Posted on: May 14, 2024
Affirmed Housing Group‘s Vitalia is a new affordable and supportive housing development in San Jose. Vitalia offers 79 apartment homes for low-income and formerly unhoused individuals and families, with 2 apartments reserved for on-site management.
Source: Affirmed Housing Group
Matt Mahan, the mayor of the City of San Jose, opens the celebration noting that Vitalia is “dignity and stability and security for our previously homeless neighbors, our veterans, our seniors it’s at the heart of making our city work for everyone and end our homelessness crisis and we need an all-of-the-above approach.”
Jimmy Silverwood, President of Affirmed Housing, describes the target market for the project. “Vitalia houses families of low income veterans formerly unhoused individuals as well as a rapid rehousing component so not just our folks who have lived on the street for 10 years but also folks who have just dropped into homelessness for a bit.”
Shashank Agrawal, Project Manager at Affirmed Housing, clarifies the units of Vitalia is “a 79 unit 100% affordable housing project, which has 39 Supportive Housing units, which includes people who were formally homeless and it also includes five VASH (Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing) units – five veterans living in this unit right now who were formally homeless. All these individuals have services that help them get back on their feet.”
Community Solutions will be providing services for the residents at Vitalia. Christine Silver, Clinical Director at Community Solutions explains. “A lot of that looks like, you know, individualized case management, connecting them to resources, to stabilize their income, food resources, basic needs like that, but also so that they feel comfortable here. We want to break down those barriers between them and the community around them, and ensure they’re really feeling at home here. All of those things tie in to ensuring a place like this is successful.
Resident of Vitalia, Leslie, tells her story. “COVID was challenging for my family and I lost some people. I lost my dad. My job of 11 years let me go. [I] expended all my IRA, [my] savings was gone, and then I became homeless. We stayed about 6 months in the shelter here in San Jose and then got transitioned into Vitalia. I’ve got to know a lot of the residents here and they’ve got to know my grandson. My grandson can walk anywhere, and you’ll hear residents saying ‘Hey Ezekiel!’ You know, it’s really nice. The management is very good at taking care of things and stepping up. Community Solutions has been outstanding. They are always there to help. There’s a lot of good people here that have been on the street for many years and therapy and everything else – it’s correcting them. They’re getting better so I really feel safe. I do.
Pam Foley continues, “For the tenants who live there, I hope that they find the experience one that lifts them out of poverty, that enables them to build the confidence and strength they need to go out find a job, work, be committed to being a vibrant contributor to the community by living here and starting on their path to success.”
Jimmy Silverwood summarizes the hope of Vitalia, “sometimes if you’re the first development, a lot of times it’s the start of many developments along that pathway. So I think this is the start to creating more housing, which will create more opportunities and and hopefully help the city’s homelessness issues.”
Source: Affirmed Housing Group
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