The Hope Center and Berkeley Way Apartments

Insight Housing (formerly Berkeley Food and Housing Project) and BRIDGE Housing have come together to develop The Hope Center and Berkeley Way Apartments, two housing projects that share a common site and community in downtown Berkeley. The Hope Center, Insight Housing’s portion of the development, offers 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 also has offices for partner agencies such as LifeLong Medical and Berkeley Mental Health to provide on-site support services, as well as a dining facility where residents of both projects, as well as the surrounding community, will be able to share a daily Community Meal. The Berkeley Way Apartments are owned and managed by BRIDGE Housing and offer 89 units of below-market-rate affordable housing. Berkeley Way is composed of a combination of studio, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units.

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 committed $27 million to the project and provided the land on which the site will be located, construction broke ground in July 2020 and welcomed its first residents in September of 2022. The Berkeley Way apartments represent the single largest infusion of low-income and affordable housing in Berkeley’s history and The Hope Center the largest permanent supportive housing development in Berkeley.

Photos by Bruce Damonte.