KQED, the NPR/PBS station serving Northern California, is creating a dedicated news desk to cover the Bay Area’s housing and affordability crisis. The desk is comprised of journalists Erika Aguilar, Erin Baldassari, and Molly Solomon. Together the team will provide ongoing coverage of housing and affordability issues in the Bay Area for multiple KQED platforms, including radio, online, and podcasting.
Coming from KQED’s The Bay podcast, Erika Aguilar will act as Senior Editor and lead and set editorial coverage plans for the housing desk. Before arriving at KQED, Erika worked for KPCC public media in Los Angeles
Joining Aguilar is three-time national Edward R. Murrow Award winner Molly Solomon. She will act as housing reporter for the desk. Solomon arrives at KQED from Oregon Public Broadcasting where she was the Southwest Washington Bureau Chief.
The team is rounded out by Erin Baldassari, who most recently worked as a transportation reporter for the East Bay Times and The Mercury News with a focus on how the Bay Area’s housing shortage has changed the way people move around the region.
“Housing and the rising cost of living is top-of-mind for everyone I meet,” said Aguilar. “It’s time to answer questions from our audience about how we got ourselves into this situation and how to navigate it. As a starting point, we’ll examine the unfair, inequitable, and discriminatory practices in our state’s land-use and political history that have contributed to our affordability crisis.”
