The march toward affordable housing in San José took a concrete step forward with the groundbreaking of Algarve Apartments, a development poised to deliver 90 essential homes in the community, including 46 units earmarked for permanent supportive housing aimed at low-income individuals. This significant project, highlighted by the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), is a testament to the constructive collaboration among state agencies, local governments, and nonprofits to repurpose a once-contaminated site.
Championing the transformative effect of state funds on previously unusable land DTSC Director Katherine Butler lauded the creation of the Algarve Apartments as a harbinger for safe, stable living spaces, “Algarve Apartments shows how state investment can help transform once-contaminated properties into safe, vibrant places to live,” Butler stated, and through initiatives such as the Equitable Community Revitalization Grant program, which injected $3 million into the project, contaminated soil was excavated and groundwater treated ensuring the proper mitigation of toxic materials like perchloroethylene, left behind by a former dry-cleaning operation, as per the DTSC…