by Araceli Martínez
Leaders of Mission Neighborhood Centers and Mercy Housing laid the first stone of Casa de La Mision on Jan. 9, which will be an accessible housing building for older adults who have been displaced from the Latino Mission neighborhood in San Francisco, and faced the homelessness. The building is located at 3011 24th Street, San Francisco, California, at the former Mission Girls Center.
Casa de La Misión will be located in the heart of the Mission, and will give a roof to 45 older adults. “It is the result of an alliance between Mission Neighborhood Centers and Mercy Housing,” said Santiago “Sam” Ruíz, president of Mission Neighborhood Centers Inc.
“With this project we are doing justice to the displaced from the Mission District that has been the epicenter of the displacement of the elderly,” said Sam.
And he explained that the place where the apartment building for the elderly will be built, two decades ago, they bought it to provide community services and develop the Head Start, a program of the Federal Department of Health and Human Services that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition and services for parents of low-income children and their families.
“That place was going to be purchased to put on a Taco Bell franchise, but when we found out, we mobilized not only because of the displacement it was going to cause but because of the economic impact on local businesses, and we managed to buy it with the support of community friends to support 60 children under the Head Start program, “Sam recalled.
“The idea of us was to make it an asset for the community, and so it will be now that it will be home for 45 displaced elders of the Mission, to whom we want to say, welcome to your home,” Sam said.
The construction of Casa de La Mision is financed with a donation of five million from the Bettye Poetz Ferguson Foundation, and low-income housing tax credits.
Sam said the construction that is there now will be demolished to build the apartment building for the elderly. The demolition would begin in two days.
“It will be five floors. On the first floor we will offer social services, and there will be a garden on the terrace,” he said.
The apartment building will also have a community space, laundry, lobby and offices for administrators.
“We are very proud of this project and because we have become a change agency,” he said.
Liliana “Lila” Carrillo, head of foreign affairs and policy at Mission Neighborhood Centers said she expects the apartment building to be inaugurated between May and June of 2021. “Construction will take about 18 months. At this time the requirements that beneficiaries must meet will be established, but the apartments are dedicated to providing a roof for displaced elderly people who are quite vulnerable, “he said.
He added that senior citizens are the fastest growing population in the San Francisco area, and who find it harder to find housing.
“It is estimated that by 2030 they will be 30 percent of the population,” said Lila.
Once the departments are assigned, the beneficiaries will have to pay a percentage of their income as rent.
“They will be apartments of one bedroom, and in each one, an older adult will be located,” he added.
In Casa de La Misión they will also have social and medical services.
“They do not necessarily have to be homeless but must be older adults who live in small rooms, with a family member, or are at risk of being in the street,” she says.
The mayor of San Francisco London Breed accompanied the leaders of Mission Neighborhood Centers, Mercy Housing, and other community leaders, to participate in the groundbreaking of Casa de La Misión.
“I am very excited because this is the sixth building that begins to be built in the Mission since I am mayor, which will represent 600 units in this community,” she said at the construction start ceremony.
“The reason why this is happening at this rate is because of the leadership of the people I saw here,” she said.
And she recalled that the late mayor of San Francisco, Ed Lee, promised to build affordable housing and pay special attention to the Mission community so that when new housing developments were built, residents had access.
“I am very grateful because the work we have done is finally paying off,” she said. And she called Casa de La Mision an incredible project that is just the tip of the iceberg.
“Next month we are going to open 94 homes on Shotwell Street, 100 percent accessible units. But we have to make sure that the community is at the forefront of those requests because this is how we are protecting future generations,” she said.
Although the displacement in the Mission has disproportionately affected Latinos, Lila noted that they hope to benefit all those older adults who qualify.
“Applications are going to be made through community organizations,” she says.
Mission Neighborhood Centers has long been an operator of youth services, and served the low-income residents of the community.
Casa de La Misión is the first of four projects to create 345 homes for low-income seniors that had become stuck due to lack of funds. With the commitment of 30 million dollars from the Bettye Poetz Ferguson Foundation, Mercy Housing California can move forward to make them a reality.
Bettye Poetz Ferguson, a philanthropist and devout Catholic, resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, asked before she died that the scholarships be donated to a Catholic organization working in the field of accessible housing.
Mercy Housing California is very grateful to Bettye and her foundation because with her donation, hundreds of low-income seniors will have safe and accessible housing for years to come, including those of the Casa de La Misión.
