This is only possible because the land trust owns the apartment buildings and land, which ensures the complex stays affordable for 17 households.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I feel) very fortunate that there will be a lot of changes,\u201d resident Maria Garcia, 45, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight through a Spanish-speaking translator. \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to still pay an affordable rent because we know how high the rent is here.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"East](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_7924-1024x768.jpeg\")
South Bay Community Land Trust will do a complete overhaul of The Virginian Apartments in East San Jose, replacing the sewer system, carpets, cabinets, appliances and more. Photo by Joyce Chu.<\/p>\n
Land trusts play a pivotal role in preserving affordable housing by taking homes off the open market and placing them in a land trust for 100 years. Then it can\u2019t be sold without approval from all of the residents.<\/p>\n
In addition, land trusts give tenants the option to buy the property at an affordable rate, while the trust owns the land to ensure affordability will be maintained for decades to come.<\/p>\n
The land trust acquired the buildings in 2024 after it learned the apartment complex was on the market. The trust calculated the site\u2019s purchase price and improvement costs to be $11 million. It secured a $5 million loan from the city<\/a>, as well as additional funding<\/a> from groups including the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority and Destination: Home.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Bay Community Land Trust is deeply grateful for the support of Councilmember Peter Ortiz and the San Jose Housing Department,\u201d Sandy Perry, the land trust\u2019s board vice president, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cWithout their assistance, this project would not have been possible and these tenants would not have been protected from displacement.\u201d<\/p>\n Residents said they felt fearful when they saw investors scoping out the buildings a few years ago. They worried that they would kick them out in order to renovate the complex and bring the rent up to market rate.<\/p>\n \u201c(Investors) for sure would have jacked up the rent,\u201d Ramiro Urdiano, 68, told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight through a Spanish-speaking translator. \u201cIf it would not have been for the collaboration (with the land trust), we would not know where we would be.\u201d<\/p>\n Urdiano and his family have lived at the apartment complex for 30 years. He lives in a two-bedroom apartment with his wife, one of his sons and a grandchild, paying $1,684 a month for rent. He is no longer working after suffering a stroke four years ago. He relies on his son to pay the bills.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very hard for us,\u201d Urdiano said.<\/p>\n Many families at The Virginian Apartments have also lived there for years, allowing them to pay minimal prices due to San Jose\u2019s rent control policy that caps annual rent increases at 5%. But this only covers homes built and occupied before 1979, which is approximately 38,000 apartments<\/a>.<\/p>\n But once a tenant moves out, the landlord can raise rent to market rates regardless of whether it\u2019s rent stabilized. From 2012 to 2017, Santa Clara County lost about half of its unsubsidized affordable homes<\/a> as people moved out of rent-stabilized apartments, according to a report by Enterprise<\/a> Community Partners.<\/p>\n There\u2019s about 50 community land trusts active across California, and they\u2019re growing in numbers, Liz Gonzalez, board president of the South Bay Community Land Trust, said.<\/p>\n \u201cLand trusts are important because it\u2019s one of the only options for lower-resource families to become owners of their homes, to be able to stay in the neighborhoods that they have been a part of for decades,\u201d Gonzalez told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cFolks are really protected from displacement in a way that the regular market just doesn\u2019t care about.\u201d<\/p>\n The land trust has no plans to increase rent for the 67 tenants who live at The Virginian Apartments after the rehabilitation is complete. In some cases, the land trust is even looking to lower costs for the families spending a majority of their income on rent.<\/p>\n The Virginian Apartments is the land trust\u2019s second endeavor. In 2023, the group acquired<\/a> a fourplex building in downtown San Jose, home to 10 low-income residents of color, most who have previously experienced homelessness.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so happy and proud (about The Virginian Apartments), especially that it\u2019s a project in East San Jose where we are so under-resourced,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWe\u2019re from the East Side ourselves. We can create changes in our community, and we can decide what is best for us, and figure out ways that we continue to stay in our community and contribute to it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"In-line](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/interactive-321838904008.png\")
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