We’re kicking off 2026 with a spotlight on the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund, which is bringing nearly 200 deeply affordable homes to San Jose. Launched in partnership with Sobrato Philanthropies, Apple, and the Housing Accelerator Fund, the Fund was developed to address the time and cost challenges in affordable housing production. Our community is in desperate need of more affordable housing, and this bold solution is proving it’s possible to build these homes faster and for less.
A Creative Solution to a Common Delay
Increasing the supply of housing for our extremely low-income households is essential for solving our homelessness crisis, but developing this type of housing often comes with cost and time barriers – due in large part to the current financing system. The Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund expedites the delivery of this much-needed housing by providing private gap financing to affordable housing projects that can meet ambitious cost and time goals.
In the less than two years since the Fund’s launch, residents are already moving into the first project supported, and construction is almost complete at the second development.
Building on this success, the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund recently doubled in size, unlocking more than 1,000 affordable homes over the next two years.
New Homes Coming to Santa Clara County
Today, we’re celebrating the third project to be approved for financing from the Fund. A short walk from the Berryessa VTA transit hub and BART station, Berryessa Transit-Oriented Development Apartments will soon provide 195 new affordable apartments for lowest-income individuals and families, including formerly homeless households, with onsite services for those who need them.
In addition to the critical private dollars invested in this project, Berryessa Apartments also leverages several public funding sources. It is now one of 61 developments funded by the transformative 2016 Measure A housing bond, which is surpassing its original goal of creating 4,800 new homes by 38%. State and City of San Jose funds are also supporting the project.
We can’t wait to see Berryessa Apartments become one of the region’s largest transit-oriented affordable housing developments. Building housing that ends and prevents homelessness is possible thanks to the collective action and shared commitment of several public and private partners.
Still, We Need to Do More
Affordable housing construction is grinding to a halt due to depleting funds for development. With new funding scarce, other long-awaited projects may be on the chopping block. As more and more families in our region face the threat of losing their housing, our community must continue working together with urgency to find new pathways to build homes for those in need at scale.
The Affordable Housing Bond Act of 2026 offers a critical path forward. This $10 billion bond would help jump-start thousands of shovel-ready affordable homes across the state, and it will need voters’ full support later this year. The construction of homes our community needs most cannot be delayed any longer – join the growing coalition to keep production going.