After nearly a decade of changing proposals, dozens of below-market-rate units for families are close to becoming a reality in San Francisco’s Mission District.
City officials, developers and community groups gathered Wednesday to break ground on Casa Adelante, a development at 1515 South Van Ness Ave. that is intended to bring 168 below-market-rate homes to the area by 2027.
“Casa Adelante means not just housing, but home,” said Mayor Daniel Lurie, explaining that the project is designed with a strong focus on families.
The building will include amenities such as a large community room, outdoor space and on-site resources. Wu Yee Children’s Services will operate a childcare center on site, and the Nuevo Sol Day Laborer and Domestic Worker Center will relocate there.
Of the 168 units, 120 will be reserved for low-income families, 42 for families exiting homelessness and five for households affected by HIV.
Market-rate housing was planned for the site but that proposal faced significant pushback from residents who feared it would escalate real estate prices and displace low-income families and artists in the area. In 2017, the developer at the time, Lennar Multifamily Communities, agreed to make 20% of the units affordable.
However, rising construction costs made the project too expensive. In 2019, the city acquired the site and selected Chinatown Community Development Center and the Mission Economic Development Agency to lead the development of affordable housing there.
“The site represents more than a housing project, it’s the result of decades of grassroots organizing and advocacy,” said Luis Granados, CEO of the Mission Economic Development Agency, or MEDA.
This project also marked the third collaboration between MEDA and the Chinatown Community Development Center, according to Malcolm Yeung, the latter group’s executive director.
Projects like this, he said, help build “enduring relationships” not only between the two organizations but also between the Chinatown and Mission communities.
“I think these kinds of partnerships across the city only make our communities stronger,” Yeung said.