Evan Ellaby Becker

Evan Becker, a lifelong advocate for affordable housing and the friend who left epically long voice messages, died on Saturday in San Diego, CA. He was 78. His death followed years of struggle against prostate cancer.

Evan began his career in affordable housing with the Norfolk (VA) Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA), rising through the ranks to become its deputy director. While at the NRHA, Evan oversaw a top to bottom reorganization and a wide-ranging reimagining of its operations. With the experience and knowledge he gained at the NRHA under his belt, he sought a bigger tableau for his talents. San Diego came calling. Following a nationwide search, the San Diego Housing Commission chose Evan as its executive director in 1988. It was there that he established the City’s first Housing Trust Fund, his proudest achievement, and led the development of scattered site public housing and the preservation of “at-risk” affordable homes. His tenure with the Commission, not unexpectedly for those who knew him, was characterized by a stalwart resistance to political pressures. He left the Housing Commission in 1991 and was hired by the City of Carlsbad as the Housing and Redevelopment Director where he developed and implemented one of the nation’s most productive inclusionary housing programs. In 1997, Evan began a long and highly successful private sector career, continuing to serve the underhoused and ill-housed in California and nationally until he retired in 2024.

Evan lived a life consistent with his belief that everyone deserved dignity and respect. He had friends, of course, in the executive offices at his first job at the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, but just as many in the maintenance department with the men who did the hard physical labor of keeping up the very basic housing units at HUD. And that was equally true at the San Diego Housing Commission, where he had many friends among the Commission’s construction crews, perhaps fewer in the City Council chambers.

Wherever Evan worked, whether at Edison Capital, Red Capital Group, or finally at his own Pacific Housing Solutions, he had devoted clients. One of those long-term clients gave Evan a fully restored British Racing Green Karmann Ghia 1500 sports car in recognition for his years of work helping them provide affordable housing for seniors and others who had few housing options with their limited income.

Evan challenged himself as well as his friends and colleagues, both intellectually and physically. He completed the Marine Corps Marathon in the early 1980s and again in 2013. He ran the Catalina Marathon twice and backpacked the Sierra Mountains in California numerous times and the Southern Alps in New Zealand with Jeanne until the year before his death. He was an avid golfer and fisherman.

Evan Ellaby Becker was born on November 29, 1946 in Pittsburgh, PA, the younger of two sons of William James Becker and Mariana Becker (Rall). He grew up in Norfolk, VA, where he spent countless hours fishing off the Ocean View Fishing Pier. He was an undersized guard on the Granby High School football team. It was at Granby High School that he met his first wife, Janell. After high school he attended the University of Richmond, earning a bachelor’s degree in economics. Later he added a master’s degree in public administration from Old Dominion University and a master’s degree in urban economics from the University of Richmond. He had two sons with his first wife Janell, remaining good friends with her after their marriage ended.

Evan built two beach houses in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and spent as much time as he could at the one in Southern Shores, establishing as many friends at the Duck Woods Country Club as he had at the El Camino County Club in Oceanside, California.

Evan is survived by his wife of 23 years, Jeanne Deaver, sons William (Bill) and David, stepdaughter Katy, and three grandchildren, Jake, Veronika (children of Bill and Katja), and Akyla. He also left behind brothers- and sisters-in-law, two nieces, four nephews and countless friends. Evan was predeceased by his older brother Bryan who died of brain cancer. Evan visited Bryan as often as he could and supported him and his wife and family until the day Bryan died. Evan’s beloved cat Bonzer, who also predeceased Evan, had innumerable medical maladies and misadventures. As Evan once said, Bonzer “had a personality disorder.” Evan was not Will Rogers, who reportedly never met a man he didn’t like. But Evan came close. The few people Evan didn’t like were the pretentious and the entitled. He had no room for such as them. Dignity and simple human decency were baked into Evan’s personality.

It could reasonably be said that Evan was not a man of few words. He loved to talk. He was notorious for leaving voice messages that could tax any device’s memory chip. But what was undeniable was what he said was almost always worth hearing. He didn’t talk just to hear himself talk, he just had lots to say. He was thoughtful and insightful. Those of us on the receiving end of his voice messages and his in-person talks were the better for the hearing of it.

Evan was stoic in the face of his medical struggles. He rarely, if ever, complained. He laughed and smiled as much as always, which was a lot. He loved his wife (times infinity) and the Padres, although not necessarily always in that order. He also cherished his close friends, especially in his later years, and strived to spend as much with them as he could.

Evan will be missed by his colleagues and friends. He will be sorely missed by the homeless and under-housed he worked so long and so hard to help. His legacy is the younger colleagues he mentored, his many friends, his beautiful family, and the thousands of affordable housing units throughout the country that Evan helped deliver to the families he knew needed his help.