Ray Bramson

Chief Operating Officer, Destination: Home

Housing and Homelessness Columnist

Column contributed second Monday of every month

Ray works systematically to meet Destination: Home’s goals by addressing key staffing, process, and infrastructure issues, while also overseeing the organization’s housing loan portfolio, grantmaking, and development functions.

Having focused on homelessness and affordable housing issues for the majority of his career, Ray previously worked for the city of San Jose, leading the city’s Homelessness Interventions and Solutions Division for over five years.

Prior to joining the city, he was a philanthropy manager at Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and before that Ray worked with HomeFirst–a Santa Clara County safety net organization–as director of development.

An alumnus of UC Santa Barbara, Ray spent the year following his graduation with the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps serving impoverished communities throughout the southeastern United States. He is a senior fellow with American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley and a board member for Housing Matters. Ray is also currently pursuing his Masters in Liberal Arts from Stanford University.

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Columns

Two single-family homes under construction

August 10, 2026August 10, 2026by Ray Bramson

Bramson: What Hollywood can teach us about California’s housing crisis

Summer blockbusters are built around a pretty straightforward idea: spend a lot of money to make something people will pay to see. Movies like “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” involve enormous investments because studios believe there is an audience large enough to generate an even larger return. When that calculation works,...

Columns

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026by Ray Bramson

Bramson: The fiscal blind spot concerning homelessness

Every year, Sacramento produces another round of homelessness legislation. This year is no different. Lawmakers have introduced bills to strengthen prevention programs, improve behavioral health services, regulate sober living environments and give local governments additional tools to respond to homelessness. Some of these proposals are thoughtful. Many deserve support. None are unreasonable. But after years...

Columns

A man stands outside while walking his dog on a leash

June 8, 2026June 8, 2026by Ray Bramson

Bramson: Primaries are over — back to the real work of helping people in need

The ballots have been cast. The campaign mailers are finally slowing down. The California primary election is behind us. That means it is time to get back to the real work of helping people who need it the most. Not that the work ever stopped, of course. Every day, outreach workers meet people living outside...

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