Transforming Hotels Into Housing in San Jose

In downtown San Jose, Calif., a motor inn site will be redeveloped into housing over the next five years, the city's mayor Matt Mahan has announced. Plans include transforming the existing hotel, which was used to house homeless residents during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, into a mixed-income apartment complex and building a new high-rise apartment building. The project will provide nearly 500 apartments in San Jose's downtown area, KRON 4 reports, of which 140 units will be affordable housing and 72 of those will be permanent supportive housing. Also, during development, the original 72-room hotel will be used to provide temporary housing to city residents experiencing homelessness.

Support for the project includes $19 million in state funds from California’s Project Homekey—a $2.75 billion grant program aimed at transforming some of the state's hotels and motels into housing—and $25 million in city funds.

“This is the first time that supportive housing for families, affordable housing and market-rate housing will be built on one lot in California — but it won’t be the last,” Mahan said at a news conference. “This project shows that innovation is possible when the public, private and nonprofit sectors come together to solve our homelessness crisis.”

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