Philanthropist Irwin Jacobs on Monday announced a $50 million donation to Father Joe\u2019s Villages to help fund a three-building, 18-story complex at the corner of Imperial Avenue and 15th Street in downtown San Diego\u2019s East Village.<\/p>\n
The gift is the largest single donation in the organization\u2019s history and will be used to partly fund the biggest development project it\u2019s ever undertaken. The project, which will be called the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Family Campus, is expected to cost approximately $350 million and should break ground in 2028, according to officials.<\/p>\n
Father Joe\u2019s is the region\u2019s largest homeless services provider and offers a range of services, including shelter, healthcare, resource navigation, case management and employment assistance.<\/p>\n
The donation and Father Joe\u2019s new complex were announced during a news conference at the site of the project that was attended by Jacobs, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, county Supervisor Paloma Aguirre and Father Joe\u2019s President Jim Vargas.<\/p>\n
The Joan and Irwin Jacobs Family Campus will have more than 500 affordable units, including 150 for older adults and 77 for transitional housing, according to the project\u2019s developers, Arete Development.<\/p>\n
![\"Artist](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-Irwin-Jacobs-05.jpg\")
Artist rendering of what the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Family Campus at Father Joe\u2019s Village will look like. It was announced Monday September 28, 2026, in San Diego California that Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm is making a $50 million dollar donation in partnership with and Father Joe\u2019s Villages to build more than 500 affordable homes, and 150 apartments for senior citizens. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Adults over 55 are one of the fastest growing demographics of people falling into homelessness, alarming local advocates and experts. More than half of unsheltered older adults are experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to the county.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat does it say about our region if our aging population is unable to retire in peace in what should be their golden years,\u201d said Vargas.<\/p>\n
Jacobs\u2019 donation comes amid a growing demand on local organizations to take on additional services as federal, state and local governments tighten their budgets for homelessness and housing programs.<\/p>\n
Gloria applauded Jacobs for his family\u2019s philanthropic efforts across the city. He also reiterated San Diego\u2019s commitment to addressing homelessness through a housing-first approach.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a city, state, nation as wealthy as ours, no one should live on the streets,\u201d said Gloria. \u201cAnd thanks to this gift, fewer will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jacobs, 92, gained his wealth as a co-founder of the San Diego-based technology giant Qualcomm. In 2010, Jacobs signed the Giving Pledge \u2014 a promise and organization created by Bill Gates, Gates\u2019 ex-wife Melinda French and Warren Buffett that prompted wealthy people to donate half of their riches by the time they died.<\/p>\n
![\"Irwin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/SUT-L-Irwin-Jacobs-01.jpg\")
Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm, talks, Monday September 28, 2026 in San Diego, California, talks after it was announced that he is making a $50 million dollar donation in partnership with Father Joe\u2019s Villages to build the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Family Campus, which will create more than 500 affordable homes, and 150 apartments for senior citizens. (Howard Lipin \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s only so many things we can do ourselves and spend money in a useful way,\u201d Jacobs said. \u201cAfter that, the greatest pleasure is being able to help others.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Joan and Irwin Family Campus will be built atop and require the demolition of the aging Joan Kroc Center \u2014 which offers housing, shelter and intake services for families and single adults.<\/p>\n
The Joan Kroc Center is also where services will be directed once the Neil Good Day Center closes its doors this week. When asked what will happen to the services while the new complex is under construction, which could take up to four years, Vargas said they would be transferred to the organization\u2019s facility at 5th Avenue and Ash Street.<\/p>\n
While the project has a little more than 14% of its funding secured, the rest will need to come from state and federal grants or philanthropy. After the news conference, Gloria could not guarantee city funds could be made available for the project, but did say, \u201cIf they ask, we\u2019ll consider it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that a project of this magnitude really is worthy of city investment, but they have not mentioned that yet,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when chatting with them, they have mentioned the likely use of tax credits, which would be absolutely reasonable for this project. When (or) if they submit for that, I suspect that we would submit letters of support for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked if she would approach the Board of Supervisors to consider using county funds on the project, Aguirre said that it was \u201ctoo early right now to answer that question.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philanthropist Irwin Jacobs on Monday announced a $50 million donation to Father Joe\u2019s Villages to help fund a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478946,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[7,23,100,74,84,76,75,1696],"class_list":["post-478945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-california","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478945\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}