Affirmed Housing Opens California Affordable Community
The property also offers supportive housing for formerly homeless populations.
Vela. Image courtesy of Affirmed Housing
Affirmed Housing Group has brought 87 units of affordable housing online in San Jose, Calif. The affordable housing developer officially opened Vela after starting construction in November 2020 and welcoming its first tenants in August of this year.
Affirmed Housing worked with the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County, PATH Ventures and Nexus for Affordable Housing on the affordable and supportive housing project. The developer tapped DAHLIN Group Architecture Planning, Cahill Contractors, BKF Engineers and JETT Landscape to design and build Vela, which also secured financing and equity from Bank of America and California Community Reinvestment Corp.
The mixed-use community offers studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 388 to 1,218 square feet, with half reserved as supportive housing. As an affordable housing community, Vela is open to those making between 30 percent to 60 percent of the area median income. Affirmed Housing also designated 43 units for formerly homeless residents, 14 of them as Rapid Rehousing homes and 29 of which are part of the Permanent Supportive Housing program.
Units were built with energy-efficient appliances and furnished with basic move-in necessities like a bed base, mattress, dresser, desk and chair with help from PATH Ventures and the American soccer team the San Jose Earthquakes. The community’s amenities include a computer lab, community room, TV room, courtyard, outdoor deck and lounge areas and residents get access to on-site supportive care and services.
Creating affordable communities across California
For Santa Clara County, Vela represents the first project that includes Rapid Rehousing homes, which is part of the county’s recently passed Measure A, which will use $950 million to develop permanent affordable housing for vulnerable populations. Vela will also be San Jose’s first project approved under SB 35, a law passed in 2017 designed to streamline the approvals process for affordable housing projects.
While Vela is an important project for the county and San Jose, it’s not the only affordable housing project that Affirmed Housing is working on. The affordable housing developer also has ground-up developments in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Marcos and Chatsworth. Earlier this year, Affirmed Housing opened Windsor Pointe, a 50-unit supportive housing community in Carlsbad, Calif.
