By John King : sfchronicle – excerpt
The need to build new housing in cities tends to be discussed in simplistic terms — for or against, tall or short, market rate or affordable.
Three recently completed complexes in San Francisco illuminate the core issue that too often gets lost: Such housing should be measured by its capacity to improve people’s lives.
The three buildings do this despite very different settings: Treasure Island, Mission Bay and near ever-troubled Sixth Street. They succeed by providing shelter and services for people who were living on city streets and by enhancing their neighborhoods.
They nurture community, inside and out.
“The idea is not just to house people, but for people to thrive,” said Vanna Whitney of Leddy Maytum Stacy, the architect for the four-story, 140-unit HomeRise at Mission Bay. “We want something that feels like a home and not an institution.”…
The same goal anchors Maceo May Apartments, 104 units of supportive housing on Treasure Island that opened officially in May. Architectural firm Mithun designed it for Swords to Plowshares, and all residents are military veterans who were living on the streets…
The largest and most ambitious of the three newcomers is at 1064 Mission St. between Sixth and Seventh streets, one of the most troubled stretches of San Francisco’s downtown area…
They’re islands of stability and economic diversity in a city where neither is abundant. They’re also models of thoughtful design at both the human and urban scale — a trait that should be encouraged, whoever the residents might be…(more)
Need to discover WHY people are homeless. And if they deliberately came here for services. Usually, homelessness among families is temporary. But needing services & support.