The affordable housing shortage will be eased a bit this year when faculty, students and possibly staff at UCSF will be among the first in line to rent apartments on Treasure Island. Originally created in 1938 to host the Golden Gate International Exposition, the man-made isle will enter a new chapter in its history as former Navy housing is renovated and made available to the public in a couple of months. Priority access to the 766 multi-family rental units will go first to city workers who provide essential services on the island, second to the same group of people who are not working on the island and third to those working at public colleges affiliated with the San Francisco Consortium of Higher Education, of which UCSF is a member. Priority will go next to people who live and work in the city and next to those who live and work in the Bay Area. Some 222 units are being set aside for homeless families, according to Lauren Sanborne, vice president of John Stewart Co., the property management firm that is upgrading, marketing and renting the units.
Most units face yards and the best views are visible from outdoors.
Units are surrounded by lots of open space. Some 192 units or 25 percent of the available housing will be made available to consortium member institutions, which also include City College of San Francisco, Golden Gate University, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University and University of San Francisco. The consortium is considering proposing that housing be made available to staff whose salaries fall below a certain income level, Agnos says. A Place to Call Home UCSF has long suffered from a chronic housing shortage both on and off campus. The demand for affordable rental units is expected to be great in a city where supply is low and rates are among the highest in the nation.