San Jose is finally getting serious about building homes that people can actually afford to live in. Santa Clara County just completed a major real estate deal to acquire land for a new affordable housing development downtown, and it’s a big deal for a region where housing costs have long been out of reach for most of us.

The project, called Algarve Apartments, is planned for 1135 East Santa Clara Street, right at the corner of East Santa Clara and North 24th Street. When it’s finished, the eight-story building will have 91 affordable units, and here’s where it gets even better: 24 of those units are reserved specifically for military veterans, and 36 are designated as permanent supportive housing for people who’ve experienced homelessness. This isn’t just about building apartments; it’s about actually addressing some of the real issues facing our community.

What makes this project particularly significant is the funding behind it. The state’s Project Homekey+ program awarded $41 million to Algarve Apartments, making it the largest public funding amount Abode Housing, the developer, has ever received for a single project. That kind of investment signals that Sacramento is taking the housing crisis seriously, and it’s creating real opportunities for change on the ground level here in the Bay.

Construction crews have already started clearing the site, though the exact timeline for completion isn’t totally clear yet. But the progress is visible, which is honestly refreshing when you’ve spent years watching housing projects get stuck in bureaucratic limbo.

This development is part of a bigger wave of affordable housing projects moving forward in downtown San Jose. Developers are getting creative too, using California Senate Bill 35 to expedite certain projects that include affordable units. That law essentially forces cities to approve and speed up projects that meet certain affordability requirements, which helps cut through the endless red tape that usually delays housing construction.

Look, we know the housing crisis in the Bay Area has felt unsolvable for a long time. But seeing projects like Algarve Apartments actually break ground, with dedicated funding, clear community benefits, and momentum behind them, suggests that maybe things are starting to shift. It’s not a complete solution to the broader affordability crisis, obviously, but 91 new homes for people who need them most is nothing to sleep on. And if more projects like this keep moving forward, maybe someday living in San Jose won’t require a trust fund.