Reed St Acquisition

On Feb. 1, 2023 South Bay CLT & residents acquired the 4-plex building seen above. It is SBCLT’s FIRST acquisition project and San Jose’s FIRST community land trust home!

For Tafhari Siyani Benjamin Franklin, meeting this goal is a momentous accomplishment. A resident of the Reed Street house and SBCLT’s first resident-board member, Mr. Franklin said, “There is nothing like having a key to your own [home]. Your own piece of America, if you will. No matter how big or small. It’s yours!!”

This colorful 1929 four-plex is located in Downtown San Jose. We refer to this home as “Reed St”. Reed St’s neighborhood is experiencing rapid gentrification as luxury development is being prioritized and invested in given its close proximity to the Diridon Station Development (i.e. future Google campus). As Downtown is being flipped for high income earners, long-term, low-income San Jose residents are being left behind and at higher risk of displacement. 

South Bay CLT officially closed escrow and acquired the Reed St property on February 1st, 2023! The process had its speed bumps and sharp turns, but thank you to everyone for your support and hard work to secure San Jose’s FIRST community land trust home! We are grateful to YOU – our communities – for dreaming and working with us to achieve this goal! Thanks to the generous support from nearly 90 individuals across the South Bay and beyond, on April 28, 2022, we surpassed our fundraising goal of $500,000 within 5-months – a big achievement for a new CLT!  This acquisition and rehabilitation is also being made possible with a loan from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a non-profit financial institution who believed in us and has invested in our preservation and economic development mission.

Currently, Reed Street is home to 10 low-income African-American, Latino and multi-ethnic residents. Most of them have some experience with homelessness, two are veterans, half of the units receive some kind of housing-subsidy and at least one resident has in-home care assistance. Veterans are some of our most vulnerable community members at risk of homelessness and our county has amongst the highest rate (68%) of unsheltered homeless Veterans in the country! (SCC, 2019 Homeless Census & Survey)

The purchase of Reed St by the South Bay Community Land Trust has the potential to be an instructive example of how to permanently preserve housing for individuals at highest risk of homelessness. South Bay CLT now begins rehabilitation and overall deeper tenant engagement and collective ownership onsite!

SBCLT now begins its general acquisition fund to ensure its growth and ability to acquire more properties to expand community control of land and housing.