Latest news with #MidPenHousing
Fast Company
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fast Company
San Francisco transformed an old parking lot into affordable housing for public school teachers
After nearly a decade of planning and consultation, the San Francisco Unified School District has made its first venture into the unexpected—and increasingly relevant—business of affordable housing development. The district just opened Shirley Chisholm Village, a 135-unit housing complex in San Francisco's oceanside Sunset District. Built on district-owned land, with affordable rents and preference given to SFUSD educators, it's a model for the ways urban school districts can use their extensive land holdings to address the housing-affordability challenges faced by their own employees. The $105 million project was developed by the nonprofit MidPen Housing with a design by San Francisco-based BAR Architects & Interiors, in coordination with the San Francisco Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. The units, set aside for residents who earn between 30% and 100% of the area's median income, range from studios up to three-bedroom apartments. Other school districts have taken similar approaches, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, which began developing underutilized district-owned sites into housing back in 2009. SFUSD's first foray into housing development stands out for both its design and the process behind it. The design of the building and its range of amenities were influenced directly by the preferences of the district's teachers. A panel of educators helped guide the decade-long planning process to bring about the project, participating in workshops to shape its amenities and social spaces. 'One of the main things that came out of those workshops was the desire to have a space to work when they came home, but not to work from their apartment,' says architect Patricia Centeno, a principal at BAR Architects & Interiors. The architects carved out a space on the five-story building's top floor, facing the ocean, for a work-from-home lounge and gathering space. Other input from educators guided the way the project interfaces with the surrounding community, which is primarily made up of modest single-family homes. Dropping a 135-unit building in the middle of the neighborhood could have been a shock, but the designers worked to ensure the building and its site were not an imposition. It was a tricky balance to strike, because not long ago the site was a wide-open asphalt parking lot with a small, underutilized storage building, and the community had turned the parking lot into a makeshift neighborhood park. Nearly an acre and a half, it was used for basketball, skateboarding, and a range of other recreational activities. Replacing that with housing—especially housing that was at least a story or two taller than everything around it—could have been grounds for a vocal opposition campaign. The architects focused on making sure the project's footprint was as small as possible. 'One of our goals was to try to find a way to incorporate a portion of [the community park],' says Centeno. 'We knew we were never going to be able to create something as extensive as what they had, but we worked with our client to see if we could meet the goal for the total number of units, and also create some sort of common public space.' What they came up with is a publicly accessible plaza, playground, and seating area placed in a carve-out along one of the project's street-facing edges. 'It's a little bit of a return to the neighborhood,' says Chris Haegglund, president and CEO of BAR Architects & Interiors. A small one-story annex building that sits nearby is intended to be leased out to a local nonprofit. These spaces, and several residents-only common areas, were made possible by creatively shaping the building into an elongated H as seen from above, filling in the voids with courtyards and green space. From the street level, the building was designed to blend into the low-slung neighborhood as much as possible, despite rising to four and five stories in various places. Haegglund says the structure was stepped down at its edges to make a smoother transition to the smaller homes on either side. This nod to the context is also a geographical reference, evoking the sand dunes that once made up this section of San Francisco before development. 'We're trying to create a building that feels contemporary,' says Centeno. 'But we're trying to fit into a neighborhood of homes that were largely built in the '30s, '40s, and '50s, which is kind of newer by San Francisco standards.' To give the building that contemporary feel, the architects put an undulation into the roofline, having it mimic rolling dunes and referencing the roofs of the nearby houses. This undulation was also added to the facade of the building in a nod to the bay windows common in the region. Though the project was not required to include parking under the city's zoning code, the developers chose to include some underground spaces, partly to assuage neighborhood concerns about street parking and partly at the request of the educators who helped guide the design process. Despite ample public transportation in much of San Francisco, this neighborhood is on the fringes, and some were concerned about potentially long commutes to schools in other parts of town. As a district-owned site, it does have the benefit of being embedded in its neighborhood, which makes its conversion to housing—and the conversion of other district-owned sites—very logical. And Shirley Chisholm Village is just the start. SFUSD has three other housing projects in the works.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sonoma County breaks ground on new affordable housing for families in Santa Rosa
(KRON) — Sonoma County and the non-profit developer MidPen Housing broke ground Friday on 75 new affordable housing units for families in Santa Rosa. The 'Casa Roseland' development will include a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments. The new units will house families with incomes between 30 and 60% of the area's median income, which is about $29,000 to $83,000 depending on family size. Latest tech layoffs hit Meta's Reality Labs division Amenities planned for Casa Roseland include a community room, learning center, teen room, bike storage, and laundry facilities. The development will also have 1,600 square feet of outdoor space with barbecues and a children's play area. Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, who represents the Roseland area, said that the investment into affordable housing will 'pay dividends many times over.' Cybertruck stuck in mud towed from Truckee reservoir 'Today marks an important moment in our efforts to address our region's affordable housing crisis and ensure Sonoma County remains a place where everyone has the opportunity to thrive,' Coursey said. 'Casa Roseland will provide 75 families with a stable and affordable place to live while advancing the ongoing transformation of Roseland, which has become one of the county's most vibrant communities.' California's Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program contributed $25.8 million for the project. Construction for Casa Roseland began in January 2025 and is expected to finish in summer of 2026. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
27-02-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Affordable housing for veterans breaks ground near Menlo Park VA hospital
An affordable housing development for veterans that has been a few years in the making officially broke ground in Menlo Park on Wednesday. Dozens of local leaders, funders and developers of the project gathered to celebrate the beginning of construction for Oak Gardens, a 62-unit housing complex on Chapel Lane at the Veterans Affairs campus that is home to the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center-Menlo Park. "Seeing that the ground has been broken, it really is a testament to what we can do in partnership with the federal government, the state, the county, and the city," said Abby Goldware Potluri, senior vice president and co-head of housing development at MidPen Housing. MidPen Housing, a non-profit developer of affordable housing in Northern California is in charge of developing the project. It has previously developed several affordable housing sites in Menlo Park. Of the 62 apartment units, 55 will be reserved for veteran households experiencing homelessness. In San Mateo County, 12% of the homeless population are veterans. Yet they make up only 6% of the adult population Veteran households that make between 30% and 50% of the Area Median Income , or AMI, will be eligible for a spot. The AMI for San Mateo County in 2024 for a single person household was $130,600. Therefore, veterans seeking a single apartment for one are eligible if they make between $41,150 and $68,550 per year. A breakdown of income eligibility by family size can be found at Prices will range from $950 to $2,240 for one, two, and three bedroom apartments. Oak Gardens will not only provide below market rate housing but a supportive community offering services such as case management, life skills development, computer learning, employment preparation, and financial literacy. "The current housing market in the Bay Area makes it almost impossible for someone just coming out of a program like the Homeless Veteran's Reintegration Program to find a place to live," said Jean Gurga, executive medical center director at VA Palo Alto Health Care. "With Oak Gardens, that becomes a little bit easier through enhanced use leases. The VA has an Enhanced Use Lease Program which allows the VA to lease underutilized VA land for the purpose of developing supportive housing for veterans. "One of the hardest impediments we face to build housing is the land," said District 3 Supervisor Ray Mueller of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors. "That you're willing to share it and lease it is an incredible thing." The VA Palo Alto campus in Menlo Park is federal land. The city of Menlo Park identified the 2-acre lot on the campus as an opportunity site for below market rate housing. Project construction is estimated to cost $35 million. Funding is being drawn from multiple public and private sources such as the city of Menlo Park, San Mateo County, Housing Trust Silicon Valley, and First Citizens Bank. Construction is expected to be completed in Spring 2026. Mueller acknowledged the steep challenges to get affordable housing built when community members push back. He said he thought that getting the go-ahead for Oak Gardens was probably easier since people may be more sympathetic to veterans experiencing homelessness. "It is difficult to build affordable housing, it's difficult to build it anywhere," Mueller said. "Everyone needs housing. Every family needs housing. While their service to our country might make it easier for people to understand that, everyone has a place in our society and needs a place to sleep," he said. Both Mueller and Menlo Park Mayor Drew Combs used the groundbreaking as an opportunity to emphasize their beliefs that affordable housing should be able to pop up everywhere, regardless of for whom it is being built. The development will fall within District 2, which Combs represents on the city council. "My hope is that this project represents a testament that affordable housing should be built everywhere in our community," Combs said.
