SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee signed legislation authorizing the redevelopment of the Potrero Terrace and Annex and Sunnydale public housing sites on Wednesday, February 1.
“Today’s commitment to Sunnydale and Potrero Hill families shows that San Francisco is delivering on our promise to ensure all of our residents, especially our low-income families, share in the prosperity of our City,” said Mayor Lee in a statement.
According the Mayor’s office, the newly designed Potrero Hill and Sunnydale communities will become mixed-income service-enriched communities. The neighborhoods will be affordable to more than 3,000 low-income and middle-class families.
Portero Hill’s construction will begin in February while Sunnydale’s construction will commence later this year, the Mayor’s office said. The construction plans include the development of new roadways, sidewalks, transit connections, and utilities in a regular street grid pattern that will reconnect the communities with their surrounding neighborhoods.
“It’s amazing to finally see change coming to Potrero Hill. Growing up, I felt isolated and segregated from the rest of the city in terms of financial opportunities and prosperity. Now with the rebuild finally happening, we residents can finally feel and be a part of the changing San Francisco that was long overdue,” said recent San Francisco State graduate and Potrero Hill resident Terry Jones.
Potrero Hill and Sunnyvale construction and redevelopment is guided by the standards put in place by Mayor Lee’s HOPE SF initiative.
The HOPE SF initiative is the nation’s first large-scale public housing transformation sand reparations effort. The program is funded by local sources, such as, the 2015 $310 million affordable housing bond.
Soon more than 80 acres of mixed-income housing will be developed over the next 15 years. The City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Housing Authority, Bridge Housing for Potrero, and Mercy Housing are all working together to build community leadership, provide on-site relocation services for existing residents, and leverage diverse public financing sources for the projects, the Mayors office said.
“Beyond just developing new homes, we see one of our principal roles as helping the City and residents of Sunnydale achieve fundamental aspirations—educate our children, keep our families safe, and share in the economic prosperity that surrounds Sunnydale,” President of Mercy Housing California Doug Shoemaker said.
Potrero Hill and Sunnydale will replace public housing units, and add 1000 homes in each neighborhood for low-income and middle-class households. Both neighborhoods will include more than 3.5 acres of newly-constructed public open space, with amenities such as children play areas, plazas, and urban gardens.
Each neighborhood will also have enough free space for retail, state-of-the-art community and recreation centers, and supportive social services
“This is no longer the ‘other side’ of Potrero Hill or the ‘swamps’ of Sunnydale. This is our community, our San Francisco. Today we move forward and stand united as residents, community leaders, developers, and city partners in repairing a historic wrong of public policy,” said HOPE SF Director Theo Miller.
