SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, SF Board of Supervisor Jane Kim, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation and community members celebrated on Tuesday, August 22 the groundbreaking ceremony of a new affordable housing site in the Tenderloin District. According to a press release from the Mayor’s Office, the housing site is located on Eddy and Taylor Streets and will house 113 units.
“We are constantly working on creative and common-sense solutions to find affordable housing options for our families,” said Mayor Lee. “We know that San Francisco succeeds when we have a strong working class, and these homes will help keep our families in the city. From housing to parks to economic opportunities—we are building communities where our families can flourish.”
Over 60 percent of the housing units will contain 2-3 bedroom homes, providing living opportunities for neighborhood families. The building will include 24-hour property management, on-site tenant services, a laundry room, bike storage and access to a large outdoor area. The project will entail streetscape improvements to both Taylor and Eddy Streets, making them safer and accommodating for pedestrians and bicyclists.
“We need more family housing period—it is a moral dilemma when cities cannot house their homeless and working class families,” said Supervisor Jane Kim, whose district includes the Eddy and Taylor Family Housing site. “Comprised mostly of two and three bedroom apartments, this development will ensure that families doubled up or homeless will finally have a home. Children will have a clean and safe space to play and study so they can excel at school.”
The District 6 community, which includes neighborhoods such as the Tenderloin District, is among the fastest growing areas for families in San Francisco. San Francisco is supporting a number of affordable family housing developments in the surrounding area, including the Bill Sorro Community site that opened in August at Sixth and Howard Streets, and a new development on Mission and Sixth Streets set to open in 2018. Construction on an affordable family housing project on Turk Street is slated to begin in 2018 also.
The Mayor’s Office is overseeing a long-term project to transform the Civic Center and United Nations plazas into a more family-friendly “Commons” area that will include play structures, art installations and local storefronts. Construction recently started on the new Helen Diller Playground, which is scheduled to be completed by February 2018.
The Eddy and Taylor Family Housing Site is a joint project between the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation, a non-profit organization that will develop and manage the building. Along with providing housing opportunities for families, the site will include 30 units set aside for households currently or formerly dealing with homelessness.
“The development allows families with children to live in a neighborhood where schools and after school programs are conveniently located,” said Enrique Aguilar, Program Manager at La Voz Latina, a local community organization. “It is a major step to housing many of the low-income families that walk into our office seeking help.”
“The project at Eddy and Taylor streets, which will house hundreds of people, 30 percent of whom will be coming out of homelessness, exemplifies the challenges of developing affordable housing in San Francisco today, and how they can be overcome,” said Donald Falk, the Chief Executive Officer at TNDC.
“Originally conceived 10 years ago, its successful groundbreaking represents the power of perseverance and the importance of affordable housing in this most expensive of areas—and the coming together of an entire community, including not only the City but also, ultimately, the State, to plan and fund it. TNDC is proud to play a central role in a community-wide effort.”
