Since 2017, the Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA) has been trying to build affordable housing at 2205 Mission, on the corner of 18th and Mission. If all goes well, according to MEDA, construction of 63 apartments designated for teachers could start by the end of the year.
If President Donald Trump successfully freezes millions of dollars in federal funds, though, the timeline could be longer.
The building on the site was most recently a 99 cent store, and has been a vacant eyesore for years. The facade is an example of Streamline Moderne design but has fallen on hard times — earlier renderings of the proposed building featured a reconstruction of the original design, but that hasn’t survived more recent iterations.
MEDA bought the lot in 2017 from a former Facebook executive who owned several buildings in the Mission District.
At the time, MEDA hoped to create a mix of commercial space and below-market rate condos, with Dance Mission and a Head Start program on the first two floors and an additional six floors of housing above.
In summer 2023, MEDA finally secured the $12 million it needed to build the project via funds raised by Proposition I and dispersed by the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development. All of the apartments were meant to house those earning between 40 to 140 percent of area median income, which was then between $40,350 and $141,200 for individuals, and between $57,650 and $201,750 for a family of four.
MEDA was hoping to get the remaining funding through the New Market Tax Credits program, a federal financing tool for affordable housing through the Department of the Treasury, but then the area median income in the Mission District changed and made its project ineligible. MEDA then changed tactics, and applied for $15 million in funds from the Environmental Protection Agency in November, via the EPA’s Community Change Grant, a $2 billion investment made possible by Congress in 2022 through the Inflation Reduction Act.
MEDA is expecting a decision in the spring. If the funding comes through, construction could start between the last quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
In a statement, through its Region 9 spokesperson, the EPA said funds are now available.
“EPA worked expeditiously to enable payment accounts for Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) and Inflation Reduction Act grant recipients, so funding is now accessible to all recipients,” read the statement.
Warren Ritter, associate director of housing development and production at MEDA, called the statement “a good indication.”
“If awarded, we will work with the EPA to get the funds disbursed to the project as quickly as possible,” he added, while still expressing “concern” about federal funding: President Trump tried to block millions in grants managed by the EPA last month, after all, even though the funds were already approved by Congress. His move was blocked by two federal judges.
If the funding still doesn’t come through, MEDA is working with city agencies on a Plan B, Ritter said.
Anne Stanley, the communications manager at the Mayor’s Office of Housing, said MEDA could start applying for other sources of money as early as summer. “Our staff is working closely with MEDA to aggressively target funds to close this deal if they are unsuccessful in the last funding round.”
District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder, for her part, called on the city to find alternative ways to fund the project.
“There’s such a strong need for affordable housing and yet no political will among elected leaders to tax the wealthiest to fund it. I look forward to continuing to support MEDA with trying to move this critical project forward,” said Fielder.
