Finding familiar faces at Rick Judd grand opening in Concord

CONCORD, CA (June 24, 2025) — I recently attended the grand opening, ribbon-cutting celebration of Rick Judd Commons, a 62-unit, 100% affordable housing development, located at 1315 Galindo St.

The project includes one, two and three-bedroom units, rented to households earning between 30 – 60% of the area median income, or $32,700 to $65,400 annually.

I was proud to attend, since it was six years ago when I was serving as Mayor of Concord for the first time, that the city council allocated $7.8 million to this project. My Council colleagues and I carefully weighed spending more than half of the City of Concord’s $14 million one-time affordable housing funds on this one project.

Allocated for resources for community development, project developer and operator, this city investment was an important demonstration of project viability to the county, state, federal and private financing partners – from whom they cobbled together additional construction and operation funds.

Fast forward to 2023. I was touring the Concord Homeless Shelter to see the renovations funded by the state’s Homeless Emergency Aid Program. The shelter was reoriented into a much safer site, featuring cubicles that contained a bed, desk, USB port for device-charging, drawers for storage and a door for privacy. Non-aggressive companion pets were welcome.

While greeting some of the residents, I met Alicia, who proudly showed me her decorated cubicle and confidently shared how she was working diligently with her case manager on her permanent housing plan.

One more trip in the time machine to June 4, where a resident was announced as the last speaker before the Rick Judd Commons ribbon-cutting ceremony. Imagine my surprise and delight when the speaker was none other than Alicia herself, who shared her appreciation for a new apartment so close to Todos Santos Plaza, where she has fond memories of walking with her grandchildren.

As I looked around, I saw more familiar faces among the new Rick Judd Commons residents.

While the project did present some design challenges, and averaged $1 million a door to develop, seeing formerly unsheltered Concord residents find permanent supportive housing and workforce training – brought me full circle as to the wisdom of the council’s affordable housing funding investment decision six years ago.

Learn more about Rick Judd Commons at https://rcdhousing.org/rick-judd-commons/.

Contact Mayor Obringer at carlyn.obringer@cityofconcord.org