Welcome, everyone to our grand opening celebration for Casa Adelante – 1296 Shotwell. This is a big win for our seniors, the Mission and all of San Francisco.
That’s because Casa Adelante – 1296 Shotwell is a symbol of the resilience of our community members who fought hard to ensure that our seniors could age in place with dignity.
When I look at this building — MEDA’s first to be completed — we recognize that this victory is a result of the collaboration between: the City of San Francisco; those who financed the project; architects and structural engineers; our co-developer Chinatown Community Development Center; and, most importantly, our community.
And special thanks to MEDA’s Community Real Estate team and its visionary, Karoleen Feng.
As we know, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, and that belief is embodied in 1296 Shotwell.
It should be remembered that 1296 Shotwell was a hard-fought community benefit from the 100% market-rate VIDA property at 22nd and Mission. It should also be noted that this is no ordinary affordable-housing development. This is an award-winning building. Casa Adelante – 1296 Shotwell features the latest in seismic innovation to ensure that our seniors can fare well in the event of an earthquake. That’s why 1296 Shotwell received a U.S. Resiliency Council Gold Rating — just one of 60 or so buildings worldwide to garner this acclaim. It was the first-ever multifamily, 100% affordable- housing development to be so honored.
And, have you seen the views? There are 360-degree views from the rooftop garden area. Our seniors can look out over the Mission, and the city, that they helped create.
We cannot emphasize enough that seniors fought hard to stay in this neighborhood.
We also appreciate the many Mission and Bernal Heights neighbors who came to our community meetings and showed their support of our development. They made their voices heard, which resulted in the passing of a Senior Operating Subsidy by the City of San Francisco. This enabled seniors living on extremely-low fixed incomes to have a chance to stay in their neighborhood of choice rather than living in constant fear of displacement. That Senior Operating Subsidy means that some seniors now pay as low as $266 a month for a studio and $300 for a one-bedroom. Also, 23% of units —- were set aside for formerly homeless seniors.
Today, we celebrate and honor our seniors, our community and all involved in making 1296 Shotwell a reality.
So, to the resilient seniors of Casa Adelante – 1296 Shotwell we say:
You built your lives here.
You built this neighborhood.
And we built this property for you.
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