2005 HUD Secretary's Opportunity and Empowerment
Award Winner
6080 Units of Affordable Housing in Five Years (San José,
CA)
During the past 5 years, the City of San José has
waged an aggressive campaign to increase its affordable housing
supply. The effort, called 6080 Units of Affordable Housing
in Five Years, is in response to a shortfall of 17,000
units of affordable housing resulting from two decades of
rapid growth when housing costs soared and the availability
of affordable housing dropped precipitously.
Realizing that an acute housing shortage could impair the
local economy, the city set out to provide more affordable
housing through collaborative policy initiatives, effective
regional partnerships, and innovative financing mechanisms.
For each dollar of city funds invested, the City of San José
leveraged 3.7 dollars of outside funding. The Silicon Valley
Manufacturing Group, a consortium of local businesses, vigorously
supported the effort out of concern for their ability to recruit
and retain workers—many of whom were spending 4 hours
a day commuting to work because they could not afford to live
in San José. Of the 6,080 units, 9 percent are affordable
to extremely low-income households, 47 percent to very-low-income
households, 37 percent to low-income households, and 7 percent
to moderate-income households.
HUD Secretary's Awards
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