The Californer - San Francisco: Mayor London Breed and Community Members Announce the City's Intent to Purchase Large Parcel in the Mission for Affordable Housing

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San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed and community leaders today announced the City is in contract to purchase a large parcel of land at 1515 South Van Ness Avenue to build new affordable housing. The project will provide 100 percent permanently affordable housing, and will likely serve families earning between 30 and 80 percent of Area Median Income. Once complete, the project will be the eighth new construction of affordable housing in the Mission District since 2015.

"Projects like 1515 South Van Ness are exactly what I envisioned last year when we pushed for the City's windfall revenue to be spent on building and preserving affordable housing," said Mayor Breed. "We need more affordable housing in the Mission and throughout San Francisco so that our low- and middle-income residents can continue to live here. The $600 million Affordable Housing Bond that we introduced last month will continue our progress and I look forward to working with our diverse coalition of supporters to make sure that it passes."

The City will purchase the parcel with funds appropriated mid-year by the Board and Mayor from the excess Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund (ERAF) as well as monies from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's JumpStart fund. When San Francisco learned it would receive a windfall of money from the State due to excess ERAF in the current year, Mayor Breed committed to using a significant portion of the funds to invest in the City's affordable housing programs.

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"We're thrilled to be adding 1515 South Van Ness to the 900 affordable housing units already in progress in the Mission neighborhood. These kinds of investments make an incredible difference in communities and in the lives of the families who will live there," said Kate Hartley, Director of the Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development. "We want to thank the Mayor for her ongoing support of affordable housing. We also want to thank MTC for its JumpStart investment of $5 million, which was a great help in making this acquisition happen."

"We are super excited that Mayor Breed, after taking a lowrider tour in the Mission Community – which is Ground Zero for gentrification, with over 10,000 people being evicted – immediately took action to address the housing crisis by taking steps to purchase 1515 South Van Ness," said Roberto Y. Hernandez, Founder of Our Mission No Eviction. "Today we celebrate a major victory thanks to Mayor Breed who not only listened, but is taking action to build 100% affordable housing in our community. Sí se puede!"

Last month, Mayor Breed and Board of Supervisors President Norman Yee introduced a $600 million Affordable Housing Bond to provide additional funding to build more housing in San Francisco. The Affordable Housing Bond will go to voters for approval on the November ballot. If approved, the general obligation bond will provide funding for the City to begin construction on more projects like 1515 South Van Ness to provide additional housing for low-income residents.

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The parcel is currently vacant and will be transformed into a mixed-use development with expansive ground-floor activation opportunities. From 2017 to 2018, the site served as a temporary 120-bed Navigation Center, which closed when the Division Circle Navigation Center opened last summer.

Following approval of the purchase by the Board of Supervisors this summer and identification of construction funding, the City will select a developer through a Request for Qualifications process to develop the site. Once complete, 1515 South Van Ness will bring the number of new and preserved affordable homes in the neighborhood to over 1,000 units.

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