County approves funding for two apartment projects
About 176 units will get $33 million from county and state housing bonds
SAN JOSE » Santa Clara County supervisors on Tuesday approved spending $33 million toward construction of two affordable housing complexes that will offer a combined 176 units.
The proposed 46-unit Gallup & Mesa Apartments and the 130unit 425 Auzerais Apartments will be financed with $15.6 million from the county’s voter-approved Measure A affordable housing bond and $17.4 million from a state bond program called No Place Like Home.
“With the Board’s unanimous approval of two Measure A projects today, we now have 21 in the works,” Supervisor Dave Cortese said in a statement Tuesday. “Of those, construction is expected to be completed on three affordable housing developments next month, with one more to be completed in December. This is real progress, and we need to keep up the momentum.”
The new units will range from studios to three-bedroom apartments. Both projects are expected to be completed in 2022, according to the county.
Of the 176 new units, 87 will be permanent supportive housing for individuals and families with special needs, two apartments will be for extremely lowincome households, 57 for very low-income households, 27 for low-income households and three for on-site managers.
The 87 permanent supportive housing units are funded by the state’s No Place Like Home program, with bonds paid back through Mental Health Services Act dollars to develop hous
ing for people with mental health issues who are also at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
“Our top priority is to use these voter-approved funds and other public investments to create affordable housing for seniors on fixed incomes, young adults with a mental illness, and other vulnerable residents,” said Ky Le, director of the Office of Supportive Housing.
The county now will be almost a third of the way toward its goal of financing 4,800 new affordable units through Measure A by 2027. The bond measure, approved in 2016, allocates $950 million.
In August, the first completed project funded by Measure A celebrated its grand opening, a 19-unit development in Cupertino called the Veranda, which is home to low-income seniors and formerly homeless individuals.
The county previously approved 21 Measure Afunded projects in San Jose, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Cupertino, Gilroy and Morgan Hill. Those projects will generate 1,437 new units and 484 renovated ones.
Three projects funded by the bond measure are slated to open at the end of this year: the 39-unit Crossings on Monterey in Morgan Hill, 64-unit Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments in San Jose and 84-unit Villas on the Park in San Jose. The Gateway Senior Apartments in Gilroy, which will have 75 units, is expected to open in January 2020.