San Francisco's Largest Permanent Supportive Housing Development Opens
News Release
San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed today joined federal and local government leaders and community partners for the grand opening of 1064 Mission Street, a new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) development serving adults exiting homelessness. With a total of 256 studio apartments, 1064 Mission is San Francisco’s largest PSH site. 153 apartments will be dedicated to formerly homeless adults and 103 to formerly homeless individuals over the age of 55.
1064 Mission Street is a collaborative partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD), the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH), the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), Mercy Housing California, and Episcopal Community Services (ECS). The new building, funded with City and State funds, fits into the City’s larger efforts to reduce homelessness. These new homes are part of the over 3,000 PSH units created as part of Mayor Breed’s Homelessness Recovery Plan, which is the largest expansion of housing for the formerly homeless in decades.
“This project is a great example of federal, state, and local governments working together to address homelessness,” said Mayor London Breed. “From the federal support delivering the land to the state government providing funding and passing streamlining measures like SB 35 to local government agencies using our funding and partnerships with community organizations to deliver this project, this has truly been a wide-ranging partnership. And in the end, 256 people are off the streets and in housing today. That’s how we continue to do the work around homelessness, change lives, and improve the conditions of our City.”
“Everyone deserves a safe and affordable home — and ensuring this fundamental right for every San Franciscan is among my top priorities,” Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi said. “Let us salute Mayor London Breed and the late Mayor Ed Lee for their leadership in making San Francisco a national model for innovative initiatives to create more permanent supportive housing. It was my privilege to fight alongside our Bay Area Congressional delegation to secure in last year’s government funding package critical federal resources for 1064 Mission to help care for our most vulnerable neighbors.”
“When developers have the vision to marry housing and critical services, they help set residents up for success in a life lived off the streets,” said Gustavo Velasquez, Director of the California Department of Housing & Community Development. “Through the No Place Like Home Program – and the shared commitment of San Francisco leaders – this Mission Street facility will provide on-site health services, training for work in the food service industry, and ready access to in-home supportive services.”
In addition to being San Francisco’s largest PSH site, 1064 Mission Street’s unique programmatic innovations will provide a level of on-site supportive services that far exceed those found in traditional supportive housing. Services, programs, and amenities include:
- On-site nursing and primary care medical services with an emphasis on patient access, dignity, compassion, provided by the St. Anthony Foundation
- In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) Hub for formerly homeless older adults and people with disabilities, operated by Homebridge
- A 6,000 sq. ft. commercial kitchen that serves as the flagship location for ECS’ social enterprise program: Conquering Homelessness through Employment in Food Services (CHEFS)
- Community-use open space (open to the public five days per week)
- Kitchen, onsite laundry, and landscaped courtyard
CHEFS is a 12-week training program that combines classroom instruction, case management, in-kitchen hands-on training, employment auditions, and paid internships at local restaurants and institutional kitchens. 1064 Mission Street also houses the new Maria X Martinez Health Resource Center, operated by SFDPH. The newly constructed facility provides multi-disciplinary services to vulnerable adults in San Francisco, especially people experiencing homelessness.
The City began exploring opportunities to purchase the site, a former parking lot for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, from the Federal Government in 2017 during the tenure of the late Mayor Ed Lee. Under his leadership, and in collaboration with the Federal Delegation, the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the land – appraised at a value of $54 million – was transferred to the City of San Francisco for one dollar. The deal constituted the nation’s first-ever use of the federal Title V program to create Low-Income Housing Tax Credit-financed affordable housing.
In 2019, Mayor Breed dedicated $46.5 million in City funds for 1064 Mission Street through MOHCD. Additional major funding includes $27.8 million in financing from the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s No Place Like Home (NPLH) program for the development of permanent supportive housing, and $13.4 million from SFDPH and HSH to support operations for the Maria X Martinez Health Resource Center.
“Solutions to homelessness cannot be achieved in silos, and the federal government has a vested stake in helping those most vulnerable in our communities,” said Sukhee Kang, Pacific Rim Regional Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration, “GSA is responsible for managing federally owned real estate, which includes identifying land that can be repurposed for public benefit. I am immensely proud to have partnered with the City and County of San Francisco on this land transfer to provide safe and stable housing for hundreds of formerly homeless individuals.”
After a comprehensive and competitive bidding process, Mercy Housing was selected to develop the property, with ECS to own, operate, and provide wraparound services to the site’s future residents. ECS and Mercy Housing worked closely with MOHCD and SFDPH to utilize California Senate Bill 35 (SB-35) to streamline the approvals process, and leveraged the State Density Bonus to optimize the number of homes that could be created on the site. To expedite the construction process, the units were built off-site and assembled on location, an approach that helped save time and reduce costs. Both Mercy Housing and ECS have decades of experience housing the most vulnerable San Franciscans and have made significant investments in the success of this site.
“I’m thrilled to see community groups and the City of San Francisco use SB 35 to create so many affordable homes in our City,” said Senator Wiener. “Bold solutions are the only answer to our housing shortage, and in the five years since SB 35’s passage, it’s streamlined the creation of thousands of new affordable homes. More work remains, given San Francisco’s requirement to deliver 82,000 new homes over the next 8 years, and I’ll do everything in my power to help the City meet its goal by strengthening critical tools like SB 35 and working with advocates, community members, and my colleagues to create new ones.”
“We are proud to work with the City and with our longtime partners at ECS to create hundreds of new homes in a permanent supportive community that meets the scale and urgency of the Bay Area’s homelessness crisis,” said Doug Shoemaker, President of Mercy Housing California.
“The opening of 1064 Mission Street is a huge step forward in confronting the City’s ongoing homelessness crisis by providing stable housing and necessary services for one of San Francisco’s most vulnerable populations,” said District 6 Supervisor Matt Dorsey. “I commend Mayor Breed’s leadership, alongside the work of our City departments and nonprofits, to deliver a much-needed facility in the South of Market neighborhood. People exiting homelessness, especially those who are seniors, deserve the opportunity to receive wraparound services that allow them to live a more comfortable life with access to on-site care and nursing – I look forward to working with my colleagues to deliver more permanent supportive housing in the future.”
“The CHEFS program has enabled the individuals we serve to gain invaluable skills in the culinary and service industry and gain stable employment. We are so grateful to be able to expand this program to accommodate 150 more participants,” said ECS Executive Director Beth Stokes. “The CHEFS program not only provides meaningful workforce development opportunities but also helps provide nearly 500,000 meals for the individuals we serve on an annual basis. This site reinforces ECS’ commitment to San Francisco’s most vulnerable residents.”
Today’s grand opening coincides with the certification of San Francisco’s Housing Element, an ongoing policy effort that will shape the future of housing in San Francisco. The Housing Element includes extensive actions on funding, additional streamlining, and City-wide support to produce and preserve housing at all levels of affordability. The 256 units of permanent supportive housing at 1064 Mission represent a new model for producing affordable housing utilizing local, regional, state, and federal funding, and illustrates the level of collaboration required to execute on housing goals and stabilize vulnerable communities.
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