Mutual Housing at Fairview Terrace
Mutual Housing California
Recipient
Sacramento, CA
Recipient Location
8th
Senate District
6th
Assembly District
Active
Project Status
Project Update
This project kicked-off in 2024 as a Phase II award to implement and construct the design concept developed during the Phase I project (EPC-21-027). When completed, the Mutual Housing at Fairview Terrace Project will both provide the community in Stockton with critically needed services and implement emerging technologies to provide this disadvantaged neighborhood with access to a sustainable, energy-efficient building. The robust community outreach and research completed led to a development design that includes a 76-unit facility with one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and studio residences; a services and management office; indoor and outdoor bicycle storage; tenant space; a resilient cooling center; community kitchen; courtyard; shared gathering space; urban agriculture; electric vehicle charging; meandering outdoor walkways; community art; a place to learn; and outdoor recreation. By considering the history of this place, the team was able to foster a design that is a catalyst for progress.
In 2024 the project team focused on securing the remaining financing necessary for the full construction of the mixed-use development. The project secured a development loans from the City of Stockton and private financing sources. The project will also be applying for low-income housing tax credits in early 2025. In parallel, the project team is also updating and finalizing the design concepts developed during Phase I in precreation for construction.
The Issue
Climate change and housing affordability present two of the most significant challenges facing California. The deadly and destructive fires of the past few years, as well as findings from California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, have highlighted the dire impacts expected from climate change on California if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically reduced. To avoid the most severe impacts of climate change, California has set aggressive policy goals to decarbonize its energy sector by 2045. Building decarbonization – primarily achieved through energy efficiency, onsite renewable generation and storage, and full end-use electrification – is a key strategy for realizing the state’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A number of California’s local governments are already pursuing ordinances that would require all new and existing buildings to be zero-emission by 2030 and 2050, respectively.
At the same time California is moving to decarbonize its building stock, the state also faces a housing affordability crisis in which over 50 percent of households cannot afford to live in the area where they work. The lack of affordable housing options close to city centers has pushed new residential development outwards, escalating housing and living costs. A report by Center for Neighborhood Technology found that affordable communities in metro areas shrink when both housing and transportation costs are considered.
Project Innovation
Mutual Housing at Fairview Terrace will be an urban infill, mixed-use development located in the long-underserved Fairview Terrace neighborhood in south Stockton. The project will be an all-electric, zero net energy four-story building that will include 76 permanently affordable apartments for senior citizens and complementary ground floor community-serving uses including a commercial space for a local community nonprofit. It will incorporate emerging technologies as well energy and building features now considered standard for zero-emission design. The project will include many elements from Mutual Housing’s Zero-Net-Energy Spring Lake project and Basis of Design, including occupant engagement driven elements such as energy education monitors and interactive technology platforms to help residents track their energy use in real time. Mutual Housing at Fairview Terrace will be developed, owned, and operated by a partnership comprised of Mutual Housing California, a 30+ year old nonprofit affordable housing developer headquartered in Sacramento, and Stocktonians Taking Action To Neutralize Drugs (STAND), a local grassroots community-based organization that has been working to stabilize the neighborhood through violence prevention and resident engagement since its founding in 1991.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This Agreement will result in the ratepayer benefits by incorporating passive, active, and interactive emerging technologies into a zero-emission mixed-use development. Passive emerging technologies such as green screens and invert window shading will help cool the building. Active emerging technologies such as IcarusRT solar optimization, on-site PV, Model Predictive Control, Heatpump HVAC units, and vertical solar panels increase on-site energy production and reduce reliance on the grid, therefore directly reducing resident utility costs and improving reliability through the creation of a self-sufficient microgrid.
Affordability
The project supports developers in making more informed choices, lowering the possibility of unexpected costs during construction. Additionally, when built, the development could lower costs with energy efficiency measures, onsite renewable energy, and energy storage technologies that will help offset the building owner and tenant energy bills.
Equity
The project provides all-electric, energy efficient, and grid-reliability innovations to income-qualified tenants.
Reliability
The project will help increase greater electricity reliability by providing reductions in daily peak demand through on-site renewable energy coupled with energy storage. Additionally, microgrid control technologies will provide power for Tier 1 critical loads during power shutoff events.
Key Project Members
Revati Rajwade
Cheryl McMurtry
Subrecipients
Community Energy Labs, Inc.
ARCHITECTURAL NEXUS, INC.
Engineering Enterprise
Castle Gate Engineering
Cunningham Engineering Corporation
