San Francisco’s newest affordable housing development sits amid luxury condos, an assortment of restaurants, and the new Salesforce Tower, the city’s tallest building at 61 stories.
Developed by Mercy Housing California, the 190-unit Natalie Gubb Commons is part of an effort to create a mixed-income community in the Transbay neighborhood, where by policy 30% of all the new homes will be affordable.
Adrian Caratowsa had been living in a coveted affordable housing unit in San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin district, but he wanted to move to this busy downtown neighborhood.
“I’m very lucky to be in this building,” said resident Adrian Caratowsa. “I know a lot of people applied for this lottery. It’s my 25th lottery.”
Natalie Gubb Commons was developed as two separate affordable housing projects—one with 70 units and another with 120 units. An overwhelming 6,580 people applied for the recently completed 120-unit phase, a sign of the tremendous demand for affordable housing in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets.
“For a long time, I did not feel like I mattered,” Caratowsa, who has been HIV-positive since childhood, said at the Oct. 16 project opening. “… When I got into this place, I felt for the first time in my life I actually could do something for other people.”
He has become active in the community, including advocating for an affordable grocery store in the neighborhood.
Joint effort
Natalie Gubb Commons features 109 one-, 58 two-, and 23 three-bedroom apartments that serve residents earning below 50% and 60% of the area median income.
At the community’s grand opening, San Francisco mayor London Breed called the development a victory for affordable housing, but she knows more is needed.
“Projects like this make being mayor wonderful, but I want to make sure we create thousands more,” she said. “I don’t want a city that has extremely wealthy and extremely poor. We need everyone in between to be able to afford to live in a place like San Francisco.”
It’s one of the nation’s most expensive metropolitan areas to live in, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach 2018 report, which finds that on average a full-time worker in the area must earn a whopping $60.02 per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs.
Natalie Gubb Commons is not just any apartment complex, said Breed, noting that the property also includes on-site child care. The development is also home to a Philz Coffee shop.
“It has really been our affordable housing developers in Transbay that have been the first to lease up their ground-floor retail,” said Jane Kim, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The new community cost approximately $93.5 million. The 70-unit project cost $27.4 million. Its financing partners include Silicon Valley Bank, National Equity Fund, San Francisco Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure (OCII), Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, and California Community Reinvestment Corp. (CCRC). The 120-unit project cost $66.1 million, and its financings partners include Wells Fargo, Wells Fargo Affordable Housing Community Development Corp., Strategic Growth Council, state Department of Housing and Community Development, OCII, and CCRC.
The development is designed by Santos Prescott and Associates.
“On days like today, I think we can feel a proud sense of joint accomplishment about the things that we’ve accomplished together,” said Doug Shoemaker, president of Mercy Housing California. “This is no more a Mercy Housing building than it is an OCCI or a city of San Francisco building. These things are not possible to do on your own.”
Recognizing Natalie Gubb
Mercy Housing California’s latest development is named after a longtime affordable housing advocate and attorney. Gubb, co-founder of the Oakland-based Gubb & Barshay firm, worked with many of the state’s affordable housing providers, structuring and closing hundreds of transactions. Gubb, who died in 2016, mentored a number of young developers during her long career.
“As a result of her hard work and pioneering spirit, thousands of people across California live in homes they can afford. Their hopes for a better future are a tribute to Natalie’s life and work,” reads a plaque at the building.
David Arpi, Gubb’s husband, recalled that whenever they were in San Francisco she would insist on seeing one or more of the many affordable housing communities that she worked on. He also noted her lack of interest in looking at site and building plans.
“She would ask clients to please just describe it in words,” Arpi said. “But, if Natalie were here today she would not need to hear words to feel honored by this very public dedication of a beautiful property that provides desperately needed housing that she worked so tirelessly to provide for more than 30 years.”
