Nov 18Celebrating the Grand Opening of 170 New Affordable Apartment Homes as Part of San Francisco’s Largest Public Housing Transformation
The event also marked the groundbreaking of two additional buildings, creating another 184 affordable apartment homes
Secretary Tomiquia Moss, Senator Scott Wiener, Mayor Daniel Lurie, Supervisor Shamann Walton, Executive Director Erin Curtis, and other community leaders joined Related California and Mercy Housing California to celebrate the grand opening of Amani and Nia, the two newest affordable housing communities part of the multi-phase Sunnydale HOPE SF revitalization effort.
Together, Amani and Nia add 170 apartment homes for low-income families earning between 30% to 60% Area Median Income with 75% of the apartment homes set aside for existing Sunnydale public housing households. Amani, which consists of 80 apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail, features a grocery store, food hall, resource center and other neighborhood services, including a health and wellness center, and an early childhood education center operated by the Felton Institute. Along with Nia’s 90 apartment homes, the building’s 4,000 feet of retail frontage includes seven spaces that will be subleased to a combination of experienced commercial tenants and new entrepreneurs from the community.
A milestone in HOPE SF vision
“The completion of Amani and Nia is a critical milestone in the HOPE SF vision to transform Sunnydale into a vibrant neighborhood with high-quality affordable housing and community-serving amenities,” says Ann Silverberg, CEO of Related California’s NorCal Affordable and Northwest divisions. “It is rare to be able to deliver new affordable housing along with 25,000 square feet of community-serving ground-floor space that will provide residents with ready access to fresh food and produce, a wellness center, and a childhood education center.”
The event also marked the start of construction of two new buildings, Luca and Cielo, that will add 184 apartment homes. Keeping in line with the larger Sunnydale-Velasco Master Plan, 75% of the apartment homes will be set aside for existing Sunnydale public housing residents. To date, 392 affordable apartment homes have been completed. The revitalization is being constructed in multiple phases to include approximately 775 public housing replacement apartment homes, 200 tax credit affordable apartment homes, and 700 market rate apartments for a total of up to 1,700 new apartments.
The buildings are centrally located to the brand-new Sunnydale Community Center, also known as The Hub, which opened in 2024 and houses a Wu Yee Early Childhood Education Center and a Boys & Girls Clubhouse, and offer residents access to the nearby John McClaren Park, several public schools, and the Visitacion Valley library branch.
The opening of Amani and Nia marks both progress and promise for Sunnydale,” said Tiffany Bohee, President of Mercy Housing California. “Together with our public and private partners, we’re advancing a shared vision—one where every family has access to high-quality housing, opportunity, and community. The next phase builds on that momentum, ensuring Sunnydale’s future is as vibrant and resilient as its people.”
The Sunnydale Hope SF Revitalization is spearheaded by Related California and Mercy Housing California, in collaboration with the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development (MOHCD) and the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA), to transform the Sunnydale-Velasco public housing community into a vibrant mixed-income neighborhood. The 50-acre site of existing public housing and infrastructure is being revitalized into approximately 1,700 new affordable and market rate homes.
Financing for Amani and Nia was provided by Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, the Mayor’s Office and Housing and Community Development, the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Accelerator Program, Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities Program (AHSC), and Infill Infrastructure Grant Program (IIG), as well as the San Francisco-California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA) Bond Recycling Program.
Financing for Cielo is provided by Bank of America, Citibank, the Mayor’s Office and Housing and Community Development, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) Affordable Housing & Sustainable Communities Program(AHSC). Financing for Luca is provided by Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank, and the Mayor’s Office and Housing and Community Development.
