REPORT
Mission Bay Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing - 1150 3rd Street - Environmental Assessment
Mayor's Office of Housing and Community DevelopmentThird Street 1150 EA Signed.pdf
Notice of Preparation of an Environmental Assessment and Section 106 Review
Chinatown Community Development Center (“CCDC”) and Swords to Plowshares (“STP”) are co-developing 1150 3rd Street (the "Project"), a 119-unit affordable housing development financed in part by the San Francisco Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure ("OCII"), the Successor Agency to the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. The Project is new construction providing homes for formerly homeless veterans and low-income families in SF's Mission Bay neighborhood. The development program for the project includes a unit mix of 12 Studios and 50 one-bedroom units serving formerly homeless veterans; 5 one-bedroom units, 30 two-bedroom units, 21 three-bedroom units all serving low-income families; and one two-bedroom manager’s unit. The Project is comprised of a 5-story, U-shaped building fronting 3rd Street that surrounds a two-story central open space. The U-shaped design consists of three wings: the 3rd Street wing is the development’s civic face as 3rd Street is exposed to arterial car traffic and public transit lines, while the Mission Rock and Lot A (a private street) wings are along secondary streets with limited traffic and feature a more pedestrian scale. The Project includes a large central community room and kitchen located along the 3rd Street wing, an adjacent computer lab, teen gathering space, a multipurpose room, a young kids’ play room, resident services and property management offices, restrooms, mailboxes, bike parking room, and two laundry rooms. The Project also provides 25 off-street parking spaces in an enclosed garage. At the center of the three building wings is a large, two-level open space with areas for gathering and children’s play, and separate areas for respite and relaxation. All of the units will be restricted to families earning no more than 60% of SF's unadjusted Area Median Income (“AMI”) but half of the units are set aside for formerly homeless veteran households with rents not to exceed 30% AMI. Furthermore, the homeless units must include administrative and supportive services which will be coordinated with the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (“DHSH”). The proposed financing structure includes 4% low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds, a permanent loan from OCII, Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program (“VHHP”) funds administered by the State of California’s Housing and Community Development (“HCD”) office, and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (“VASH”) project-based vouchers.
As stated above, the building design evidences a U-shaped structure with three distinct wings surrounding a central courtyard. Each wing fronts a street: the Lot A wing faces north, the 3rd Street wing faces east, and the Mission Rock Street faces south. The ground floor contains a handful of residential units (3 family units in the Lot A wing and 2 veterans units in the Mission Rock wing). However, most of the development’s communal functions described above are located here. Those communal spaces that primarily serve the veterans units are located in the veterans (Mission Rock) building wing, whereas the spaces that serve the family units are located in the family (3rd Street and Lot A) wings.
The two-story central courtyard is a unique project element. The lower and upper courtyards are connected by a staircase, accompanying ramp, and a landscaped berm. The ramp achieves the grade change by zig-zagging up the elevation. The lower courtyard, which is adjacent to the common areas and program spaces, is geared towards large community activities and provides play space for children. The lower courtyard also includes a communal table and outdoor cooking area to promote large group gatherings. The upper courtyard is smaller than the lower courtyard; subsequently it focuses on smaller group activities. It is directly accessible from the second floor of the building and will feature a community garden and seating.
The building is designed to facilitate a connection to community that many homeless veterans are lacking. Through clustering the veterans and family units in separate wings of the building that wrap around joint community spaces and a large central courtyard, there are numerous opportunities for interactions and friendships amongst veterans and families. At the same time, there are also opportunities for privacy, even within the communal spaces. Clustering the 62 veterans units in the Mission Rock and 3rd Street wings enables the design team to incorporate universal design principles in these sections of the building. The Sponsors have learned through their experience working with San Francisco’s chronically homeless veterans that this population can be of poor health or disabled. Therefore, they’ve incorporated the universal design principles in the veterans wing so that residents there can age in place.
The Project includes a parking lot with controlled access parking for 25 vehicles including 1 ADA accessible space. Cars will enter and exit the garage from Mission Rock Street. Based on other affordable housing for formerly homeless individuals, parking demand from the 62 formerly homeless veterans units is expected to be minimal. Combined with the Project’s transit-rich location, proposed car sharing in the Project, and existing car sharing in the neighborhood, the 25 parking spaces provide an additional transportation option for the remaining 56 households. The limited parking is in line with San Francisco’s transit first policy which encourages residents to utilize public transit, car sharing, and bicycling, as well as recognizes the transit rich location of the site. A Muni stop is located directly in front of the site on 3rd Street and the future central subway line will connect to the existing 3rd Street lines.
The building is Type V over Type I construction to minimize cost and the building’s façade materials will be harmonious to the surrounding buildings. Green elements include optimal stormwater management, durable materials, and solar photovoltaic and thermal panels will provide clean electricity to the Project. The building will achieve a Green Point Rated standard of 125 points or better.