Lydia Tan joined SPUR’s board of directors in 2005 and today serves as our board chair. A real estate professional, she consults on organizational development and transformational urban redevelopment projects and is chief real estate officer for the Oakland Roots, a purpose-based professional soccer team. She spoke with us about the relationship between housing and community planning and professional sports organizations, creative approaches to housing challenges, and SPUR’s vital role in the Bay Area.
For decades, you’ve been a leader in the housing and community planning space. More recently, you started working with professional sports organizations to develop their real estate strategies. What is the relationship between these areas, and what led you to focus on sports organizations?
After starting my career with a small architecture practice in Oakland, I transitioned to developing affordable housing. My teams produced thousands of housing units, attracted investment to underserved communities, and catalyzed economic opportunities.
Placemaking and community building are as important to me as working on housing affordability. After working at a national scale, I returned to Oakland to lead redevelopment of Howard Terminal, drawn by the promise of a redevelopment effort that would keep a major sports team in Oakland, create massive economic opportunity for the city, and provide significant community benefits. That effort did not succeed, but I came to recognize that sports can play an important role in community development, economically and through civic pride and a unifying sense of community across all demographics.
Take Oakland Roots & Soul. The club has become an important civic and cultural asset for the East Bay. It has leveraged its fan base to support local businesses, schools, and community groups. And it raised the East Bay’s international visibility by hosting the Australian Men’s Soccer Team at its training facility during the World Cup.
I am encouraged that [young] leaders and place-makers value being connected to their communities, are willing to challenge the status quo and work for real change, and understand that issues are multi-dimensional and need holistic solutions.
With public funding constrained and development economics challenging, where are you seeing the most promising examples of resilience and creativity in housing and community development today?
Housing unaffordability remains a significant threat to the Bay Area’s ability to flourish as a diverse and healthy region. I’m working with the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority to develop strategies to efficiently preserve and expand affordable housing at a regional scale. Many developers and financiers are looking for ways to spur the creation of additional housing without relying on limited traditional resources, such as credit, bond, and subsidy programs. To move the needle, we need multiple interventions, including industrialized construction, which reduces costs, and increased density in lower-density neighborhoods through family and ADU zoning. Institutional capital should embrace mixed-income and workforce housing as part of a core investment strategy, and cities should study how “social housing” concepts can translate to California.
One creative measure I’ve seen is the City of Santa Rosa’s use of impact fee reductions or waivers to incentivize higher-density housing and housing in high-priority areas. For example, the city is assessing impact fees only on the first two floors of new downtown projects.
You teach and mentor emerging real estate and civic leaders. What are you seeing in the next generation that makes you optimistic about the future?
I’ve taught at Cal and Stanford and have lived as a resident fellow for 10 years in an undergraduate dorm at Stanford. I am encouraged that the new generation of leaders and place-makers value being connected to their communities, are willing to challenge the status quo and work for real change, and understand that issues are multi-dimensional and need holistic solutions.
What would the Bay Area lose if SPUR didn’t exist, and why should people maintain membership with SPUR?
SPUR recognizes that each community is a unique ecosystem, and this focus on the local scale within a regional context makes it distinctive. This foundational understanding allows SPUR to engage meaningfully with diverse perspectives.
By approaching policy with genuine curiosity and openness to dialogue, SPUR seeks to understand all sides of an issue. It supports good governance practices and ensures solutions that balance economic viability and political pragmatism with equitable outcomes. As a result, SPUR’s recommendations can have a real impact.