The place with the highest eviction rate in the Bay Area during the pandemic wasn't a big city like Oakland or San Francisco — instead it was a suburb that has been radically transformed by housing crisis after housing crisis. Antioch, a city on the outskirts of the Bay has been a destination for people looking for affordable housing. But now it’s at the center of a growing eviction crisis.

In the first episode of our second season, we visit a neighborhood in Antioch where it seems everyone you meet has an eviction story.

Read the transcript here.

During the pandemic, a safe home has been more important than ever. At the same time, millions of people have found themselves on the edge of eviction. Thanks to eviction moratoriums and billions of dollars in rent relief, the feared waves of evictions never arrived. But those efforts were only temporary, a bandaid on our affordability crisis. And the low income people who have suffered the most during the pandemic could face eviction once again. 

In the second season of SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America, we’re taking a deep look into evictions — how they happen, who they impact, and possible solutions to a system deeply entwined in our country’s discriminatory housing policies. 

The first episode of the season comes out on Monday, February 14, 2022.

The pandemic brought millions of people to the edge of losing their housing. And it sparked a national conversation about the connection between housing and health, and the lasting impacts of evictions.

In advance of a new season of SOLD OUT, which will focus on the system of evictions, the team held a live event at KQED’s San Francisco headquarters with Tim Thomas, of the Urban Displacement Project at UC Berkeley, Anne Tamiko Omura, from the Eviction Defense Center, and Krista Gulbransen of Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition.

Listen to the live recording for a conversation about evictions, the pandemic, and some possible solutions.

Got a story you want to share with the SOLD OUT team? Email us or send us a voice memo to [email protected]. Or leave us a voicemail at 415-553-3308.

Every year, at least 3.7 million evictions are filed in the United States. And during the pandemic, millions more renters suddenly found themselves on the precipice of eviction — prompting unprecedented tenant protections and nearly $50 billion in rental assistance.

SOLD OUT is coming back in February of 2022, with a five-part series that’s all about evictions. But before that, hosts Erin Baldassari and Molly Solomon are hosting a live event discussing evictions, rental assistance and what the pandemic revealed about our housing crisis. They will be joined by Tim Thomas, (Urban Displacement Project), Anne Tamiko Omura (Eviction Defense Center), and Krista Gulbransen (Berkeley Rental Housing Coalition).

Join us for the free event in San Francisco on November 13 at 4pm PDT. Catch the livestream on KQED’s YouTube, or keep an eye out on our podcast feed — you’ll be able to hear the event right here.

Got your own housing story to tell? We’ll have a producer on-site to help you record your story. Or you can call us at 415-553-3308 and leave us a voice message.

RSVP and find out more about the November 13 event here: https://bit.ly/3jgHL8Q

A LOT has happened since we brought you SOLD OUT, our five-part series which dove into solutions to the country's growing housing affordability crisis. We received tons of comments and questions from listeners, so we decided to sit down and answer some of them, and bring you an update episode.

Got a question for us? Get in touch on Twitter at @e_baldi or @solomonout. You can also email us at [email protected] or [email protected].

Episode transcript here.

In a bonus episode, we’re featuring stories that show how housing touches us all in different ways. Each one is a part of a bigger picture. Hear from people raised under one roof, friendships formed by city hall rivalries, classmates pulling back the curtain on their housing struggles, people who’ve fought housing discrimination for half a century, and two homeless advocates who have very different ideas for solving the same problem.

This episode was made in collaboration with StoryCorps, a national nonprofit, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which travels around the country in a mobile booth, conducting interviews and sharing highlights in their public archive. Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/35Jir3P

In the United States, housing is something you are expected to earn. But in too many places and for too many people, buying a home or renting is unaffordable.  So more people are becoming homeless, or just struggling to get by. There's a growing movement of people who say that housing should be a human right in the United States. It should be guaranteed. In this episode of SOLD OUT, we explore what it would actually mean to make housing a right. And what that would look like in practice. Because everyone needs a home, whether they can afford it or not. Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/34cVbfe

In America, homeownership has historically, and still is, the main way to build wealth. However racism and decades of discriminatory policies and lending practices have shut Black families out of this American dream. That’s one of the reasons why we still see a huge wealth gap between Black and white Americans today. And some are convinced that the only way to solve that is to pay back what is owed: reparations. One this episode of SOLD OUT, we ask if housing can be a form of reparations that gives Black Americans the same opportunity that white Americans have always had in this country. Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/housingreparations-transcript

The single-family home is synonymous with the American dream. But that Norman Rockwell-esque image of a single home surrounded by a white picket fence comes with a loaded history. When cities first created neighborhoods where only single-family houses were allowed, it was about more than separating homes from apartments; it was about separating white families from everyone else. In this episode, we learn the back story behind single-family zoning and how it has led to the racial segregation we still see in our neighborhoods today. We also hear about the contentious debates to loosen single-family zoning, to make room for more affordable housing in our suburbs.

California has a huge housing shortage. The state says it needs to build nearly 2 million homes in the next five years. But we’re not building anywhere near enough to reach that goal. One big reason: it’s so expensive to build here. The cost of labor, land and materials all keep going up. And because of that, most of what does get built is way too expensive for most people. In this episode of SOLD OUT, we hear from entrepreneurs who think that building modular housing – apartments that are literally built in a factory – is one key to hacking the system and bringing down costs. We also hear about the long history of modular, why it hasn't always been the solution that some hoped for, and why that could be different today.

Read the transcript: https://bit.ly/3mXkuZW