That is what San Francisco’s subsequent homeless housing constructing seems like
After San Francisco’s attempt to buy a Japantown hotel to house homeless people failed amid intense neighborhood backlash, the city faced no meaningful resistance when it chose an alternate site less than a mile away.
Now, the 114-room Vantaggio Suites, once known as the Gotham Hotel, is preparing to become the latest addition to the city’s supply of permanent supportive housing. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to spend $34.8 million — or about $305,000 per unit — to buy the single-room occupancy hotel at 835 Turk St., aiming to start welcoming new tenants this summer.
One day after the acquisition was approved, Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, toured the Turk Street residential hotel.
She saw the building’s community kitchen, with its two ovens and stovetops and a dining room that can seat 20 people. Then she went to three rooms of varying sizes, all of which had private bathrooms, a microwave and mini-fridge, at least one desk, and a bed or two. It’s a departure from many other single-room occupancy hotels that have shared bathrooms, fueling complaints from residents about a lack of privacy and dignity.
The building reflects the direction San Francisco leaders want to move in when providing more homes for the city’s massive unhoused population. Taking advantage of tax revenue from the 2018 local ballot measure Proposition C, as well as state grant funding, San Francisco has been buying more properties for homeless people as it aims to add 1,500 new supportive housing units by July. The city is more than halfway toward meeting the goal.
“This is an unprecedented moment in San Francisco history,” McSpadden told The Chronicle after touring the Turk Street building Wednesday afternoon. “We’re able to put more resources into permanent supportive housing than we have in the past.”
A room in the Vantaggio Suites at 835 Turk St., a former hotel that will provide housing for people who’ve been living with no fixed address.
Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle
The Turk Street acquisition follows three other recent purchases San Francisco has made to expand housing for homeless people, including two facilities for young people and one for adults and families. Those buildings — spread across the Mission, Outer Mission and South of Market neighborhoods — total 237 units, according to the city.
Still, the city has more than 8,000 homeless people, with many needing intensive services to rebuild their lives. More than two years ago, the city identified 4,000 homeless people who also struggled with addiction and mental illness and set out to prioritize just a few hundred. Critics have said the city doesn’t provide adequate services to support those on the streets and in SROs.
At the Turk Street building, McSpadden said she sees an opportunity to provide housing for a mix of homeless couples and single adults. She said the building had “wonderful character” and liked its community spaces and private bathrooms.
Constructed in 1930 in the Cathedral Hill area, the building was last renovated in 2014 and has in recent years been home to many international students as well as legacy tenants who’ve lived there for decades. Now, it has about 30 residents — down from 42 when the city decided to buy the facility.
Officials say no one who currently lives in the building will be displaced by the city’s acquisition, though they expect more people will leave voluntarily.
Unlike the backlash over the attempted Japantown hotel acquisition, community members broadly supported the Turk Street project.
“One of the few things almost everyone agrees on in this city is that we need to get our homeless neighbors off the streets,” Heidi Petersen, who lives less than a mile from 835 Turk, said in an email to city leaders. “The only sustainable way to do this is to make sure we have homes to offer them — that means buying buildings like this.”
San Francisco’s spending on the acquisition includes $25.7 million in purchasing and closing costs as well as $9.1 million for repairs, including seismic upgrades. The city expects ongoing costs for operations and services to total about $2.3 million per year.
City officials plan to use money from Proposition C to buy and operate the site, but they’re also applying for state grant funds that could cover some of the costs.
JD Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
