Affordable apartments in San Jose a boon to the senior housing crisis

More than 100 Santa Clara County seniors struggling with the cost of living will have a place to call home in downtown San Jose in the coming years.

The San Jose City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a loan of approximately $15.2 million for Hawthorn Senior Apartments, a 100% affordable housing development with 101 units for low-income and previously unhoused seniors and two manager apartments. The four-story project, developed by the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, will be located on 1.1 acres at 118 and 124 N. 15th St.

The project will house older adults ages 55 and older, who will make up between 30% and 50% of Santa Clara County’s median income — about $126,900 for one person in 2023, according to state Housing Department data. About 47 apartments will receive rental subsidies from the state for at least 20 years, with 21 set aside for older adults experiencing chronic homelessness.

The development is a collaboration between San Jose, the county, the housing authority and supportive housing providers LifeSTEPS and Abode Services. The cost is estimated at approximately $88.9 million and it will be funded through Affordable Housing Measures A and E, federal tax credits, loans, the Housing Authority and Prop. 63, also known as Santa Clara County’s No Place Like Home program. Construction is expected to start at the end of this year and be completed by mid-2026.

Flaherty Ward, housing authority real estate director, said the project furthers the housing authority’s goal of addressing the affordability crisis for the county’s most vulnerable residents, including the growing older adult population.

“I think a lot of people know us because we manage the Section 8 program, but the reality is we need to do more,” Ward told San José Spotlight. “That is why we pay so much attention to the development of affordable housing.”

Eligible applicants will be selected from a waiting list for housing in the county. Residents will have access to groceries, a courtyard and ongoing education opportunities, such as job training. Abode Services will provide part-time mental health and substance use counselors to former residents who were unhoused.

The project adds to the county’s ongoing efforts to help older adults struggling with the high cost of living, at a time when the region is struggling to keep up with housing homeless residents. Unhoused people over the age of 55 made up 29.1% of the county’s 9,903 unhoused people, according to 2023 data from the county’s Point-in-Time Census, a biennial survey of the county’s homeless residents . A provincial report in February found that for every household that found a home in 2023, almost two households became homeless.

Still, Mathew Reed, director of policy for homelessness organization SV@Home, said the Hawthorn development is a sign that the province is doing a good job in combating the affordability crisis. He is impressed that the Hawthorn project will be completed so quickly and at a reasonable cost.

“We’re going to make this commitment and we’re going to have resources available that are permanent and lasting and that will serve a lot of people over time,” Reed told San José Spotlight.

The apartments, which began the development process in 2017, will fill the vacant space that once housed the San Jose Medical Center, where many of the residents may have been born. The only hospital in the city center closed in 2004 and Hawthorn Senior Apartments will be the first project to break ground at this location.

The project contributes to San Jose’s housing goals. The city must add at least 62,200 housing units by 2031 to meet state mandates, something it has struggled with in the past.

Katie Fantin, vice president of Abode Services programs in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties, said the project will be a welcome addition to the neighborhood.

“The more we can do to build supportive housing, whether it’s part of a building or a whole building, it’s amazing,” Fantin told San José Spotlight.

Contact Annalize Freimarck at (email protected) or follow @annalise_ellen on X, formerly known as Twitter.