SAN JOSE — Dozens of workforce housing apartments could sprout on a site owned by a public school district in San Jose, a proposal that would set aside all of the residences for school district employees.
The housing is being eyed at 2050 Kammerer Ave. in east San Jose’s Mayfair neighborhood, according to documents on file with city planners.
Community courtyard of a workforce housing development at 2050 Kammerer Avenue in east San Jose, concept (Steinberg Hart)
Community gardens area of a workforce housing development at 2050 Kammerer Avenue in east San Jose, concept (Steinberg Hart)
An estimated 78 homes would be developed on the site. All of the residences are expected to be set aside for employees of Alum Rock Union Elementary School District, according to the proposal.
By happenstance, the development would rise next to the bulldozed location of an abandoned youth center that burned down when a fire destroyed the empty structure in August 2025.
Workforce housing development at 2050 Kammerer Avenue in east San Jose, concept. (Steinberg Hart)
Other efforts are underway to produce workforce housing in San Jose, a city haunted by stubbornly high residential costs for both rented and purchased homes.
Core Builders, the design builder of the new workforce housing project in east San Jose, envisions residences that would be rented “exclusively” to teachers and staff of Alum Rock Union School District, the project plans show.
The plans state that 50% of the units will be reserved for lower-income households, according to the proposal. The remaining 50% of the units, while intended to be offered at below-market rates, will not be deed-restricted, the project plans state.
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The development itself is slated to consist of three buildings, each three stories high, that would be grouped around a central common area that would be landscaped.
The open space will total roughly one acre. An amenities building totaling 720 square feet is also being planned as part of the new housing development, according to the proposal. The school district owns the site, the plans show.
The housing would be built on an underutilized section of the parcel, which is near the corner of Kammerer Avenue and Sinclair Drive next to Interstate 680.
The Kammerer Avenue project site is also adjacent to Renaissance Academy at Mathson middle school, which isn’t part of the development plans and will remain after the housing is built.
The project’s construction timeline wasn’t immediately known.
The backers of the proposal intend to use provisions of SB 330, a California law that was crafted to expedite residential projects by curbing the ability of city and county government agencies to limit housing development.