The Crestview, a housing project in Mountain View that will convert a hotel into 48 affordable units for extremely low income individuals and families, will begin construction this spring and is slated to be completed by winter, project leaders announced at a recent community meeting.

The Jan. 18 meeting was hosted by the project developer, Jamboree Housing Corporation, a nonprofit organization devoted to building affordable housing, as well as the city of Mountain View and Santa Clara County. In addition to the project’s anticipated timeline, the meeting hosts provided updates on the project’s most-asked questions, including parking, security, how residents will be selected and concerns about crime.

Once construction is completed in winter 2023, the developer expects the project to be “100% leased up by the spring of 2024,” said Katherine McFadden, Jamboree’s senior director of Northern California for Jamboree.

“We can also share an exciting update with you since our last meeting: the (County) Office of Supportive Housing has purchased the property,” McFadden said.

The planned 49 units will include one manager unit, 34 studios, four one-bedrooms and 10 two-bedrooms.

“We are designing a project that will cater to the unique needs of The Crestview future residents,” McFadden said. “Currently, there are plans to have offices for counseling, a community room, a computer room, a laundry room, a barbecue area and an outdoor space for residents’ pets.”

McFadden also shared an update about parking, a concern that neighboring residents have voiced in the past.

“We also heard community concerns about parking, and were able to actually increase the parking ratio,” she said. “... The current proposal for the conversion plans is for 75 parking stalls for the 49 units. That is approximately 1.6 parking stalls for every one unit.”

Gene Hua, Jamboree’s senior director of asset management, fielded questions about who will be moving into The Crestview and how residents will be selected. He said depending on the type of resident, they’ll either be referred to the program by the County Office of Supportive Housing or the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

Currently, the plan is to reserve 13 units for transitional aged youth.

“These are young adults who are aging out of the foster care system,” Hua said. “These individuals will be referred to The Crestview through the Office of Supportive Housing.”

The project will also set aside seven rooms for formerly homeless individuals, who will also be referred by the Office of Supportive Housing, and then 28 rooms for people at risk of homelessness, who will be referred by the Santa Clara County Housing Authority.

In response to concerns about how residents will integrate into and interact with the surrounding neighborhoods, Hua said that “like any other apartment complex, residents must sign leases and adhere to community rules,” including quiet hours, no illegal drugs on site and rules around overnight visitors.

“Security is a big item, and I know that a lot of people had questions regarding this during the last meeting,” Hua added.

“Each Jamboree property has a site specific security plan based off of the type of population and environment that the property is located in.”

At The Crestview, he said, there will be a 24/7 onsite property manager and security presence, access-controlled entry and visitation protocols for non-residents.

Another resident who called into the meeting voiced concerns about crime increasing in the area once The Crestview opens. Natalie Reider, Jamboree senior vice president, said research suggests this is not the reality.

“University of California, Irvine, actually took on an effort to analyze crime, looking at data next to affordable housing and next to supportive housing, and have not found any significant increase in crime in any of these sites,” Reider said. “That’s just one study, and that study is very similar to other studies that have been done throughout other parts of the country.”

Hua added that if residents do commit crimes or act in other ways that violate their lease, “then we would enforce our rules and lease agreements with them, which means we would eventually evict them if they do that repeatedly or even once, because we don’t have a tolerance for that.”

Other people who spoke at the meeting were more concerned about what project leaders would do to ensure that The Crestview’s future residents aren’t harassed by people who live in surrounding neighborhoods.

“I think having that embedded service partners and services on site (helps) the residents so that they know they do have an avenue to voice any concerns that they have,” Reider answered. “So if a resident does feel like they’re being harassed by a neighbor, then we’d be able to support them and help them.”