195 East San Fernando Street
San Jose, CA 95112
408.282.1131
Fax: 408.280.1311
Dan Wu, danwu@ccsj.org
Pensione Esperanza
Catholic Charities strives to empower the working poor to move beyond basic survival to a meaningful quality of life by providing economic, family and emotional stability. One of the ways they accomplish this is by developing affordable housing in Santa Clara County through their non-profit affiliate, Charities Housing Development Corporation. Initiatives include new construction as well as acquisition and rehabilitation of existing rental properties.
Catholic Charities’ projects include family apartments, single-occupant efficiency studios, housing for seniors and those with special needs. One of these is Pensione Esperanza, a 109-unit Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotel located on the edge of downtown San Jose that won the 2001 Builders’ Choice Affordable Award. The target population for Pensione Esperanza is individuals with incomes between 30% and 40% of the area median, a range that includes many of the part-time and full-time hourly wage workers in the downtown business sector of the city. The three-story 43,000 square foot wood frame building redefines its location as urban, creating a continuous edge along Bird Avenue, a major commercial boulevard. This edge includes the traditional downtown typology of pedestrian oriented retail with two floors of housing above.
Sustainable Characteristics
• Mixed use
• Housing Choice
• Pedestrian Design
