On Wednesday morning, July 8, 2015, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee announced a new affordable family housing site within the Mission District of San Francisco.
According to the news reported by the SF Curbed, he introduced an $18.5 million purchase and sale agreement to the Board of Supervisors to allow the City to acquire a previously entitled market-rate parcel at 490 South Van Ness Avenue at 16th Street. The plan is to convert the former gas station to permanently affordable family rental housing. The City plans to construct a 7-story affordable housing development with ground floor retail and at least 72-family-sized permanently affordable housing rental apartments.
It offers an affordable housing opportunity in the city neighborhood significantly impacted by market rate forces. A former gas station that has completed environmental remediation and was entitled by the planning commission would be purchased from JCN Developers. The board of supervisors' discussion on the purchase will be held on July 28th, SF Curbed news added.
After the sale is approved by the board of supervisors, the city will issue a request for a proposal to affordable housing developers to build out the site as inexpensive family rental housing. This is available to working households earning up to $55,000 for a family of three, or $61,150 for a family of four. The city will spend around $257,000 per unit on the land purchase, plus several hundreds of thousand dollars per unit on construction.
According to the news reported by the Biz Journals Mayor Ed Lee stated that, "We must build more housing and stabilize the Mission where two-thirds of residents are low and moderate income families. The Mission is the center of Latino culture in the Bay Area and remains one of our city's most beloved neighborhoods", he said.
City leaders are now aiming several possible strategies. A $250 million housing bond would mark $100 million to $150 million for low-income housing plans like land acquisition this November.
