News Releases
The latest news and announcements from Mayor London N. Breed

Mayor Lee Announces Purchase of New Affordable Family Housing Site in the Mission

City Plans to Convert Previously Entitled Market-Rate Parcel at 490 South Van Ness in Mission Neighborhood to Permanently Affordable Family Rental Housing with at least 72 Family Homes; Fourth Afforda

Mayor Edwin M. Lee introduced an $18.5 million purchase and sale agreement to the Board of Supervisors to allow the City to acquire a previously entitled market-rate parcel at 490 South Van Ness Avenue at 16th Street in the Mission District to convert the site to permanently affordable family rental housing. The City plans to construct a 90,947 square foot, 7-story affordable housing development with ground floor retail and at least 72 family-sized permanently affordable housing rental apartments.

“We must build more housing and stabilize the Mission where two-thirds of residents are low and moderate income families,” said Mayor Lee. “The Mission is the center of Latino culture in the Bay Area and remains one of our City’s most beloved neighborhoods. The dedicated $50 million investment to The Mission from our proposed $310 million affordable housing bond that won’t raise property taxes, will help us deliver on our aggressive housing goals. It will also help stop displacement of long-time tenants and increase the supply of affordable housing in the neighborhood by acquiring buildings for affordable housing, such as 490 South Van Ness.”

“This represents another victory for the people of the Mission who have called upon the City to prioritize the limited land left in the Mission for affordable housing,” said Supervisor David Campos. “I want to thank the Mayor for purchasing this site and look forward to continuing to work with him to secure additional sites so we can truly preserve the diversity of people and families in this neighborhood.”

Located near the intersection of South Van Ness Avenue and 16th Street, the parcel offers a great affordable housing opportunity in a City neighborhood significantly impacted by market rate forces. A former gas station that has completed environmental remediation and was entitled by the Planning Commission in October 2014 would be purchased from JCN Developers, represented by Shamrock Realty. The Board of Supervisors’ consideration of the purchase will occur on July 28th, with the acquisition closing expected 30 days later.

After the sale is approved by the Board of Supervisors, the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) will issue a request for proposal (RFP) to affordable housing developers to build out the site as 100 percent permanently affordable family rental housing, serving working households earning up to $55,000 for a family of three, or $61,150 for a family of four.

The development of new affordable housing opportunities is a key component of the Mayor’s Mission Action Plan 2020, which aims to retain low to moderate income residents and community-serving businesses and nonprofits in order to preserve the socioeconomic diversity of the Mission District.

“We are thrilled to be in contract for a site that has already worked through its entitlement process and that will bring a substantial number of new affordable family apartments to a neighborhood with great need,” said MOHCD Director Olson Lee.  “We look forward to a speedy review and approval process by the Board of Supervisors.”

490 South Van Ness will be the fourth new, multi-family affordable housing development in the Mission neighborhood to get underway this year. Other sites in progress include: 1950 Mission Street with over 120 units of family rental housing that MOHCD just concluded the developer selection process; 17th and Folsom Streets, which will add another 100 units of family transition-aged youth housing to the neighborhood for which MOHCD recently received development proposals; and 1296 Shotwell Street, which will house at least 50 low-income and homeless seniors, for which MOHCD issued an RFP on July 3rd. MOHCD is working with Mission Neighborhood Center on a site at 24th and Harrison Streets for the development of approximately 35 affordable senior housing apartments.