Richmond, California: Rehabilitation of Vacant Public Housing Site Preserves Senior Housing

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Richmond, California: Rehabilitation of Vacant Public Housing Site Preserves Senior Housing

 

Nearly a decade ago, Mercy Housing and Community Housing Development Corporation (CHDC) partnered to rehabilitate Hacienda Heights, a public housing development in Richmond, California, that had been vacant since 2014. Although the developers originally planned to work with the Richmond Housing Authority to renovate the building while it was still occupied, funding challenges delayed the project, allowing housing conditions to worsen and, ultimately, forcing the residents to relocate. After a nearly 4-year search for funding, the partnership received a philanthropic donation that kickstarted the program and reimagined the site.

In 2023, Hacienda Heights opened as affordable housing for seniors. In addition to preserving housing for the seniors who were the development's primary tenants before it originally closed, the project optimizes the site to offer in-house and external community programming as well as improved access to neighborhood resources, including a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station and parks. Furthermore, the rehabilitation upgraded the building's energy efficiency and provided needed earthquake protection. In 2023, Hacienda Heights won Affordable Housing Finance magazine's 2023 Reader's Choice award for Public Housing Redevelopment.

Hacienda Heights

The Hacienda Heights site spans 1.9 acres and preserves the six-story public housing building originally built in the 1960s. Designed for seniors at least 62 years of age, the rehabilitation preserves the original layout of all 150 units. Along with 12 two-bedroom units, the renovated building has 24 studios and 114 one-bedroom units intended primarily for individuals. All units have windows on both sides to allow improved ventilation and share an exterior walkway. Upgrades to each unit include new kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, and energy-efficient appliances. Ten percent of the units are fully accessible for senior residents living with disabilities.

The upgraded units are paired with onsite services that follow Mercy Housing's model to provide "service-enriched affordable housing." The developer assigned two resident services coordinators (RSCs) to fulfill the four pillars of its approach to service: education, economic development, health and wellness, and community. The RSCs facilitate community events such as birthday celebrations and tai chi classes. Mercy Housing also partnered with Hope Solutions to provide more intensive care management for residents who previously experienced homelessness.

Improved Site Safety and Neighborhood Access

Two key issues with the previous development's configuration were that residents did not feel safe in the community and that the development felt disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood. The ground-floor amenities and shared community space offer solutions to these issues. The developers saw the ground floor, which includes a community room and office space, as an opportunity to improve security. The community room, an extension of the smaller, original community space, opens to a courtyard that includes a grill, seating for outdoor events, and community garden plots.

The revised layout of the offices in the new development allows case managers and resident services personnel to monitor the community room, lobby, elevators, and courtyard. This improved visibility also enhances interactions between staff and residents.

Another design decision was to relocate the building's front entrance from 13th Street, a side street, to Marina Way, a busier street with more direct access to the BART station and a local bus stop. In addition to facilitating vehicular traffic to and from the site, the new entrance creates a centralized entry point for cyclists and pedestrians and enhances opportunities for resident interaction. The entrance also incorporates public art, including an installation extending from the building's entrance along the length of the fence adjacent to Marina Way, to strengthen the development's connection with the surrounding neighborhood and celebrate its residents. The 13th Street entryway remains as a staff and utility service entrance that is more fitting for the neighborhood-scale street.

The successful rehabilitation effort required overcoming the challenge of retrofitting the old building to meet current seismic standards for earthquake safety. The resulting building has five seismic braces and a new roof. Led by structural engineers, the developers moved the seismic strengthening to the exterior of the building. The developers began the seismic work first, and concurrent interior upgrades reduced construction time by nearly 2 months.

Financing

Approximately $7 million in philanthropic funding spurred the rehabilitation of the site, and the developers leveraged that donation into more than $77 million in additional funding (Table 1). By donating the building and offering a ground lease on the land, the city of Richmond significantly lowered development costs. In 2019, the project received slightly more than $16 million in funding under California's Multifamily Housing Program. Finally, the project received more than $33 million in 4 percent tax credit equity to start construction in 2021.

Investing in the Aging Senior Housing Stock

The nearly 10-year effort to transform Hacienda Heights reveals the importance of early investment and preservation of existing affordable housing. Older affordable housing developments tend to house seniors — an age group whose members have special housing needs that must be met for them to successfully age in place. If the developers had not received the philanthropic funding to prevent the building from falling into disrepair and becoming uninhabitable, Richmond would have lost a significant amount of its senior housing stock.

Michael Kaplan, associate director of real estate development at Mercy Housing, says, "Although this ended up being an amazing outcome, it ended up costing [us more than it should have]. If the investments were made earlier, then [they] might not have cost as much, and [residents] might not have [had to] be displaced." Although the delays and associated costs presented a risk to maintaining the affordable housing stock for seniors, the project ultimately resulted in a state-of-the-art facility with enhanced services and community integration. Kaplan highlights that the challenge gave the developers an opportunity to rethink the design, and he shares that Mercy Housing "made [changes] to the building layout [and] how the services were provided [that] essentially [resulted in] a new building" that will serve its residents for years to come.