The Hope Center and Berkeley Way Apartments

The Berkeley Food and Housing Project (BFHP) and BRIDGE Housing have come together to develop The Hope Center and Berkeley Way Apartments, two housing projects that will share a common site and community in downtown Berkeley. The Hope Center, BFHP’s portion of the development, will offer interim and permanent supportive housing for those experiencing homelessness, providing 32 shelter beds for adult men, 12 transitional housing beds for homeless male veterans, and 53 units of permanent supportive housing for homeless and disabled individuals of any gender. The center will also have offices for partner agencies like LifeLong Medical and Berkeley Mental Health to provide on-site support services, as well as a dining facility where residents of both projects will be able to share a daily Community Meal. Meanwhile, the Berkeley Way Apartments will be developed, owned, and managed by BRIDGE Housing, and will contain 89 units of below-market-rate affordable housing.

The innovative joint project is a bold attempt to integrate interim, permanent supportive, and affordable housing on a single site, and to create a space of sanctuary and dignity for all residents through green spaces and common areas that encourage connection and rest. Its transit and service-rich downtown location also places residents near even more local services, including food pantries, senior recreational facilities, and social services.

Planned in collaboration with the City of Berkeley, which has committed $27 million to the project and provided the land on which the site will be located, construction broke ground in July 2020 and will likely be completed in 2022. As of 2022, the Berkeley Way Apartments were set to become the single largest infusion of low-income and affordable housing in Berkeley’s history and The Hope Center the largest permanent supportive housing for homelessness development in Berkeley.