Member Spotlight Interview: Xiomara Cisneros

By Natasha Powell Walker, Director of DEI, Urban Land Institute
October 4, 2021

Xiomara Cisneros is the Housing Manager at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in San Francisco. She was the recipient of the 2020 ULI Chamberlain Fellow and has been recently appointed as a planning commissioner for the City of Alameda. Urban Land Institute spoke with Cisneros recently about her career and involvement with ULI. 

What was the first ULI event you attended?

This is a bit of a trick question because my first “real” job (my first job out of college) was at ULI!  It was a great opportunity to learn about the real estate and land use industry. I quickly learned how the various actors involved have a lot of power and responsibility in how we can shape communities. My favorite event was the TOD (transit-oriented development) Marketplace. The conference showcased a series of technical assistance recommendations conducted for select cities in the San Francisco Bay Area region interested in integrating their transit systems with the urban built environment. I firsthand saw the analysis unfold from the interdisciplinary panel of experts working with cities on their opportunity sites; I saw the value of the public (the decision makers) and the private (those with the capital) sectors working together. I was fascinated by the process and what it meant for the people in these communities and their quality of life. This experience catalyzed my career in this space, and ULI was the perfect springboard for this calling.

What aspect of your DC’s program of work are you most looking forward to in the coming year?

I’m excited to serve on the Housing the Bay Steering Committee. The Bay Area is ground zero of the housing affordability crisis, a problem that’s been decades in the making due to issues like it’s chronic undersupply, lasting discriminatory policies, and lack of political will. To help address this challenge right in our backyard, the San Francisco District Council tapped into our membership to organize a series of programs identifying innovative solutions in financing, policy and the public process, culminating into an annual summit. Safe, stable housing is the essential foundation to empower individuals and ensure one’s success, the base “unit” for a thriving community. Given my own lived experience and realizing the complexity of the housing and land use issues, I’ve committed my career to tackling the housing affordability crisis. Efforts like this program continue to motivate me when connecting with the experts close to the problem and working collaboratively to uncover and share new ideas.

As the Housing Manager at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, why do you believe that diversifying the real estate industry is important and what changes do you hope to see in the next five to ten years?  

I recently found out that only 5% of ULI members are Black, when the U.S. population is at 14% — which is a big disparity. The majority of the membership is white (82%) and male (69%). The Latinx membership did a little better at 9%, but that’s still a low number. It’s no secret that land use policies, practices, and the real estate industry are rooted in systemic racial and economic inequities — from redlining, blockbusting, discriminatory lending practices widening the generational wealth gap, and urban renewal projects literally bulldozing these neighborhoods. Diversifying the field that designs and builds these communities should be a part of righting some of these historical wrongs. I am encouraged that ULI and many other organizations are embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. For example, ULI San Francisco’s recently launched the Pathways to Inclusion program, which aims to promote the career advancement of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) real estate and land use professionals, and to diversify its membership. Hopefully in the very near future, we’ll see much more representation, and the leaders of the industry will look more like the communities they’re shaping.