SF approves $35M purchase of Cathedral Hill hotel for homeless

A Cathedral Hill hotel is set to be turned into housing for the homeless, months after the city tried and failed to do the same with a property in Japantown.

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the $34.8 million purchase of the 114-unit Vantaggio Suites residential hotel near Jefferson Square Park, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The city will spend $25.7 million for the 835 Turk Street property and another $9.1 million for immediate repairs.

“This type of acquisition is absolutely essential and we are thrilled to see it come to fruition,” Supervisor Dean Preston, who represents the neighborhood, said in a statement after the vote.

The purchase was approved without community resistance or even a discussion by the supervisors, unlike the attempt to buy the 131-room Kimpton Buchanan Hotel. That owner had planned to sell the property to the city, but ultimately backed out due to intense backlash from community members worried about losing one of Japantown’s tourist hotels.

The planned conversion comes as the city pushes to expand supportive housing and services to areas beyond the Tenderloin where the homeless population is largest.

Vantaggio has units with private bathrooms, which makes it “an excellent building for permanent supportive housing that will help people move from homelessness to housing with the services they need,” Preston said.

The property has 72 vacant rooms and 42 that are occupied by a mix of short- and long-term tenants. While the tenants won’t be displaced, the city expects some will choose to leave and find another place to live on their own.

San Francisco plans to use funds from Proposition C to buy and run the property at a cost of about $2.3 million a year. The city is also applying for state grant funding that would cover some of the costs.

The project is “foundational to making a life-changing difference in the lives of people struggling to exit homelessness,” said Shireen McSpadden, executive director of the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing.

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Japantown hotel owners back out of controversial plan to turn it into homeless housing

[SFC] — Victoria Pruitt