On a Friday in early June 2026, shovels broke ground on RISE, a 195-unit affordable housing development rising beside the Berryessa/North San José BART Station in one of America's most expensive housing markets. The 10-story complex, built on land leased from the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority, represents something increasingly rare in the Bay Area: a concrete answer to the region's crushing shortage of homes for low-income residents.
The stakes of this project extend far beyond its address. Santa Clara County faces a housing crisis where working families and people experiencing homelessness struggle to find stable places to live. Transit-oriented developments like RISE offer a proven pathway forward: affordable homes near jobs, services and public transportation, reducing reliance on cars while opening pathways to opportunity. The groundbreaking brought together Affirmed Housing, VTA, local government, nonprofit partners and philanthropic funders—a coalition that reflects the complexity required to build affordably in 2026.
The numbers tell the story of intentional design. Of the 195 apartments, 193 will serve households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income, with one-, two- and three-bedroom units alongside studios and manager apartments. Critically, 49 units are permanent supportive housing reserved for extremely low-income residents, complete with on-site case management and wrap-around services to support people transitioning out of homelessness. The Santa Clara County Housing Authority backs these PSH apartments with project-based Section 8 vouchers.
Beyond beds, RISE includes a community room, computer lab, food pantry, children's play area and community garden. The development features nearly 200 bicycle parking spaces and sits within walking distance of grocery stores, pharmacies, restaurants and accessible transit—amenities that compound the value of affordable housing by connecting residents to daily necessity and employment.
Funding this scale of ambition required coordination across layers of government and philanthropy. The Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing provided capital funding. The City of San José, the California Department of Housing and Community Development, Destination: Home and the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund each contributed critical resources. The Housing Innovation Fund's commitment was decisive: it closed the final financing gap that allowed the project to break ground while maximizing the impact of public investments, including Santa Clara County's Measure A Affordable Housing Bond approved by voters in 2016.
RISE marks a milestone as the first Santa Clara County project funded through the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund, a financing mechanism launched in 2024 by Apple, The Sobrato Organization, Destination: Home and the Housing Accelerator Fund. The Fund was designed precisely for moments like this—to accelerate high-impact affordable housing by filling the gaps that cause promising projects to stall for years while construction costs climb.
In a region where demand for affordable housing far outpaces supply, RISE's 195 units are not a solution to the crisis but a template for building it. County Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee noted the project demonstrates "what is possible when we build with purpose and partnership." If Santa Clara County's Measure A achieves its target of roughly 6,700 new affordable housing units, projects like RISE—grounded in transit, sustainability and wraparound support—will be the model repeated across the Bay Area.