The partner project between the Emergency Housing Consortium and
South County Housing Corp. will soon offer new housing options for
homeless and low-income families in South Santa Clara County.
The partner project between the Emergency Housing Consortium and South County Housing Corp. will soon offer new housing options for homeless and low-income families in South Santa Clara County.
When complete, the Sobrato Family Transitional Center will include 60 two- to three-bedroom transitional and permanent apartments as well as a 140-bed emergency shelter, said Hilary Barroga, development manager for the Emergency Housing Consortium.
Named in honor of the Sobrato Family Foundation, which donated $500,000 to the project in 2002, the new facility will be located at 9345 Monterey Road between Las Animas and Cohansey avenues in Gilroy. A community center will sit adjacent to the apartments, Barroga said, and groundbreaking is scheduled for October.
All 13 for-sale market-rate homes recently constructed during the project’s first phase have been sold.
The third and final phase, scheduled to be complete in a few years, will produce a reception center and shelter with emergency transitional housing, which will replace the winter shelter in the Gilroy National Guard Armory, 7949 Wren Ave.
Julie Roybal, the armory’s site manager, said the shelter sees nearly 100 people per night during the winter, and she’s hopeful a full-time facility will provide some welcome relief to South Valley’s homeless population.
“This is a really necessary service for South County,” Barroga said. “The armory is full almost every night, so there is definitely a need for support. We had a great community response for the houses, and we’re expecting the same for the new facilities.”
