Santa Clara County supervisors approved a quartet of housing projects March 22 that will convert existing properties into more than 300 affordable housing units.
The board unanimously approved the purchase of four properties—two in San Jose, one in Morgan Hill and one in Santa Clara—that will be converted into 324 combined housing units.
Once completed, all four housing complexes will include at least 72 housing units and one unit for on-site management.
One of the properties, located at 21 N. 21st St. in San Jose, will also include roughly 10,200 square feet of commercial space in addition to its 80 housing units, which will be reserved for people with developmental disabilities, youth who are transitioning out of the foster care system, those with Section 8 housing vouchers and homeless residents.
The other three projects will be located at 15440 Monterey Road in Morgan Hill, 3335-3337 Kifer Road in Santa Clara and 1135 E. Santa Clara St. in San Jose.
“These are the types of projects that’s exactly what we need,” Supervisor Otto Lee said during the board’s Tuesday morning meeting.
Proposed on the Monterey Road property in Morgan Hill is the Royal Oak Village project. Plans previously approved by the board of supervisors show the project will be a 73-unit affordable housing development, with 30 apartments for farmworkers, 18 for rapid rehousing to help homeless people and families with special needs, and 24 units for low-income families, according to county staff.
Primary funding to buy and convert all four properties will come from 2016’s Measure A, a voter-approved $950 million affordable housing bond.
The supervisors in August 2021 committed a $9 million investment into the Royal Oak Village project. The purchase price for the 7.64-acre property, approved by the supervisors March 22, is about $4.8 million.
The county has already supported affordable housing projects with Measure A funding in Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Gilroy and Milpitas in addition to Santa Clara, Morgan Hill and San Jose.
Of the 41 Measure A projects the county has approved, 29 of them are in San Jose.
Supervisor Cindy Chavez said Monday that the county also intends to launch affordable housing projects in additional cities across the county.
Chavez said Monday that the county chooses Measure A projects by alerting cities that funding is available.
“It allows any city that wants to have a project in their community (to) come to us,” Chavez said.
Nearly 900 housing units have already been built using Measure A funding, according to the county, with another roughly 2,000 units under construction or scheduled to begin construction in the next six months.
County officials expect to utilize up to roughly $17.1 million in total to buy the four properties.
Construction to convert the four properties into housing units is expected to begin this summer, according to the county.
Copyright © 2022 Bay City News, Inc.
Purchase price
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors on March 22 approved the purchase of the four properties listed below for affordable housing efforts:
– 15440 Monterey Road (Royal Oak Village site): $4.8 million
– 21 North 21st Street, San Jose: $4 million
– 3335-3337 Kiver Road, Santa Clara: $4.7 million
– 1135 East Santa Clara Street, San Jose: $3.5 million
Source: Santa Clara County
