Gabriel Sanders

Director, Housing and Community Development Policy

Gabriel grew up in the cities of Santa Rosa and Windsor in Sonoma County. After graduating with his Master’s in Public Administration in 2019 from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, he returned to Sonoma County to manage a successful Board of Supervisors campaign. During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked with community-based organizations across the County to administer CARES Act funding to low-income community members in need of gap income and emergency services. 

Gabriel has worked as an analyst at the California Department of Housing and Community Development, gaining perspective and understanding of statewide housing challenges, programs, and policies. Most recently, Gabriel served as Deputy Director for a land use advocacy nonprofit based in Monterey County, advocating for innovative affordable housing policy for the 6th Cycle Housing Element update and building collaborative relationships with policy-makers across the Monterey Bay Area. 

In 2022 Gabriel adopted two kittens from the Monterey SPCA. He loves tasting wine from across California and the rest of the world.. He is an active patron of the arts, enjoys Esports, powerlifting, and finding fellow visionaries for creating a rich and dynamic community of makers and creatives on the Peninsula and beyond. He holds a BA in International Relations from UC Davis, an AA in Linguistics from the Santa Rosa Junior College, a Level II Certification in StrongFirst Girya kettlebell instruction, speaks fluent Spanish, and is conversational in French and Arabic.