San Francisco Sun

San Francisco, CA — Mayor London N. Breed, alongside City officials, local leaders, and development partners, celebrated the groundbreaking of 1633 Valencia Street today. This new 100% affordable housing development is situated at the border of Bernal Heights and the Mission District of San Francisco and aims to serve seniors experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

Upon completion, 1633 Valencia will offer five floors with 145 affordable apartments for low-income seniors earning up to 50% of the area median income (AMI). Residents will pay no more than 30% of their income in rent. The ground floor will feature a residential lobby near elevator access, resident-serving common spaces including a community room, two offices for property management, a supportive services suite, and bike parking.

The project is the first to receive funding from the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund, a $50 million investment initiative launched by the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) in partnership with Sobrato Philanthropies, Destination: Home, and Apple.

Mayor Breed emphasized the importance of housing development in her remarks. “Building more housing is at the heart of our work to ensure our residents, including vulnerable populations like our seniors, can afford to live in this City,” she said. “I will continue to work aggressively to remove the barriers that get in the way of housing construction so we build homes like those at 1633 Valencia that are providing the services and support to keep people housed and stable.”

Located on a former Sears parking lot between Cesar Chavez and Mission Street and overlooked by CPMC Mission Bernal Sutter medical campus, 1633 Valencia is accessible via several MUNI bus lines and is less than a 10-minute walk from the 24th Street Mission BART station. Construction is expected to be completed by December 2025, with residents moving in by May 2026.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen expressed pride in the project’s progress. “Our community’s unhoused seniors deserve to age well in dignified housing,” she stated. “I am deeply grateful to the project team’s incredible work in advancing the project's milestones and breaking ground so quickly.”

Mercy Housing California was selected by the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) under Chapter 21B of the City’s Administrative Code to develop this project without competitive solicitation. The City will provide approximately $80.7 million through its Local Operating Subsidy Program (LOSP) over the next 19 years.

“These new homes at 1633 Valencia Street will provide life-changing stability for 145 older adults exiting homelessness in our city,” said Shireen McSpadden, Executive Director of HSH.

The HAF and Mercy Housing California proposed replicating Tahanan Supportive Housing's model from Bryant Street for this project. Doug Shoemaker, President of Mercy Housing California remarked on their previous success: “Our success with modular housing at Tahanan showed that San Francisco absolutely can build affordable housing quickly and cost-effectively.”

Sequoia Living provided Mercy Housing an opportunity to develop part of a larger one-acre site acquired in 2021 for its own future senior housing development alongside 1633 Valencia.

Sara McVey, President and CEO of Sequoia Living commented on their role: “The Sequoia Living Board of Directors had the vision to be the catalyst for enabling over 250 units of affordable housing by taking the risk to land bank back in 2021.”

Rebecca Foster, CEO of HAF highlighted innovation as key: "From design replication to a design-build contract...this project proves that innovation in affordable housing is possible."

Construction oversight will be managed by Cahill Contractors with additional local partners including David Baker Architects among others.