3300 Mission St., the site of a burned-down apartment building, and 3333 Mission St., a permanently closed Big Lots store, have sat empty for years. The Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center (BHNC) and the Bernal Heights Housing Corporation (BHHC), in collaboration with other organizations, will soon transform these places into affordable housing projects. The projects will include spaces for community engagement and the arts, such as retail space and a library.
3333 Mission St. will soon consist entirely of affordable housing units for seniors. Of the 70 units planned, 20% will be designated for moderate-income seniors and 80% will be for low-income seniors. According to the BHNC website, seniors are the fastest-growing homeless population in San Francisco.
The BHNC is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and job opportunities for low-income residents of Bernal Heights. The BHHC is an affiliate organization of the BHNC that develops affordable housing in San Francisco. The BHNC website states that its mission is to build affordable housing that preserves and enhances the diversity of Bernal Heights, ensuring residents can afford to live in Bernal Heights regardless of their socioeconomic status.
“The way that housing and rent prices have risen is so intense that a lot of people who used to be native to the city can’t afford to stay,” said Ella Braverman ’27, Bernal Heights resident and former participant in Urban’s Housing Rights Group (HRG).
The new affordable housing developments in Bernal Heights will potentially help native and long-time Bernal Heights residents afford the costs of living in Bernal Heights. According to the BHNC website, 40% of the 3300 Mission St. units will be reserved for people who live within a half-mile radius of the affordable housing project.
Some Urban community members recognize the negative impacts of the rise of housing costs. “I do believe that a city [losing] its middle and working-class population [is] a loss for everybody — to have a homogeneous population of wealthy homeowners, some renters and a lot of people who are living precariously,” former HRG faculty advisor and English teacher Ben Slater ’07 said.
Both 3333 Mission St. and 3300 Mission St. are situated between the Mission District and Bernal Heights, surrounded by restaurants, coffee shops and small businesses. “This neighborhood is full of life and it should be shared,” said Travis Schrader ’28, Bernal Heights resident.
According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, each unit at 3300 Mission St. will cost $1 million to build.“It’s really concerning that even in places like San Francisco and California, where there does seem to be the political will to have more affordable housing, [it is so expensive to build] housing,” Slater said.
The average household income of an Urban student on financial assistance is $268,353, according to the Urban website, while the BHNC’s website states that the median income of a two-person household in San Francisco is $115,300.
While many students have stable housing, faculty and staff members at Urban may struggle to afford to live in San Francisco. “San Francisco is this place where a small percentage of people actually can live comfortably. There are people who can’t afford to live here, who serve us and clean up after us. … That fills me with a sense of injustice,” Slater said.
Braverman reflected on affordable housing like the new projects in Bernal Heights. “Affordable housing is a vital issue because housing is a basic human right, not a luxury that should be open only to the wealthy, and because houselessness is a problem that simply shouldn’t exist,” Braverman said. “Everyone deserves functional, dignified and affordable housing, and projects like this are really exciting because they offer that opportunity.”