Treasure Island's changing skyline signals rise of affordable city housing
SAN FRANCISCO -- A new neighborhood in San Francisco is emerging as more than 8,000 housing units are being developed on Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island.
A decades-old effort to build affordable housing in the middle of San Francisco Bay is finally coming to fruition.
Not so long ago, Regina Record, a veteran, lived in her van in San Francisco but she has found a place to call home.
She is one of the tenants in the newly opened Maceo May apartment complex dedicated to veterans and their families. It sits just across the street from former military housing units that will be demolished in the coming years.
"Treasure Island didn't used to be like this and I could feel the change, you know, with all the construction going on," Record said. "There seems to be, like, a lot of housing but it's so old, you know? So this is really refreshing to have a brand new building."
As multimillion-dollar high-rise condos rise on the island so do the below-market units deemed affordable. More than 18,000 residents will occupy some 8,000 homes being built on Yerba Buena and Treasure Islands. About one-quarter of those will be affordable units, like the ones at Maceo May for vets.
"It feels like I'm in a suburb of San Francisco," said Derek Cummings who is also a veteran.
He served in the Army for three years but also experienced living on the streets for nearly a year in San Francisco's Tenderloin District.
"It's starting to become populated and be a nice neighborhood," Cummings said of the changing island cityscape.
Nella Goncalves is with One Treasure Island, a non-profit focused on helping lower-income households and those who have experienced homelessness.
"Right now it's a mixed income community and our goal is to continue to make it a mixed income community. You know where folks feel inclusive and it's equitable," Goncalves said.
Goncalves says development of the 8,000 units as well as the demolition of the military housing on the island is expected to be completed by 2036 if all goes according to plan
"All of the houses have been moved up to the front of the island so, once it's demolished, it will be redeveloped but there won't be housing in that area anymore," Goncalves explained.
That part of the island will be developed into public parks and spaces.
For residents like Record, it's starting to feel a lot like home.
"I don't ever wanna move, I don't plan to move ever," Record said.
Daily ferry service from San Francisco to Treasure Island is now up and running in addition to multiple bus routes.
One Treasure Island says that, in the next three to five years, 1,200 affordable and market-rate homes are planned to be built.
