Filmed in NOPA: "Inside Looking Out" Video for Community Housing Partnership

The Zygmundt-Arendt House for formerly homeless seniors -- located in the North Panhandle at the intersection of Broderick and Golden Gate -- serves as the site for "Inside Looking Out," a sweet bit of mini-story-telling about homelessness in the city. The 30-second commercial headlines the Community Housing Partnership's (CHP) new YouTube channel.

CHP is a San Francisco-based non-profit with a record of developing effective models for reducing homelessness. In a press release today, Gail Gilman, CHP executive director, said she hopes the video will increase awareness about homelessness and highlight effective solutions to "one of our country's most troubling issues." CHP encourages viewers to share the new video with friends and become more engaged with solutions to homelessness.

The Zygmundt-Arendt House is CHP's newest facility with 47 units in a new building at the former site of Florence Crittenton Services. BIKE NOPA covered its open house in June. The Arendt House also holds the distinction of being the greenest, most sustainable building in the neighborhood. With its bay windows and articulated exterior, the three and four story structure also serves as an excellent example of contextual design reflecting features of neighborhood architecture.

Seen While Walking: Sidewalk Safety Repair

Tree roots buckled this sidewalk of Baker at Fell but no longer

The North Panhandle's mature trees often buckle the sidewalks, creating hazards for the unwary or distracted stroller. One property owner on Baker Street at Fell decided to not risk liability for injuries and replaced the concrete surrounding two of the large street trees fronting the building.

It's always an improvement to have smoother, safer sidewalks, but the neighborhood would benefit from more permeable sidewalks to absorb storm water runoff. Using the sidewalk replacement in these photos as examples, several feet on either side of the trees could have been opened for additional planting or filled with loose materials instead. One recent example of a new formulation for sidewalks can be seen at the Zygmunt Arendt House at Broderick and Golden Gate (previously reported here). A residential model of open sidewalk space is in place at Broderick and Hayes.

Friends of the Urban Forest (FUF) will be sponsoring a street-tree planting in NOPA on July 31st, and all the new trees will be welcome. Property owners will get the benefit of a subsidy to cover cutting and removing the concrete for the new trees and for the trees, but the city currently levies an additional fee for anyone who wants enlarged basins. A fee waiver here could greatly increase green space and return rainwater to the aquifer at relatively small cost.

Jean Green, New NOPA Neighbor and Zygmunt Arendt House Resident: Now She Has "Peace and Empowerment"

Jean Green, 6th person and 1st woman to move into new Arendt House

Bioswale, garden and patio all ready for Grand Opening

A green habitat for an environmentally green facility

"Today I'm celebrating. It's been 119 days since the day I moved here. I no longer have the stigma of homelessness. I have peace and empowerment." Jean Green is one of the North Panhandle's newest neighbors, and she couldn't be more pleased to have joined the community of formerly homeless seniors at the Zygmundt Arendt House at the corner of Golden Gate Avenue and Broderick Street. Thursday afternoon Green celebrated the Grand Opening of the Arendt House with a few hundred others, including Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, staff from the several city agencies, representatives from the contractors and funders, house residents, and neighbors.

Green's story exemplified the importance of providing affordable homes to those who need assistance. She told the other celebrants that she lost her home in 2007 and had to move into a homeless shelter. "I was born in San Francisco and I didn't want to leave the city, but I also didn't want to be in a shelter with so many troubled people." Only her resolve kept her going. "I tried to stay strong. I had to focus on keeping my health and my sanity." Just when Green believed she had no choice but to leave the city, she saw a notice for the Arendt House. She qualified and became the sixth resident and first woman to move into the facility. After the unsettling time at the shelter, Green said all she heard once she settled in was quiet. "It was so quiet, I could sleep, and I was so happy."

Green had another reason to celebrate on Thursday. She graduated from the desk clerk training program offered by the Community Housing Partnership, an owner of the Arendt House along with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. "Today I have hope and I'm optimistic."

At first several North Panhandle neighbors were hesitant, or outright opposed, to the idea of new housing for homeless seniors in the area. Some resisted the original modern architecture and design proposed for the building. Through negotiations with the owners and architects, a new design was developed that more readily reflected the scale and appearance of the surrounding buildings. Others objected to the high proportion of service agencies and supportive housing already existing in NOPA compared with other neighborhoods. And neighbors were reluctant about who the residents would be and how they would affect the existing community.

Doug Shoemaker of the Mayor's Office of Housing commended the North Panhandle for bring its concerns to the city and its willingness to find a solution. "The experience this neighborhood had in coming to accept this project is one we need to take to other neighborhoods." Supervisor Mirkarimi added to the sentiment. "This is a model for other neighborhoods on how to work with the city. It can work and we can be proud of the end product."

Today the Arendt House consists of an attractive exterior with references to the nearby Victorian and Edwardian structures. It provides individual studios, each with a full bathroom and kitchenette. The project includes a courtyard garden, landscape roof deck, and a community room. The complex also incorporates several green building elements including a rainwater retention system with a backyard bioswale and the neighborhood's most extensive permeable sidewalks along Broderick and Golden Gate, as reported here earlier.

The real selling points to a project like the Arendt House are the residents themselves. Michael Chao, Project Manager for CHP, told BIKE NOPA, "This is so rewarding, more than I expected, because the tenants tell us how happy they are to be here."

Scenes from the Grand Opening Thursday:

NOPA's Greenest, Most Sustainable Building With Its Cool Permeable Sidewalks

Zygmunt Arendt House

Golden Gate Avenue side with permeable landscaping and recycled granite

Broderick Street side, close-up, ready for landscaping

NOPA starts the New Year with the imminent opening of its newest and largest development and a first in the neighborhood to apply extensive green construction principles. The Zygmunt Arendt House is a 47 unit affordable housing project at 850 Broderick that anchors the intersection with Golden Gate and extends downhill nearly half way. Although the price tag for the privately-funded development is high at more than $16 million, the building exterior pleasantly recalls the nearby Victorian and Edwardian architecture and promises to enliven a long dormant corner of the neighborhood. Construction began more than a year ago and is expected to be completed early in 2010. The building features several sustainable, “green” enhancements including:

· An energy-efficient structure, or “envelope,” and mechanical systems

· Photo-voltaic rooftop panels

· Planter boxers and open sidewalk areas that retain storm water runoff

The Arent House benefits from the environmental standards set by the city in 2005 for new low-income housing. The green construction elements will establish the Arent House as the most sustainable and “greenest” building in NOPA.

Before focusing on one sustainable aspect of NOPA’s newest residential project – the impressive commitment to “permeable sidewalks” – let’s take a look at who our newest neighbors will be. The Zygmunt Arendt House will serve formerly homeless elders, providing them with on-site support services and skills training. The undertaking is a joint development project of the Community Housing Partnership (CHP) and the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation. CHP is a San Francisco-based non-profit with a clear focus on creating and implementing “solutions to homelessness,” and the organization has set ambitious goals for the Arent House:

• Ensure that 97% of clients retain permanent housing
• Help 75% of residents seeking jobs to find work
• Develop staff so 50% are former homeless people

Project staff is committed to being good North Panhandle neighbors as well. Several members introduced themselves and briefly described their work at last November’s meeting of the North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA).

Stop by the construction site of the Arendt House now to watch the installation of NOPA’s largest expanse of concrete-free, permeable sidewalks. These cut-out areas along the Broderick and Grove sides of the building drain stormwater run-off and reduce the burden on San Francisco’s water treatment plants. They also create much-needed open spaces for trees and plants along our streets and sidewalks. Even covering the concrete-free spaces with loose stones or other natural or man-made materials opens the soil to air and water.

Other than the skinny sidewalks of Divisadero Street, NOPA is fortunate to have many broad pedestrian stretches especially along its north-south streets. Most of these could easily accommodate their own permeable segments, perhaps as extensions to existing cut-outs for new and existing street trees. Find out how to green your sidewalk at PlantSF and look for future BIKE NOPA posts on permeable sidewalks.

Seen While Biking: Crane In to Get Crane Out

Cranes have to help each other out, with a little assitance from human operators. On Saturday the largest crane seen in NOPA for years anchored itself down with massive blocks to pluck the working crane from the innards of the 3 story construction site at Golden Gate and Broderick streets. Traffic slowed for several hours while the one crane positioned itself and then dramatically lifted the folded, no-longer-needed-on-the-job crane to a waiting base. Visions of preying mantis and folded chryssalis came to mind.

The new development is the Zygmunt Arendt House, a 47 unit building designed to accomodate formerly homeless seniors. The Community Housing Partnership: Solutions to Homelessness teamed up with the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation to complete the project. Begun in late 2008, the Arendt House is expected to begin operations in early 2010.

A February 16, 2009 article in the Business Times by writer J.K. Dineen, described the affordable housing project further:

"The project is called Zygmunt Arendt House and is being named after a World War II refugee who left $6 million to the City and County of San Francisco. His will specified that 60 percent of his estate be used for the poor and needy and 40 percent for the neediest seniors. Some of that money paid for the land at 850 Broderick.

"When completed Zygmunt Arendt House will provide 47 studio apartments, each with a full bathroom and kitchenette. Five of the apartments will be fully accessible to persons with disabilities. The building will include a welcoming lobby; an outdoor courtyard garden and landscaped roof deck; a community room with a kitchen and dining areas; onsite laundry facilities; as well as offices for property management and social services."

This site was formerly home to Florence Crittenton Services, one of San Francisco's oldest social service agencies, that specialized in services for struggling families and unwed teen mothers.

In advance, welcome to NOPA, Arendt House!