On Wednesday, May 18th from 1-3pm, FCH will offer tours of the building and light refreshments.
Iamesi Village, located in in downtown San Jose, has been slowly moving in tenants over the past month. The building is named after long-time First Community Housing staff member, Tom Iamesi, and provides 118 studio units, 16 one-bedroom units at 30-50% of the Area Median Income built to LEED Platinum certification. This development is devoted entirely to veterans, permanent supportive housing and people with intellectual / developmental disabilities.
We hope you can join us at Iamesi Village for #AHM2022! You can see details and tour stops on the Eventbrite page here: https://bit.ly/3u7C1mD.
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Thank you to all of the funders that made the Iamesi Village project possible:
CalHFA • Citibank
California Dept. of Housing and Community Development
Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC)
California Dept. of Housing and Community Development
Former Redevelopment Agency of the City of San Jose
Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program (VHHP)
Federal Home Loan Bank Affordable Housing Program
The Housing Trust Silicon Valley
Raymond James • Santa Clara County Measure A
Section 8 Project-based Vouchers
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By Geoff Morgan
President and CEO
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This is a terrible time to bid on construction for affordable housing, let alone managing communities or surviving as one of the thousands of unhoused. The war in Ukraine, coupled with crippling supply chain issues have driven costs higher and at the same time we have seen rising interest rates, which makes each construction project a little more difficult to fund. And think of our residents facing higher prices at the grocery store just after overcoming isolation and job loss and health threats over the last two years in the era of COVID. It appears easy to simply become more isolated and try to “pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps” and continue each of our individual journeys on our own. It is tempting to look at these challenges as though we can and should face them ourselves. That we have no other way and turn inward as though we are isolated.
The good news is, we are not alone.
In recognizing our weakness acting alone, we can find and harness strength together in community.
Recently, some of our elected leaders handed keys to our newly housed veterans at Iamesi Village, surrounded by the development project managers, asset managers, property managers, VA councilors, social service providers and many other staff who helped make this work possible. The elected officials have made promises to shelter our most vulnerable that we have tried to keep. We have been able to fund this work because of the bond measures initiated through the leadership of some of our elected officials handing out keys, and thanks to all those who voted for County Measure A, for example. This added funding, combined with other existing local, state and federal sources, was the reason we were able to construct the 200 units in our last 2 completed communities, one of which, Iamesi Village, is being leased up as I write to you all.
The first two veteran tenants housed at Iamesi Village were Victor, who served in the Army, and Dawn, of the Marine Corps who swore an oath to put their lives on the line to protect and serve all of us. The apartments they moved into have designs made better from the feedback of other formerly unhoused residents and managers who came before them in communities such as Second Street Studios and Curtner Studios.
The challenges we face continue and evolve, but I am reassured in knowing that we continue to make a difference in our willingness to be transparent about the challenges we face so we can grow in community by speaking the truth in love, listening, adapting and carrying on. FCH continues to evolve through these unprecedented times to create thriving, sustainable communities in more ways than I can name here, and with courage and candor. In times like these, the years of constructive relationships we have developed with lenders, investors, service providers, elected officials, advocates and our residents matter more than ever. We have faith in each other, and this newsletter will give a small sample of that faith in action.
Yours in Service and Community,
Geoffrey Morgan
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FCH residents participating in the 100cameras program |
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Program Highlight: 100cameras |
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We're pleased that the 100cameras classes have begun at two FCH properties! At each photography class, students go on a “Photo Adventure Walk” while teachers from our Resident Services programs explain new photography skills. During the first week of class, students learned how to use the camera. In following weeks, the focus will be on composition.
This program was interesting to us as photography is one way we can empower school-aged residents with a voice when they otherwise may feel they have none. Learning this medium of expression will also allow them to slow down – if just for a little and appreciate what’s most important in their lives: the people who influence them, what they’re passionate about, and the world around them.
We're able to offer this program to the FCH community thanks to a grant from the program supporters. We're so excited to see the student's skills progress and to see the photos they take!
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By Nyantara Narasimhan
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager
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In July 2020, First Community Housing formally established a Racial Equity Taskforce. Formed by two past employees, the taskforce was created to acknowledge and work towards dismantling the systems of oppression that have been historically existed in the affordable housing industry. The FCH Racial Equity Taskforce works towards identifying and improving internal and external practices in an effort to move towards racial equity. Items the taskforce has accomplished include:
- Creating an expansive Task List of Action Items. With a Racial Equity Lens, this document addresses each level of operation within FCH, identifies areas of improvement, and outlines preliminary actions to eliminate bias, be more equitable and inclusive.
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Hiring a Racial Equity Consultant: SHIFT and co-founder Veline Mojarro. Through this partnership, FCH has hosted a variety of staff trainings, to make DEI education a part of the FCH work culture. We've also been able to create more structure around the Racial Equity work within the organization.
- Appointing an official Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager to oversee the Racial Equity work.
- Having an increased involvement in strategic planning for FCH projects.
This is only the beginning of our journey towards racial justice. This work is long-term; it is deeply challenging; it requires respect, patience, empathy, vulnerability, and resilience. Though we are only scratching the surface in this work, we as a taskforce and organization will remain steadfast in our pursuit of racial justice in hopes to create a truly anti-racist culture: not only within our organization but within the affordable housing industry overall.
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Have you noticed that there are several new faces at FCH, and asked, "who are all of these new people?!" Because our intent is to increase affordable housing production, we need additional staff to achieve that goal.
We welcome three new full time employees, two advisors, and an intern to help meet the needs of our expanding project pipeline and our resident services programs. Say "hello" and welcome to:
- Edith Figueroa, Sustainability Programs Manager
- Vasko Yorgov, Project Manager
- Jesse Loper, Assistant Project Manager
- Vianey Nava, Senior Project Advisor
- Renu Madan, Project Advisor
- JC Gerard Pascual, Healthy Food Access Intern
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FCH in the News
Take a moment to follow us on social media to see the latest updates!
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FCH is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 77-0119210.
If you shop on Amazon, you can select FCH as your donor charity on AmazonSmile!
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