The former Homeless Youth Alliance headquarters at 1696 Haight is now up for lease. You might remember that HYA was evicted from the space in December 2013, at which point the space underwent a total seismic retrofit so that the upper floors could be turned into rent controlled apartments. A human services program was not allowed to continue operation during the work, which prompted HYA to go mobile.
For a year and three months, the building was covered in scaffolding, and if you walked by during the day, you could usually peek inside and see nothing but a rickety porta-potty and an excavated dirt pit. Now, the scaffolding is down, and the exterior of the space seems to be in a state of near-completion. The ground floor, as well as the newly-renovated upper units, are up for lease through the real estate company Cournale & Co.
The rental units upstairs are already out in the world, and you can see their listings here and here. The second floor is a 3-bedroom, 2-bath unit going for $4,800 per month with a $7,200 security deposit. The third floor is another 3-bedroom, 2-bath, and is going for $4,900 per month, with a security deposit of $7,350.
The retail space on the ground floor is listed at 1,771 square feet, and it's going for $11,000 per month, though no tenant has signed up as yet.
As for HYA, we reported back in December of 2014 that the homeless outreach organization had launched a capital campaign to try to secure a new space. The initial goal was $1 million to purchase a building, with an eventual goal of $5 million to keep the operation funded going forward.
Since December, the effort has raised $49,186, or about 5 percent of its goal. (You can still donate here.) As of this writing, they have not been successful in finding a new building in the Haight, the neighborhood where they'd like to remain.
