Throughout our history, Charities Housing has proudly been recognized by many news and public organizations...

The term "affordable housing" often conjures up images of stark, bleak, tenement-style dwellings. But today's affordable housing projects in the Bay Area, although spartan by definition, hardly cut corners on style and functionality.

The tax credit system is one factor that actually stimulates progressive designs in affordable housing projects, says architect Jerry King, whose San Jose firm OJK Inc. designs low-cost housing developments in the area.

"There's competition for tax credits at the state level," King explains. "The designs that are superior aesthetically and functionally get the tax credits."

And designs that incorporate so-called "green" building elements, such as low-flow water fixtures, recycled materials, natural linoleum and double-glazed windows, receive additional points.

King says his designs utilize numerous green building elements without adding to the cost, which he claims gives his firm an edge when bidding for projects.

El Paseo Studios, built in the fork of Hamilton and Campbell avenues in San Jose, was designed by King and developed by San Jose-based nonprofit First Community Housing.

The 98-unit project, built on a triangular half-acre lot, cost roughly $15 million to complete. The four-story building balances futuristic design elements with the surrounding shopping and entertainment venues.

In many ways, affordable housing developers and architects say, the constraints of less-than-ideal plots of land, like the El Paseo Studios plot, actually demand more creative designs. And since affordable housing tenants tend to be less picky, they also are more welcoming to unorthodox designs.

"Generally speaking, affordable housing ends up on unique lots," King says. "Maybe they have electrical wires above them, or for whatever reason are sites the market-rate developers are not interested in."

King believes these challenges compel architects to come up something often more inspired and futuristic than market-rate developments.

"Because we're not always competing, we're often building in areas that need revitalization and we're working with a group of folks who might be more accepting of a less-conforming design, that gives us some greater freedom to allow the architects to do what they do best," says Chris Block, executive director of San Jose-based nonprofit housing developer Charities Housing.

Affordable housing projects don't have the freedom to go over budget, since there is no profit motive and the rents are at fixed rates. So the challenge for architects is to allocate resources in such a way that creates low-cost, functional housing that still has character.

"We don't have much money, so we try to focus the money on making a few elements in the building really special," says architect Kevin Wilcock of San Francisco-based David Baker & Partners.

Wilcock's firm designed Charities Housing's Stoney Pine housing project for developmentally disabled adults, located in Sunnyvale, as well as Pensione Esperanza, a San Jose development designed for adults earning between 30 and 40 percent of the area's medium income.

In order to fit the maximum number of units into a limited and irregular plot of land, the Esperanza development required long corridors, which could have resulted in a jail-like aesthetic.

"The corridors can be quite long, but we needed that to get a lot of units in there to justify the cost," says Block. "There are about four or five things [Wilcock's firm] did that didn't cost us any extra money that made the difference between the place looking like a jail and looking like a nice residential area."

For example, the design allows natural light to filter through the second-story corridor and building sitting areas, Block says. Providing higher ceilings in otherwise small units also helps convey a feeling of more space, he says.

"With Esperanza, we wanted high ceilings, but the contractors were afraid that high ceilings were going to cost more. But it was very important to us to get this sense of spaciousness," says Block, whose team found the extra money through what he calls "creative engineering" to give Esperanza's 300-square-foot studios more breathing room.

Within the units themselves, space is utilized so that bedrooms are just large enough for a bed and nightstand, while hallways are minimized and kitchens basic.

Homes built by Habitat for Humanity, which employs volunteer builders, are designed to fit in with the neighborhood and so design considerations don't really differ from surrounding homes, says Robert Freiri, executive director of San Jose Habitat for Humanity.

Still, he says, their homes don't use tile roofs or other more expensive details.

"Habitat houses here don't have air conditioning," Freiri says. "The fixtures we put in are clean and crisp, but not really fancy."

Subtle differences aside, affordable housing developments are designed with the same principles used for market-rate housing, Wilcock says.

"We do push the envelope, but the basic elements are there. How we articulate those basic design elements is what creates our unique look," Wilcock says.

And despite the access to charitable funds and tax credits, affordable housing projects do not receive any other legs-up, says Dan Wu, director of housing development for Charities Housing.

"We all have to meet the same planning and coding requirements, so affordable housing doesn't get a break," Wu says. "We have to meet the same parking requirements as market-rate developments, for example."

But all agree that challenges such as tight budgets and irregular building lots bring out the best in architectural design, which makes affordable housing look and feel a lot less affordable than it is.

"Affordable doesn't mean cheaply built," says King. "It can mean a better product for much less rent, the leveraging effect of good design."

Steve Tanner is a Biz Ink reporter.
You can reach him at stanner@svbizink.com.

return to top of page...