Habitat for Humanity Builds SF Homes
The housing community in San Francisco has refocused is attention on creating spaces where people who haven’t had the luck or the opportunities that many of us have had, and they need help. That’s why it is so great that Habitat for Humanity, a housing nonprofit championed by President Jimmy Carter, has just finished a construction project that built 28 townhouses in Oceanview. The keys for 11 of them will be given away the first weekend in February.
The homes comprise what is called “Habitat Terrace,” a collection of two- and three- bedroom colorful homes placed in a row on Capital Avenue in San Francisco. It was funded by a 182-unit market-rate project near Parkmerced.
These box-style homes will go to families that only make 60% of the city’s median income, which is about $58,150 per year for a family of three for the 11 homes going first. The rest will be given by Mayor’s Office lotteries that are open for anyone making up to 90 percent of the median income.
“Most other affordable developers concentrate on rentals,” says Maureen Sedonaen, CEO of Habitat Greater San Francisco. “Owning is a chance to create wealth and transfer it across generations.”
Habitat for Humanity homeowners have the opportunity to get something that they can call their own while they can still provide for their families. The homes come with zero percent mortgages and monthly payments that are adjusted to the monthly household income.
Courtesy of Habitat for Humanity
The Oceanview and Ingleside are of San Francisco, where the homes reside, are two of the most rent-burdened areas for San Franciscans. In fact, the Mayor’s Office has estimated that over a third of the inhabitants will end up paying more than half of their income to rent, they also have to contend with growing living costs in the area.
Of course, development in San Francisco has been difficult, like it is in many other places. The site was a victim to arson in 2014, which set back construction by months.
The homes themselves are somewhat low-profile, they don’t attract the attention that some other new constructions in San Francisco would, but the company also has to fight back against neighbors who aren’t keen for the homes to be built around them. Keeping the homes simple has proven to be a way to appease those neighbors and still continue doing good.
For now, the new homes are being called “an experiment” by the Mayor’s Office. They want to continue to provide homes, but the market is so in demand right now that finding the space to create the homes has proven tough. Eventually, it is likely that there will be a continual building process. Since 1996, Habitat for Humanity has built 60 homes in the San Francisco area, most of them being in Bayview.
The next project will be a renovation of the Hunters View public housing project. Whatever the case may be for the future, it is heartening to see that the people who need the help the most are getting it.