A rendering shows plans for affordable senior apartments at the intersection of Harmon and King streets in South Berkeley. Credit: Kodama Diseno Architects
Two affordable housing developments in Berkeley will get a $15 million boost from a sales tax Alameda County voters approved in 2020.
The Board of Supervisors last week signed off on a plan to spend $53 million in total on 10 projects around the county, among them supportive housing at People’s Park and affordable senior apartments on the property of a South Berkeley church.
The money comes from Measure W, which increased the county’s sales tax by 0.5% for 10 years. Measure W was held up for years by a lawsuit filed by the Alameda County Taxpayers Association, which sought to void the measure and prevent the county from collecting and using the tax money. After the legal matter was resolved, county officials decided last summer to use 80% of the funds on homeless programs and housing, and the rest on other “essential services.”
While it was stuck in court the sales tax increase was still applied to purchases, and Measure W brought in $810 million, which the county held in escrow.
The People’s Park development, slated to receive $8.1 million from Measure W, calls for building about 100 affordable and supportive apartments on the epicenter of Berkeley’s counterculture movement. UC Berkeley tapped Satellite Affordable Housing Associates to lead that piece of the project last December, after its prior affordable housing developer backed out in 2023. Crews are currently constructing a 1,100-bed student housing complex at the park.
South Berkeley’s Ephesian Church of God in Christ has partnered with the affordable builder Community Housing Development Corporation of North Richmond on a plan to construct two five-story buildings along Harmon, Ellis and King streets. The buildings would have a total of 79 apartments for seniors who are considered low-income or very low-income. The development news site SF YIMBY reported Community Housing Development Corporation filed for building permits last week to begin demolition work for the project, which will replace the church’s parking lots and a vacant building.
The project is slated to receive $7 million through Measure W.
Berkeley mayor: ‘We are making meaningful progress’
“Thanks to the outstanding work of our community partners and city staff, and the strong support of Alameda County Supervisor Nikki Fortunado Bas, we are making meaningful progress in addressing homelessness in our community by creating the stable, permanent, supportive housing people need,” Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii wrote in a statement Friday. “This is what collaboration and sustained investment can achieve for Berkeley.”
Last week’s board action provided funding for another five affordable housing developments in Oakland, as well as projects in Livermore, Newark and Alameda.
Altogether, the funding supports 946 new affordable housing units, including 310 for formerly homeless people. Another $3.7 million will go toward administrative costs. So far, the county has spent $146 million in homelessness funds from Measure W, according to a county spokesperson.
Some local officials have complained that the funding is being doled out too slowly. At a board meeting this week, officials said they plan to put out a call for applications for additional Measure W money by the end of the year — this time for expanding homeless shelters and acquiring buildings to rehabilitate.
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