In 2022, Berkeleyside brought readers a wide range of stories, but none more pressing than the housing crisis in Berkeley.

Whether affordable or market rate, downtown or on San Pablo, high-rise or low-rise, my neighborhood or your neighborhood, housing is an important issue in the city. We illustrated those stories and much more — including people, places and events — in photographs that show the life and times of Berkeley.

Many of the photos were shot by photojournalist Ximena Natera, who joined our staff in June, and Kelly Sullivan, who has been our go-to freelance photographer for many years. But some were shot by you — our readers.

Here are a few of the photos we chose to highlight. Click on the links in the captions to take you to the related stories and photo essays.

An emphasis on housing

Stanley Glenn stands outside his apartment on Tenth Street in West Berkeley. Glenn’s complex was purchased by the Northern California Land Trust, which aims to preserve affordable housing by buying apartment buildings and fixing them up while keeping rents low. Credit: Kelly Sullivan Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Credit: Amir Aziz

Betty Gray moved from her second-story apartment into her new ground-floor home at the Stuart Street apartments in September 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Kim Rogers poses with her grandchildren in her new affordable housing apartment at Berkeley Way that sits adjacent to the Hope Center, which opened to residents in September 2022. Credit: Kelly Sullivan

Yvette Bozzini looks out her bedroom window to the site of a proposed six-story apartment building. The proposed project fits with the city’s goals for spurring new transit-oriented development along San Pablo Avenue, but it has prompted resistance from Bozzini and many of her neighbors, who argue the project is too big for their neighborhood. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/Catchlight Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/Catchlight
Tattoo (top photo) and George Blair share a room at the Rodeway Inn with their dogs. They previously lived at Peoples Park. Credit: Supriya Yelimeli
Susie Medak, Berkeley Rep long-time managing director, photographed in the courtyard at the newly built Medak Center, Aug. 31, 2022. The 45-unit building will house artists performing at the Berkeley Rep and will open in the fall. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Very Berkeley people

Devin McDonald and his father “Country Joe” McDonald pose for a photo inside Mr. Mopps’ Toys and Books on Feb. 3, 2022. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Science teacher Neelam Patil was the winner of the Time magazine innovative teaching award. She embraces the saplings ready for planting at Cragmont Elementary on Nov. 15, 2021. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Osha Neumann, shown working from his home office on Feb. 3, 2022, retires from his longtime role at the East Bay Community Law Center. Credit: Kelly Sullivan Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Ronny Carillo at his Ballon decoration station in the Paper Plus store on San Pablo Avenue in West Berkeley. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/ CatchLight
Berkeley Half Marathon runners pass through Sproul Plaza on February 27, 2022. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Richard Neumann, 32, and 3-month-old Hudson dressed as Waluigi and Mario from the video game. Trick-or-treating returns to Elmwood’s Russell Street on Halloween night after a two-year pandemic break. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Cultural expressions

Dancers perform at the Asian Cultural Festival on Harold Way on March 12, 2022. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Cedric Price and Lashay Johnson, both 30, pose at a photo booth during the Juneteenth celebration in Berkeley on June 19, 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchlLight
Dancers perform the traditional Dance Round at the Indigenous Peoples Day Powwow in Berkeley on Oct. 8, 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
Teens from the AileyCamp prepare for their final dance performance. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
Gustavo Dudamel peers through the curtain before coming onstage for the Encuentros Orchestra concert at the Greek Theatre on Aug. 4, 2022. There were 106 young musicians hailing from 22 countries at the performance. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Addressing mental health

Berkeley High seniors Ginger Boswell, Haley Goetting, Mary Calderon Sanchez, Lily Kung and Eva Adams (not pictured) banded together after a classmate’s death, seeking to bring more money and resources for mental health to their school. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/Catchlight
Eva Adams, 17, in Ohlone Park, near her home. Adams’ younger brother is an incoming freshman at Berkeley High this fall. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/Catchlight
Ginger Boswell and Mary Calderon Sanchez hug in their friend Hayley Goetting’s kitchen. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/Catchlight

Destinations: From People’s Park to Tuolumne Camp

Protesters square off with police at People’s Park after UC Berkeley begins student housing construction, Aug. 3, 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
Liam D’Ambrosio of Berkeley plays at the edge of the newly daylighted Codornices Creek at Kains Avenue Park on Feb. 19, 2022. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
The Berkeley City Council last held meetings in the old Berkeley City Hall building in 2019. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
The new dining hall at Berkeley Tuolumne Camp is seen from the south fork of the Tuolumne River on May 12, 2022. The camp will reopen this summer, nearly nine years after it was destroyed in the 2013 Rim Fire. Credit: Kelly Sullivan Credit: Kelly Sullivan

‘This is a wakeup call’

Maria Sotelo, the mother of Jazy, 17, and Angel Sotelo, 15, drops a white flower over the grave of her children during a moving ceremony attended by family and friends. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
Community members gather Monday evening outside Longfellow Middle School, where a vigil was held to honor Berkeley brothers Jazy and Angel Sotelo Garcia. October 3, 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Wild to mild weather

Branches from a redwood tree fell onto a North Berkeley resident’s pool house in January 2022. Credit: John Schnick
Children in raincoats and boots go for a stroll on Thursday’s rainy morning in November 2022. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight

Kittens, carpools and strikes

Minkie, a recently spayed young cat, awaits adoption at the Berkeley animal shelter. The wait for spay and neuter procedures can extend for weeks. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
Aaron Goldstein looks over a backyard fence to better view the tank house on Hearst Street in West Berkeley on March 10, 2022. Goldstein, an architect, is writing a book about the remaining water tanks turned homes in the East Bay. Credit: Kelly Sullivan
Lindsey Turrentine used casual carpool to commute from her home in Berkeley to her job in San Francisco for two decades until the pandemic brought the tradition to a screeching halt in 2020. Turrentine and others are hoping casual carpooling can bounce back now that more people are regularly commuting. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
UC parents workers demonstrate on Friday, Dec. 9, during the fourth week of the statewide strike. Credit: Ximena Natera, Berkeleyside/CatchLight
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