CCDC preserves a 114-year-old SRO building in Chinatown

(SAN FRANCISCO) San Francisco Chinatown is losing more affordable Single Resident Occupancy (SRO) housing units in recent years, while the rents in Chinatown are on the rise.

Malcolm Yeung, Executive Director of Chinatown Community Development Center (CCDC), announced the acquisition of a 114-year-old residential building on 1005 Powell Street in Chinatown. He assured that the building would continue offering the affordable housing opportunities for many low income families in need.

The announcement was made at CCDC's Chinese New Year celebration luncheon in Far East Cafe on March 4. It was also the first celebration party to be held with the tenants and members since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020. Over 500 guests and elected officials were in attendance.

"Most of the tenants in the building are extremely low income. Because of the conditions of the 64 units in the building, the property owners understood the situation and proactively wanted to sell the building to CCDC," said Yeung in the celebration event.

Yeung acknowledged the decline of the numbers of the affordable housing units in Chinatown. He affirmed that the building would continue to be a SRO building offering the most affordable units to the community.

The 1005 Powell Street building has been located in Chinatown since a short time after the 1906 earthquake. It was built after the earthquake and named as "Parker Hotel", an upscale hotel.

It became a SRO apartment building for many decades. According to CCDC, after many years of owning 1005 Powell, a 64-unit SRO building at the corner of Powell and Clay Streets, the Young family found themselves with a dilemma: the 114-year-old building was showing its age.

Yeung stated, "The low rents they were charging made keeping the building in good shape challenging, and family members were aging. They had rented the building to low-income households for years, mostly Cantonese speaking. They knew the building needed major improvements - but they didn't think they could manage that

process of relocating the residents, fixing the building, and moving them back in."

The owner's representative approached CCDC and all parties agreed that the best solution was for the owner to sell the building. "CCDC bought it at a discounted price. That began a journey as CCDC worked through design, budgeting, and construction issues, met the residents, assessed their relocation needs, then tried to get financing to close on the property ... until the pandemic hit," said Yeung.

The funding to acquire the building was from San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund, Mayor's Office of Housing and Community Development, Crankstart Foundation, MacKenzie Scott and more.

The building was officially acquired by CCDC on December 27 in 2021. All residents have now been relocated to temporary housing. The construction and remodel of the building has started. "1005 Powell will remain affordable when the tenants move back to their new home after a complete makeover," said Yeung.