SANTA CLARA — The Sobrato Organization aims to use its real estate expertise to help tackle one of Silicon Valley’s most daunting challenges: the region’s affordable housing woes.
The Sobrato firm is one of Silicon Valley’s iconic real estate companies and the foundation is the charitable and giving arm of the Sobrato Organization. “Rents have far outpaced the growth in median income,” Sobrato said. “As families spend more on rent they have less money left over for necessities such as food and transportation and so forth.”
Among the primary approaches to address the affordable housing woes in Silicon Valley: construct more residences, preserve affordable housing and undertake effective advocacy for the development of housing. “There are many projects that get close to the finish line where they get the funding from the city, the county, the state, but sometimes they don’t have quite enough capital to construct and finish the project,” Sobrato said. “We want to be sure the developer has enough capital to complete the housing.”
The game plan with Vista Pointe Apartments, a complex that was built in 1969, is to navigate a different course than what normally occurs when an older rental facility such as this is purchased, especially after years of being under the same ownership.