Galindo affordable housing project gains $25 million in grants
More than $25 million in federal and states grants will boost Resources for Community Development’s (RCD) efforts to build a 62-unit, $41.5 million affordable housing complex in downtown Concord.
“I’m really excited about this project,” said Councilwoman Carlyn Obringer. “It’s something I’m really proud that we’re doing.”
Of the $21 million from the U.S. Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Grant Program, $12.5 million will go toward the Galindo Terrace housing plan. “Our focus is seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, small families and 12 units for the formerly homeless,” Obringer said.
The city will use another $3.8 million as part of the Downtown Corridors Bicycle and Pedestrian Improvement Project. The development will be located across from BART, near the Cowell/Oakmead and Galindo/Monument intersections – which Obringer calls a “connection point” between the Monument Corridor and downtown. “We need to help everybody transition from their neighborhoods safely,” she noted.
The federal grant also provides BART with $3.3 million for new cars as well as $1.1 million for signage and job training. “The idea would be for the residents of the affordable housing to go through this training program through BART,” Obringer said. “It’s a way for people to enter the middle class from underserved communities.”
Help from the state and city
Meanwhile, RCD is receiving $4.2 million from the state Housing and Community Development Department through the Infill Infrastructure Grant Program. And the Concord City Council previously allocated $7.8 million, which is more than half of the city’s $14 million in affordable housing funds.
Construction on the five-story building is expected to begin in spring 2021, with completion in the fall of 2022. RCD has already built four other developments in Concord: Caldera Place, Camara Circle, Lakeside and Riley Court.
According to Community Development director Andrea Ouse, there are two other affordable housing projects in the works – 72 units at 1325-1335 Galindo and 313 units at the Church of the Nazarene site on Ashbury. “These are very early in the process so are likely to morph and change as the entitlement process moves forward,” she said.
Obringer reports a huge demand for affordable housing in the city, especially for seniors. “I encounter people on a weekly basis who are looking for senior affordable housing and they cannot find it,” she said. “Concord is working very hard to build affordable housing as well as housing of all income levels so everyone can continue to live and work here.”