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.
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. Over the last year since the acquisiton of Reed St, SBCLT has addressed the most pressing needs such as potential code violations, quality of life repairs and emergency repairs flagged by our lender, insurance provider and residents.
November 2024: Two units open for vacancy! APPLY HERE
*2-bedroom unit and 1-studio unit
2024 Rehab (before/after) photos to be uploaded soon!
