There is a lot to celebrate and be thankful for as we reflect on everything we’ve done over the past year – and there’s still more we can do with your help. In no particular order (except No. 1!) here are some of the highlights we shared in 2018:
10) Our Biggest Investor Briefing Back in March we had the biggest Investor Briefing in our history: over 500 attendees came together to celebrate recent accomplishments and ready for new challenges in affordable housing (Investor Briefing 2019 is March 29, 2019 so mark your calendars!).
9) Homeless No Longer Our Finally Home program helped 470 people experiencing homelessness in fiscal 2018 – and we had the pleasure to speak with some of those 470 – including Giovanni, who told us “being warm at night has meaning” and Mrs. Pratt, who was grateful to be able to tell her oldest son he could keep going to school with his friends. Read Giovanni’s story here and read the Pratt Family’s story here.
8) Small Homes, Big Impact Our new pilot program that offers free educational workshops to homeowners interested in building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in their backyard launched in 2018 and our financial assistance program, which will consist of a planning grant and a construction loan, will be rolled out in early 2019. For more on our initiative visit our Small Homes, Big Impact page.
7) Housing (Mostly) Won At The Ballot Statewide, Prop 1 and Prop 2 carried the day – and the support we got throughout our fight to pass Measure V in San Jose, however unsuccessful, showed us just how many amazing allies we have. Check out our CEO Kevin Zwick’s comments on the election results here.
6) Our Biggest Loan for Multifamily was made in 2018: A $15.85 million acquisition and pre-development loan to First Community Housing for McEvoy Apartments. The location – 280 McEvoy Street- is about 1/2 mile from San Jose Diridon Station and less than 3/4 of a mile from the Race VTA light rail stop – read more about the 300 home development here.
5) Visiting Michele and Don at Home We’ve been lucky to help a lot of homebuyers over the years – one of them was Michele, an elementary schoolteacher in Santa Clara. We got to meet up with her and her husband Don at their home which they were able to purchase with the City of Santa Clara’s Below Market Rate program we administer and found out just what home means to them – read their story here.
4) Turkey Trot’s Running Success Since 2013, Turkey Trot provided more than $1.6 million for our Finally Home program which has helped us provide security deposits for 1,827 homeless men, women and children in our community. Just two days from sabbatical our CEO Kevin Zwick was interviewed by ABC 7 News’ David Louie to talk about the 14th annual Turkey Trot – and you can see his story here. The Mercury News covered the event too!
3) TECH Fund In Good Company TECH Fund, our investment vehicle to help philanthropists and greater Bay Area businesses invest in affordable housing solutions, got a big lift in late November when new investor Pure Storage collaborated with earlier investors LinkedIn and Cisco to invest in affordable housing. TECH Fund, which is primarily used to help affordable housing developers secure sites for affordable homes they may not be able to afford otherwise, has so far been utilized across 15 developments to create about 1,500 homes across the thirteen-county greater Bay Area. Take a look at coverage of the TECH Fund announcement by KRON 4 News’ Rob Fladeboe and the TECH Fund segment from Jesse Gary at KTVU Fox News.
2) The Launch of Empower Homebuyers SCC Empower Homebuyers is a 2016 Measure A funded program of the County of Santa Clara County and administered by Housing Trust. It launched last month and the goal is to help provide down payment assistance to 250 first-time homebuyers over the first five years. The launch of the program was covered by The San Jose Mercury News and the first Empower Homebuyers SCC workshop was covered by KTVU Fox News and NBC Bay Area. Check out the program at bit.ly/EmpowerHomebuyersSCC.
1) YOU – yes you! Affordable housing is created by people who step up together. Every homeless neighbor who gets a home, every family who gets the opportunity to build a stable life in their community, every spot where new affordable houses rise happens with your support. And today, your help can go even further thanks to a dollar-for-dollar match from our friends at U.S. Bank. Please give today and enjoy the rest of your year – we’re excited to see all we can do together in 2019 – and we can’t do it without your help!
Thank you again and best wishes for the new year!