U.S. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mayor Edwin M. Lee, Supervisor Malia Cohen and local leaders celebrated today the completion of the latest phase of the redevelopment of the Hunters View community as part of the City’s HOPE SF initiative.

“Revitalizing Hunters View is about ensuring the beautiful diversity of our city, dismantling barriers and building community. Everyone deserves a safe, livable, and affordable place to call home,” said Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. “These new, modern buildings reflect a revolution in how we rehabilitate aging and isolated public housing – and create affordable, secure, and modern housing.”

Today, 107 newly built public housing units were opened up as part of the Hunters View development. Once completed, the re-envisioned Hunters View will be a mixed-income, service-enriched community, affordable to more than 700 low-income and middle-class families, and developed according to the non-displacement principles of the Mayor’s HOPE SF initiative. The new Hunters View will also include a community center, health and wellness center, playgrounds, and physical connections to the surrounding neighborhoods. Every one of the site’s original 267 public housing units will be completely rebuilt and replaced.

“By completing this phase we are delivering on our commitment to the Hunters View community,” said Mayor Lee. “Every one of our residents deserves to benefit from the prosperity of this City, and by investing in vulnerable communities where families have resided in dilapidated public housing, we are ensuring that these residents stay connected, socially, economically and geographically with the rest of San Francisco.”

Overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Housing in partnership with the San Francisco Housing Authority, the HOPE SF initiative is the nation’s first large-scale public housing transformation and reparations effort aimed at disrupting intergenerational poverty, reducing social isolation, and creating vibrant mixed-income communities without mass displacement. A total of 2,500 housing units will be rehabilitated and rebuilt as part of HOPE SF, helping to benefit the residents of the Hunters View, Alice Griffith, Sunnydale and Potrero Hill communities. Backed by significant local funding, including a $310 million affordable housing bond, HOPE SF places residents first, ensuring that the households currently living in the community have the first chance to move into new housing as development progresses.

“Today, we stand tall as a City, and put the entire nation on notice that we put our resources where our values are,” said Supervisor Malia Cohen. “This is an incredible and historic moment for our City. Rebuilding public housing is one of the most transformative initiatives we can move forward.”

Hunters View was constructed in 1957, but the 267 units were never intended to be permanent housing. Due to the poor initial construction of the site and years of deferred construction, the property deteriorated beyond repair. The rebuild project is envisioned to house all current Hunters View residents, as well as additional low-income residents and middle-income families.

“This is an incredible moment for our City,” said Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure Interim Executive Director, Nadia Sesay. “With the completion of this phase of work, the remaining households in the “old” Hunters View can now relocate into newly constructed units across the street. This moment allows the residents an opportunity to say good-bye to housing that supported them through good and difficult times, while looking forward to much success in the new Hunters View community.”

“This is a bitter sweet milestone for the residents of Hunters View,” said long-time resident and community leader Lottie Titus. “We mourn the past and honor those who paved the way for this moment. We celebrate the present and look forward to the future to raise our children and our children’s children with love and hope.”

The entire redevelopment project at Hunters View has been designed with sustainable green building technologies and has been selected by the U.S. Green Building Council for its pilot program in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development.

“This is no longer the ‘other side’ of the point or ‘that place,’” said Theo Miller, HOPE SF Director. “This is our community, our San Francisco. Today we move forward and stand united as residents, community leaders, developers, and city partners in repairing a historic wrong of public policy.”

“We are thrilled to bring another 107 units of high-quality affordable housing to the new Hunters View community,” said Jack Gardner, President and CEO of the John Stewart Company, the site’s developer. “These units mean that all existing Hunters View residents will now have the housing stability and other services they deserve to support them in every aspect of their lives. The residents have always been at the center of our efforts and these units mark an important milestone in fulfilling the commitments we made to the residents, the neighborhood and the City as a whole when we started this project.”