Jamboree Housing Gets $32M to Convert San Jose Hotel

Jamboree Housing has secured $32 million in public funds to redevelop a Pavilion Inn in San Jose into 43 homes for former foster kids and young homeless adults.

The Irvine-based nonprofit has broken ground to convert the 62-room hotel into an affordable housing complex at 1280 North 4th Street, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

The supportive homes are expected to open next summer with wraparound services, including mental health care and job counseling.

Jamboree will buy and redevelop the hotel at a cost of $32 million, of which $17 million will come from the city and Santa Clara County. The remaining $15 will come from the state’s Homekey homeless housing program.

The cost works out to $744,000 per unit, less than the typical $938,000 per-unit price tag for building affordable housing in San Jose, according to a recent city report.

The county Housing Authority will supply federal housing vouchers to cover most rent for at least 21 residents.

The Pavilion Inn site is one of at least six in San Jose to win a state grant from the $3.75 billion Project Homekey, launched during the pandemic.

The city has already helped open three Homekey sites at converted motels at 2188 The Alameda, 817 The Alameda and 1488 North 1st Street. Two other projects are in the works at 455 South 2nd Street and at Branham Lane and Monterey Road.

The homeless housing can be controversial.

In August, Southern California residents upset about a 32-unit supported homeless housing complex in Claremont demanded the property owner back out of a deal with Jamboree Housing.

This month, Jamboree was in talks with the City of Anaheim to run a permanent supportive housing complex for young adults to be converted from a former crime-ridden motel. The complex will serve former foster kids who became homeless.

Anaheim used state funds to buy the blighted motel early last year for $5.3 million, or $165,625 per room. The hotel-to-housing conversion is expected to cost $2 million.

— Dana Bartholomew