California Construction News staff writer
A groundbreaking ceremony launched construction last week at 1633 Valencia St. in San Francisco, a new 100 percent affordable housing development at the border of Bernal Heights and the Mission District.
The construction of 1633 Valencia will be overseen by San Francisco-based general contractor Cahill Contractors. Additional local design and development partners include David Baker Architects, Fletcher Studio, DCI Engineers, Luk and Associates, and Engineering 350, with community outreach services provided by Mission Action.
The five-story building will provide 145 affordable apartments serving low-income seniors. The ground floor will include a residential lobby, common spaces including a community room, two offices for property management, a supportive services suite, and bike parking.
It’s the first project to receive funding through the newly announced Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund, a $50 million investment vehicle to accelerate affordable housing development launched by the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) in partnership with Sobrato Philanthropies, Destination: Home, and Apple.
The city has set a goal of 82,000 new homes to be built as part of the State-mandated Housing Element.
“I will continue to work aggressively to remove the barriers that get in the way of housing construction, so we build homes like those at 1633 Valencia that are providing the services and support to keep people housed and stable,” said Mayor London Breed. “I want to thank the founders of the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund and project development partners to ensure projects like this can become a reality.”
Located on a former Sears parking lot between Cesar Chavez and Mission Street and overlooked by the CPMC Mission Bernal Sutter medical campus, the development is one of eight new 100 percent affordable housing projects that have broken ground in the Mission since 2018.
“Our community’s unhoused seniors deserve to age well in dignified housing. I am so proud that we are breaking ground at 1633 Valencia Street today and that 145 homeless seniors will soon have compassionate, permanent, and supportive housing right in the middle of District 9,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “I am deeply grateful to the project team’s incredible work in advancing the project’s milestones and breaking ground so quickly.”
The HAF and Mercy Housing California proposed the 1633 Valencia project as a replication of Tahanan Supportive Housing, diversifying the housing production model to produce 145 permanent supportive housing units more quickly and cost effectively.
“Our success with modular housing at Tahanan showed that San Francisco absolutely can build affordable housing quickly and cost-effectively,” said Doug Shoemaker, President of Mercy Housing California, the affordable housing nonprofit that will develop, own, and manage 1633 Valencia Street. “Now, we’re bringing many of those innovative cost-saving efforts to site-built housing
