Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments, San Jose |
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By Geoffrey Morgan
On June 14th, our first four residents moved into Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments, which will ultimately house 63 senior households who were formally homeless. I had the privilege of handing the keys to the second move-in, Francis. Francis had just come from interim housing in Milpitas. Her new home at Leigh Avenue will end her 20 years of couch surfing and living on the streets.
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As a project manager, I was responsible for working with Jeff Oberdorfer, former First Community Housing Executive Director, to acquire Leigh Avenue in partnership with Barry Mirkin and Aaron Bogomilsky, our retail partners in July of 2008. This was quickly followed by land use approvals in December 2008 – over 12 years from our first resident moving in. The development partners had to place a hold on the project through the economic downturn of 2009, followed by our team’s restart and repurpose the site as permanent supportive housing, financing despite an almost tripling of costs since the project was initially proposed, and adapting to the more intense needs of unhoused seniors, the fastest growing of all the homeless populations in Santa Clara County.
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Thank you to all of the funders that made this project possible:
CalHFA • Citibank • City of San Jose
Federal Home Loan Bank - Affordable Housing Program
The Housing Trust Silicon Valley • LIIF TOAH loan
Raymond James • Santa Clara County Measure A
Section 8 project-based vouchers
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66 Units of Affordable Housing on the way for Morgan Hill |
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First Community Housing (FCH) plans to build 66 units of multifamily housing for households earning 30% to 60% of the area median income (AMI). The project, located in Morgan Hill and called The Magnolias, consists of 16 studios, 16 one-bedroom units, 17 two-bedroom units, and 17 three-bedroom units. One three-bedroom unit will be reserved for on-site staff.
Half of the project’s units are planned as rapid rehousing (RRH) units, restricted for households earning up to 30% of the area median income, and for which the County will provide rental subsidies and on-site case management services. One quarter of the projects units will be reserved for veterans, including some vets who require supportive services. The remaining quarter of the units would target families earning up to 50% of the area median.
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Program Highlight
Pollinator Gardens
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We know that native habitat has been paved over in our cities. We also know that the lack of native habitat means our native birds, bees and butterflies have little and sometimes no place to go. You have likely heard of the Monarch butterfly populations and our native bee populations have suffered great declines.
So, at First Community Housing we have committed to doing more to provide habitat for these beautiful and important creatures. We have been focusing on installing more pollinator gardens throughout the properties. We focus on planting native drought tolerant pollinator plants. Some of the plants include: ceanothus, California fuchsia, penstemon, Native Milkweed (the only plant Monarch butterflies will lay their eggs).
Pictured above is the asset team planting a pollinator garden at Guadalupe Apartments, and the rooftop pollinator garden at Leigh Avenue – already in bloom.
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Curtner Studios BEFORE... and... The NEW Facade |
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Thanks to Santa Clara County Measure A funding, Curtner Studios in San Jose is undergoing an update that includes the addition of common area spaces, meeting rooms and new offices. The original architect of the building, OJK Architecture and Planning reworked the design to not only create more space, but to make the building safer. The new facade is beautiful and completely changes the look of the building (see photo above).
The apartments had previously undergone a 'green rehab' and have energy-efficient appliances which save tenant's money on their energy bills. A whole building water filtration system was installed to provide fresh, chemical-free water.
Stop by and check it out this summer!
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First Community Housing is searching for an experienced Project Manager to work closely with FCH’s Director of Housing Development and other members of the development team to manage the development of an assigned group of projects from feasibility analysis through construction.
FCH is looking to hire a Construction Manager to assist in the oversight of design and construction activities on new construction projects and existing properties.
We are also searching for a Permanent Supportive Housing Manager/Coordinator to manage communications, contracts, and operations related to service providers, residents, and the community at Permanent Supportive Housing and Rapid Rehousing sites.
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Rate FCH on Great Nonprofits! |
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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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