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County of Santa Clara, Eden Housing and Partners Hold Grand Opening for 130-Unit Affordable Housing Development in San José

April 22, 2024

The transit-oriented development near Diridon Station is the latest project to be completed with funding from the $950 million Measure A Affordable Housing Bond, approved by voters in 2016

Santa Clara, CA – On Monday, April 22, the County of Santa Clara, Eden Housing and a host of local, state and federal partners celebrated the grand opening of Solaire Apartments, a 130-unit affordable housing development in San José that features 64 permanent supportive housing units for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of experiencing homelessness. 

The transit-oriented development, located near Diridon Station, was built with the help of $26 million in County funding, including $13.2 million from the $950 million Measure A Affordable Housing Bond, approved by voters in 2016.

The County Board of Supervisors has now allocated nearly $700 million in Measure A funding, which has gone toward 56 developments that will include a total of 5,127 new housing units and 689 renovated apartments. So far, 21 of the projects have been completed, creating a total of 1,525 new units and 618 rehabilitated units of affordable housing.

“A home provides an opportunity for each person living there to reach their full potential,” said Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, president of the County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors. “Working together in a public-private partnership, we are helping residents of the Solaire Apartments and thousands of others across the county fulfill their own potential by providing critically needed housing.”

The County, in collaboration with developers, nonprofits and cities, has demonstrated that Measure A is an effective approach to addressing the intertwined issues of homelessness and housing affordability in the South Bay.

When all Measure A-funded developments are in operation, the County and partners will have created approximately 4,800 new affordable housing units serving roughly 17,400 people.

Supervisor Cindy Chavez, the architect of Measure A, applauded the community surrounding Solaire Apartments for supporting the project. 

“From start to finish, the affordable Solaire Apartments have been supported and welcomed by Delmas Park neighborhood residents,” Chavez said. “The residents who live around the new apartments attended our community meetings with Eden Housing. They were engaged, informed and supportive of the development, and that has made all the difference.”

The County doesn’t just fund the construction of affordable and supportive housing developments. It also helps manage the Coordinated Entry System that connects unhoused individuals and families with permanent housing, including these newly constructed apartments. The County does a lot of work behind the scenes to match the housing units with prospective tenants.

The County Office of Supportive Housing created a client engagement team in 2017 to help connect the community’s most vulnerable residents with case-management and housing. The team finds and builds relationships with unhoused residents, encourages them to access services and helps them through the qualification process for housing programs. 

In 2021, with Measure A leading to a rapid increase in permanent supportive housing, the Office of Supportive Housing launched a prescreening pilot program with the goal of increasing the number of clients who have the necessary documents for a permanent supportive housing unit. Rather than assigning one case manager for every 20 clients, the pilot centralized referrals to the client engagement team and shifted the team’s focus to getting clients “document-ready.” Clients are supported as they move through the process of qualifying for housing, and the Office of Supportive Housing helps them with their move-in.

The pilot more than doubled the number of households assigned to the client engagement team from 2021 to 2023, serving 187 households per month in 2023.

“By tracking outcomes and regularly reviewing program data to inform system-level changes, the Office of Supportive Housing is constantly improving the ways in which unhoused residents are connected to housing programs,” said Consuelo Hernández, director of the Office of Supportive Housing. “We aim to make the process as efficient and stress-free as possible for individuals and families to get the support they need and the dignity of secure and affordable housing.”

Solaire Apartments, located at 425 Auzerais Ave. in San José, was built by affordable housing developer Eden Housing. The building features a range of amenities, including a community garden, fitness studio, computer learning center and bicycle storage. The Platinum GreenPoint Rated project is all-electric and includes solar panels and electric-vehicle charging stations.

In addition to permanent supportive housing, Solaire Apartments features 64 units occupied by households that earn between 50% to 60% of the area median income, plus two manager’s units.

“We are very grateful for our partnership with the County, as well as our local, state and federal partners who have helped make this project a reality,” said Linda Mandolini, president and CEO of Eden Housing. “Measure A has played a vital role in helping Eden build much-needed affordable housing as we strive to serve the most at-risk individuals in our communities. We look forward to our continued collaboration in supporting the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority affordable housing bond measure, which could bring further essential funding to all nine Bay Area counties if it’s supported by voters in November.”

Besides the $13.2 million in Measure A funding, the County committed $12.8 million to Solaire Apartments from No Place Like Home, a state program to build permanent supportive housing for people who need mental health services or who are experiencing homelessness.

Solaire Apartments was developed with the help of numerous partners, including the City of San José, the Santa Clara County Housing Authority, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, the California Community Reinvestment Corporation, the National Equity Fund and Silicon Valley Bank.