SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, March 19, Mayor London Breed was joined by community leaders to celebrate the groundbreaking of future affordable housing at 1950 Mission Street. Once the project is completed over 155 affordable apartments will be available for families, 40 of those units will assist families that have previously experienced homelessness.

“I am committed to making sure that all of our residents, especially families and children, have a safe, dignified place to live, which is why I am so excited for this project,” said Mayor Breed. “I will be introducing a Charter Amendment to streamline the production of affordable and teacher housing and pushing a bond to fund new affordable housing in the upcoming election to ensure we continue building more housing like this in the City.”

According to the website of the Mayor’s Office, the groundbreaking transpired at the site that was formerly the locate of Phoenix Continuation High School, which was abandoned and listed as surplus property by the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) in 2002. The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development bought the property from SFUSD in 2015 and it became the temporary home of the City’s first Navigation Center.

“This is a perfect example of how we should be using publicly owned land. The community and my office joined forces with members of the Board of Education to say YES to using this long-abandoned former school site for affordable housing,” said Supervisor Hillary Ronen. “I can’t wait for the day when families — and especially Mission district children who attend neighborhood schools — can move into their new homes.”

The new development will be affordable for households with incomes between 45 percent and 60 percent Area Median Income (up to $71,050 for a family of four), with 25 percent of the units set aside for 40 formerly homeless families.

“We are proud to be breaking ground at 1950 Mission, which has served many key purposes for the City over the years,” said Kate Hartley, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. “We look forward to welcoming 155 families to their new, permanently affordable homes next year.”

The apartments will have a rooftop garden, a courtyard, a community room with kitchen, and a workshop operated by PODER that will provide bike-maintenance training to youth from the property and the surrounding community. There will be on-site supportive services funded by the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to residents by Mission Housing Development Corporation and Lutheran Social Services. Another partner, Mission Neighborhood Centers, will operate a new Head Start & Early Head Start youth space..

“1950 Mission represents hope and rebirth for a Mission Community long displaced and disenfranchised,” said Sam Moss, Executive Director, Mission Housing Development Corporation. “Mission Housing is proud to usher in the Mission District’s first new 100% affordable housing development awarded to a community-based nonprofit in over 10 years. This community-driven development should be the standard model for anyone who truly cares about high quality affordable housing and community services.”

Financial partners include the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, the California Climate Investment Program (funded through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program through the Strategic Growth Council and the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., BNY Mellon, California Community Reinvestment Corporation, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, and California Debt Limit Allocation Committee.

“1950 Mission will address the urgent need for affordable housing right in the heart of San Francisco,” said Vince Toye, head of Community Lending and Investment for Wells Fargo. “Wells Fargo is committed to providing financial solutions for the development of affordable housing in areas where there are the biggest needs, and we’re proud to support BRIDGE Housing and Mission Housing’s development of this unique project with both equity and debt financing.”

Visit www.1950mission.org for a virtual tour and additional details.