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Biggest Affordable Housing Project in Years Headed to Mission

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The Mission is set to get its largest 100 percent affordable housing development in nine years now that the Mission Housing Development Corporation and BRIDGE Housing have been given the rights to develop 165 rental apartments at 1950 Mission Street, according to an announcement yesterday by BRIDGE. The site is owned by the city and is currently being used as the home of the pilot homeless navigation center, which brings in entire homeless encampments awaiting permanent housing. The development will serve low-income and very low-income families earning between 45 and 60 percent of area media income, with 20 percent of the apartments reserved for formerly homeless families. The news comes at a time when affordable housing in the Mission is an extremely charged topic.

The project is set to cost about $600,000 per unit to build (about $100 million in total), with funding coming from a combination of city money and federal low-income housing tax credits. When complete, the building, designed by David Baker Architects, will include a courtyard, a community room and kitchen, a media lab, and space for supportive services. There will also be artists' studios, a mural walkway, and a rooftop garden for community gatherings. According to the San Francisco Business Times, the 1950 Mission Street building is scheduled to break ground by 2017. In the meantime, the codevelopers and the city will work on a transition plan for the homeless navigation center and look for another home for it.

1950 Mission will eventually be joined by three more below-market-rate projects in the neighborhood, including the recently announced 490 South Van Ness. However, as the Business Times notes, those projects may take years to reach completion thanks to high costs and the heavy workload of the Mayor's Office of Housing.

· Mayor Watches As Homeless Break Camp for New Center [SFGate]
· November Ballot Promises to Be Referendum on Housing Wars [Curbed SF]
· Nonprofits to Build Largest Mission Affordable Housing Complex in a Decade [SF Business Times]
· SF to Buy Mission Gas Station Site for 72 Affordable Rentals [Curbed SF]