, which offers emergency, transitional, and permanent housing services for families experiencing homelessness. She previously served directly under the mayors of both San Francisco and Oakland and as the Executive Director of the HOPE SF Initiative. 

Tomiquia serves as a member of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. She is also the President of the Board of Directors for the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California and serves on the boards of Oakland Promise and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.


Housing Leadership Day 2023 Awardee

This year, we are thrilled to unveil multiple awardees for our prestigious Housing Hero Award. The awardees are Peggy Jensen, Betsy Zobell, Maurice Goodman, Angelina Cahalan, and Karen Camacho. These outstanding individuals have truly redefined housing advocacy and community development, leaving an enduring, positive impact.

Peggy Jensen

Peggy Jensen recently retired from San Mateo County as the Assistant County Executive.   While with the County, she founded and led the Home for All Initiative, oversaw the ending homelessness efforts and worked closely with the Department of Housing, Health System and Human Services Agency.  During the pandemic, she led the San Mateo County COVID Recovery Initiative which distributed over $100,000,000 in Federal and state funding to support programs that provided emergency financial assistance, grants to small businesses and grant programs for childcare providers and summer and after-school programs for children in communities highly impacted by the pandemic. 

Betsy Zobell

Betsy is the Housing and Community Development Manager for the City of Daly City, a position she has held since 1996.  She works on new affordable housing development, housing rehab, rental assistance programs, housing policy and administration of various public service contracts.  Prior to working for the City of Daly City she held positions at the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Clara and the San Mateo County Housing Department.  When she’s not working on affordable housing she enjoys gardening, teaching her dog cute tricks, and appreciating fire engines, garbage trucks and other large vehicles with her little grandson.

Maurice Goodman

Maurice Goodman comes to the City of Millbrae with a wealth of knowledge and experience. Most recently, serving as a member of the San Mateo County Community College Board of Trustees after being elected in November 2015, serving as Board President in 2019. Trustee Goodman became the first African American and person of color to serve on the Board in the 100-year history of the district. His relationships throughout the county, region and state will prove to be beneficial to our council team and enhance our opportunity to build stronger, more meaningful coalitions to move Millbrae forward.

Angelina Cahalan

Angelina Cahalan was elected to the City Council in November 2022 and is the first Millbrae City Council Member to reside on the east side of El Camino. She was born and raised in San Bruno and has been a resident of Millbrae for 20 years.  She and her husband have two boys who attend Millbrae public schools. Angelina has 22 years leading programs in nonprofits.  She spent years at St. Anthony’s Dining Room, assisting homeless people in San Francisco’s Tenderloin District before pivoting to Meals on Wheels San Francisco, an organization dedicated to providing food and services to the City’s homebound seniors. 

Karen Camacho

Karen Camacho is the Housing and Economic Development Manager for the City of East Palo Alto, where she is responsible for leading the City’s housing and economic development initiatives and increasing the number of affordable units citywide. Karen has broad experience in state, regional and local policy, with prior roles as Partnership for the Bay’s Future fellow focusing on housing preservation in the City of East Palo Alto, and organizer at the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County and ACLU of Northern California. Karen holds a bachelor’s and master’s from Stanford University.


Special Performance by Lyrical Opposition, a non-profit arts organization

Lyrical Opposition is an arts non-profit organization comprised of poets, musicians, and activists whose mission is social change. Through its artists and strategic partnerships, LO advances social justice and systemic change efforts by cultivating messages of hope that inspire and empower. Secondly, LO seeks to serve the community by bringing individuals into spaces with people they would not typically cross paths with to reduce biases and restore communities.

Learn more about LO and their work at Lyrical Opposition.


Conference Photos

Check out moments from our day together in our photo album! Make sure to share and tag in our socials.


Email Jaina-Marie at jmpebenito@hlcsmc.org for more details