Affordable Housing Complex at Mission Bay Welcomes Applications

Some Priority Given to Employees of Public Universities and Health Care Institutions

The new housing complex located at 588 Mission Bay Blvd.
The new housing complex at 588 Mission Bay Blvd. is being constructed adjacent to UCSF’s Mission Bay campus. Photo by Susan Merrell

A new affordable housing complex adjacent to UC San Francisco’s Mission Bay campus is accepting applications now through Dec. 21, 2016.

Employees of public universities and health care institutions in San Francisco, including UCSF, will receive preference for 50 of the units, which total 25 percent of the total units in the planned complex.

Located on the corner of Fourth Street at 588 Mission Bay Blvd., the complex is being constructed by a non-UCSF developer in partnership with the City and County of San Francisco. Called FIVE88, the housing complex includes 198 units, 70 one-bedrooms and 128 two-bedrooms. It features a clubhouse with fitness center, garage parking, a 200-space bicycle storage area, laundry facilities and a lounge.

The deadline for applications is 5 p.m. on Wed., Dec. 21, 2016. The complex is scheduled to open in February 2017.

FIVE88 targets households in San Francisco with incomes up to 60 percent of the area median income, which is considered low income. Examples of household incomes eligible to apply and detailed information about the application and lottery process are included on the property’s website. UCSF does not expect to have a significant number of employees with household incomes eligible for this particular property.

2 UCSF students walking their bikes through a housing complex

Affordable Housing at UCSF

Read the latest updates about UCSF's efforts to ensure that it remains an affordable place to work and learn.

Earlier this year, UCSF launched a Great People, Great Place (GPGP) initiative aimed at furthering UCSF as a best place to work, learn, teach and discover. With the high cost of living in the Bay Area identified as one of UCSF’s biggest barriers to workplace satisfaction, the availability of affordable housing at FIVE88 could provide some relief from high housing costs for eligible UCSF employees and their families. With a growing number of UCSF employees living farther away from San Francisco in order to afford housing, the complex’s adjacency to the Mission Bay campus would also ease commutes.

Five88, designed by David Baker Architects, is a four-story development with 10,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor. Scaffolding recently removed from the complex reveals a façade of cor-ten steel on its south-facing side. Cor-ten is a group of steel alloys with a rust-like appearance developed to eliminate the need for painting.  

More affordable housing constructed by non-UCSF developers is in the works for the area known as Mission Bay South. It includes the development of 3,440 rental-housing units, of which approximately 1,150 of them (32 percent) will be affordable.