By Magaly Muñoz

San Francisco city officials, developers and community members came together Tuesday morning to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new 100% affordable housing complex for seniors who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The development is located at 1633 Valencia, on the border of the Mission District and Bernal Heights. The five-story complex will house 145 single-person studio apartments for seniors 55 years old and above who earn 50% of the area median income.

Mayor London Breed announced that this was the first project to be funded through the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund, which offers “private gap financing to affordable housing developments that can meet aggressive cost and time goals set about 40% lower than the average Bay Area project,” according to Destination: Home, a partner in the project.

Included in the partnership are Apple, Sobrato Philanthropies, and the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, who committed $50 million in support for four other affordable housing projects across the Bay Area.

The Innovation Fund is intended to remove obstacles that developers face when pitching affordable housing units.

According to the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, it costs over $730,000 to build a singular housing unit in San Francisco, the highest in all the region.

But Rebeca Foster, CEO of the Accelerator Fund, said while most affordable housing takes years, sometimes over five years, to complete and nearly $1 million per unit, the 1633 Valencia project will take under three years and cost only $550,000 per unit.

Future projects with larger family unit sizes will cost under $700,000.

Projects looking to get assistance from the fund must meet certain criteria. They must be reserved for vulnerable residents making below the area median income; stay on track to meet cost and time goals, similar to the Valencia development; and developers must show they have secured local public support for the project. Potential projects also have to be located in Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Alameda, or Santa Cruz counties.

“The complexity of our affordable housing system creates noise and static, but here, our top priority is loud and clear: Deliver more homes where people can thrive urgently. Being crystal clear on this urgency is key to solving our housing and homelessness crisis,” Foster said at the groundbreaking event.

Construction will take 18 months and will be completed by December 2025. Residents will begin to move in starting May 2026.

Seniors from or with ties to the Mission will be given priority when reviewing applications. Selection will be made through a coordinated entry program from Mission Action, an advocacy group helping adults find housing.

The complex will also offer supportive and case management services for residents who need them.

The apartments are only a 10-minute walk to the 24th Street Mission BART station and are accessible to multiple MUNI bus lines. Several local businesses are scattered across the area as well.

“When we build more housing, this is what makes the difference. Building more homes not just for those who are struggling with homelessness, and mental illness, and substance use disorder, but providing wraparound services to ensure that they stay housed and stay on the right track, that is what we do in San Francisco,” Breed said.

This project is part of Breed’s “Housing for All” initiative, which aims to build 82,000 housing units over the next several years.

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