Mercy Housing California announced that it is naming three new affordable housing communities in memory of affordable housing attorney Natalie Gubb, who died last year.
The San Francisco properties—222 and 280 Beale and 255 Fremont—will be named Natalie Gubb Commons in tribute to the dedicated affordable housing advocate and longtime Mercy Housing colleague.
A native of Southbridge, Mass., Gubb earned a master’s degree in public policy from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1978 to attend the University of California at Berkeley Law School. In 1993, she and Scott Barshay founded Gubb & Barshay, a law firm specializing and assisting nonprofit organizations in developing and financing affordable housing.
“It was an honor to work alongside Natalie for the past 30 years,” said Jane Graf, Mercy Housing president and CEO. “She was a dear friend and colleague who taught me and many at Mercy Housing almost everything we know about the business of affordable housing. Mercy Housing was also very special to Natalie. We were her family. We celebrate her life. She lived it to the absolute fullest.”
Gubb served as an attorney on numerous Mercy Housing California deals and was involved in the development of the three new communities, formerly known as Transbay Blocks 6 and 7, which add 190 new units of affordable housing in San Francisco at the corner of Beale and Fremont streets.
According to Graf, “Having one name for these three buildings will foster a stronger sense of community among the different resident populations. The close proximity of the buildings to one another lends itself well to a cost-efficient shared identity and operational relationship.”
Mercy Housing California completed 280 Beale, a 70-unit family housing development, last year. The other two buildings are approximately 70% completed with an anticipated completion date of early 2018.
In 1986, Gubb played a key part in drafting legislation that formed the state’s low-income housing tax credit program. She was instrumental in structuring and closing hundreds of real estate transactions from large urban centers to rural agricultural areas that increased affordable housing in California, and beyond.
“Natalie was a force of nature in the affordable housing world. She mentored an army of young developers over her 30-year career, and her powerful legacy will live on through all of them,” said Graf.
Mercy Housing California is the largest regional division of national nonprofit Mercy Housing. With a presence in 41 states and more than 200 cities, Mercy Housing has developed, preserved, and financed more than 45,800 affordable homes nationwide, both rental and single-family, serving more than 152,600 adults and children on any given day. Mercy Housing California has developed more than 140 rental properties across 36 California counties serving low- and very low-income working poor families, senior citizens, persons who were formerly homeless, people with disabilities, and persons living with HIV/AIDS.
