From Hotel to Housing, a New Project Aims to Help Keep Seniors Off the Streets

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SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO - Deb, a 64-year-old former chef who grew up in Redwood City, remembers when her life unraveled.

"Broken wrists and cooking just don't go hand in hand," she said.

Unable to work after a fall, the mother of three lost her housing and found herself sleeping on a park bench in the city where she was raised. "It was rough," she said.

"I've worked all my life, but I can't afford to live here," she added. "It's just not feasible on Social Security disability and EBT. It's not enough for somebody to live on."

Deb is now living temporarily at the County's Navigation Center, which provides support and short-term housing to people as they work toward finding an affordable and stable place to live.

Those options are set to expand by 45 units as work is under way to convert a former hotel in South San Francisco into permanent supportive housing for seniors age 62 and older, part of a broader push to create housing for a population increasingly at risk of homelessness.

More than a third of individuals experiencing homelessness in San Mateo County are 55 or older, and nearly one in five are 62 or older.

"Living the golden years has become a myth in San Mateo County because of the exorbitant cost of housing and living," San Mateo County Supervisor Jackie Speier said. "Converting this empty hotel into permanent housing and offering the services seniors need to live will be a dream come true for the seniors moving in at the end of this year."

The project is taking shape at a former four-story Ramada Inn along Airport Boulevard on the edge of South San Francisco's Old Town. Financed in part by Project Homekey - a state program that funds conversions of hotels and motels to permanent housing - it will become the County's fifth such project.

After purchasing the site in 2023, the County partnered with Episcopal Community Services to provide 24-hour staffing and individual case management to assist residents with benefits and other needs. ECS has also been meeting with Friends of Old Town, a neighborhood group, to keep them informed and address their concerns as the project moves forward.

ECS already operates other supportive housing sites for the County, including a Homekey-funded property in Redwood City that pairs affordable housing with on-site services to help residents stay housed.

"Our goal is not just to provide a roof over someone's head, but to create a place where seniors can age with dignity, be a part of a community, and remain securely housed for the long term," said Beth Stokes, Executive Director of ECS.

Neighbors say they see the need.

"Seniors are a population that often gets overlooked, so we were excited that the focus was on supporting them," said Old Town resident Dana Abarca, noting the County's high cost of living and spiraling rents. "A lot of seniors are one step away from being in that situation."

At the same time, some residents say they want to see clear benefits for the surrounding community. "If something like this is going to be here, we want it to also benefit the people who live here," said local resident Hermes Monzon, pointing to the potential for local hiring for maintenance, security and support roles.

Zak Franet, ECS' senior director of Strategy and External Affairs, said the neighborhood group will be notified when staffing begins so they can help circulate job postings. He also said ECS is working to address concerns about parking and traffic, noting that staff are expected to use an existing underground garage and that most residents are not expected to have cars.

With a new entryway planned at the rear of the property, members of Friends of Old Town said they increasingly see the project as turning a freeway-facing hotel into housing that connects more naturally to the neighborhood - including a nearby park now under construction. At the same time, discussions about the rear entrance are still ongoing, and neighbors and ECS say they have been working together to address remaining concerns about the loss of street parking.

To live at the new site, individuals must be referred through what's known as the Coordinated Entry System, a centralized process that assesses need and matches people to available housing. Residents typically pay about 30 percent of their monthly income toward rent, a standard model in supportive housing.

Each of the 45 studio units will include a kitchenette, allowing residents to prepare meals independently. The project will also feature shared laundry facilities, common areas and on-site case management.

County officials say converting existing hotels is significantly less expensive than building new housing from the ground up, with per-unit costs often hundreds of thousands of dollars lower.

That cost difference has become increasingly important as demand rises, particularly among older adults. The project comes as seniors have become the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population, according to research from UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative.

The need is reshaping the former hotel. On a recent tour, Franet showed a visitor lime-green hallways with worn carpets and opened doors into vacant rooms awaiting renovations. Out front, crews were installing a wheelchair ramp and other accessibility upgrades.

"These are buildings that already exist in the community," Franet said. "The goal is to move people indoors quickly, with the services and stability they need, instead of leaving properties empty or underused while the need keeps growing."

For Deb, there's no guarantee she will be among the seniors who move into the new development when it opens later this year.

She said she now receives about $1,800 a month - in a county where the fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,977.

"I keep looking into senior apartments, and then you look at them and they're $1,400," she said. "That would leave me $400 to live on, which is just not doable."

Sitting at a table at the Navigation Center, Christina Murillo, who grew up in South San Francisco, said that calculation is familiar to many older residents like herself.

"A lot of seniors do need housing," she said. "The rent is just out of this world. And people like us that are on a fixed income, it's very hard for us to pay rent, to buy our necessities, our food."

She worked for many years in a convalescent hospital, followed by warehouse jobs and logistics before her health failed her. She now uses a walker to get around.

Murillo said she was surprised by how many older adults she encountered at the Navigation Center, and how quickly ordinary lives can be upended. "It's scary for the elderly."

Like Deb, she is trying to find a way to stay in the area she has known her whole life.

"My hope is to get housing," she said, "and live my golden years without facing homelessness."

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