Original article by JK Dineen for the San Francisco Chronicle

Housing aimed at people with disabilities is often tucked away on the outskirts of cities, nondescript group homes far from shops or transit stations.

In San Francisco, however, a new 112-unit building catering to a diverse cross-section of residents with disabilities is opening at 240 Van Ness, smack in the middle of the city’s Civic Center neighborhood. City Hall is a block to the north. Davies Symphony Hall is across the street. Next door to the south is the Bowes Center, which houses Conservatory of Music dorms and performances spaces. It’s two blocks from the Van Ness Muni station and overlooks the bus rapid transit line.

Shoehorning the building into a tight T-shaped parcel on one of the city’s busiest streets “means a lot of tight pressure is put on every square inch of every square foot,” said Pauline Souza of WRNS Studio, which designed the building with Santos Prescott and Associates.

“The challenge was how to make a place that is home and feels welcoming and gives tribute to what the Civic Center has represented forever,” she said. “It’s a place of challenge, of protest, of expression. It is as urban as an urban site can get.”

Chad Savage, sheet metal journeyman, works next to a community room under construction at the Kelsey Civic Center. – Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

The $88.3 million Kelsey Civic Center, which opens in March, is the second project completed by The Kelsey, an organization that builds affordable “disability-forward” housing and advocates for inclusive design standards. The group’s first project, The Kelsey Ayer Station, in San Jose, was completed in the spring. The Kelsey is collaborating with Mercy Housing on the Civic Center project.

At The Kelsey Civic Center, 25% of the homes are reserved for people with disabilities who use supportive services. The units will be leased to households earning between 20% and 80% of area median income, with rents ranging from $500 to $2,450. More than 7,000 people entered the lottery for the building, including about 1,000 who were applying for the 28 units set aside for people with disabilities.

The units on Van Ness have kitchens and bathrooms with removable cabinets for wheelchair users and dimmable lighting for people with light sensitivity. Floors are coded by number and colors inspired by the Painted Ladies to help with wayfinding. An on-site “Inclusion Concierge” staff, a program pioneered by The Kelsey to connect residents to formal services and supports as well as build an active, supportive community. There is a soaring interior courtyard with an eight-story brightly-paneled wall and a rooftop garden.

The Kelsey was founded by Micaela Connery and her cousin and close friend, Kelsey Flynn O’Connor. O’Connor, who passed away in 2018, lived with multiple disabilities. It was through their friendship that Connery saw firsthand the obstacles disabled people face in finding adequate housing where they can be both independent and supported.

Micaela Connery, who is the co-founder and CEO of The Kelsey, left, and Fiona Ruddy, senior project manager at Mercy Housing California, talk amid construction at the Kelsey Civic Center in San Francisco. – Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

“For people with disabilities housing options have been limited to either segregated buildings — where it’s all disabled people — or sometimes mixed in with seniors,” Connery said.

Original article by JK Dineen for the San Francisco Chronicle