San Francisco Opens Affordable Housing at Site of Former Haight Street McDonald’s
For Mona Hamilton, the opening of the affordable housing development at the edge of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood was a full-circle moment.
She used to sleep there, back when it was a McDonald’s. Now, it’s her new home.
‘It took a long time for me to get to a place like this,” she said Tuesday, speaking outside of the building. “Thirty years ago, I was out on the streets using, abusing myself, bouncing in and out of different hotels, trying to survive.”
Hamilton said she was surprised when she learned she won the lottery to live there.
“I’ve been struggling all my life to find me a permanent home. I have one now, and I’m truly, truly blessed.”
This week, 730 Stanyan St. celebrated its official grand opening, nine years — and four mayors — after the project began. All 160 units at the mixed-use complex are affordable — some studios in the building are priced at around $600 a month, and some three bedrooms for around $2,300. Of those units, 5% are reserved for families and transitional-aged youth who have experienced homelessness. The development was an accomplishment in a city where affordable housing is notoriously challenging to build, officials said, and where families often face long wait times for access to stable housing.
“Outreach, shelter, treatment, and services are essential, but those interventions must ultimately lead somewhere,” said Mike Levine, San Francisco’s executive director of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. “Projects like 730 Stanyon provide that destination, a safe, stable, and affordable home where a young person can build an independent future and where a family can put down roots and where residents can remain connected to their community.”
The ribbon-cutting featured refreshments, snacks and speeches from Mayor Daniel Lurie and former Mayor London Breed. The building was a joint effort between two San Francisco-based affordable housing advocacy groups, the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Chinatown Community Development Center.
According to Breed, she suggested the project to late-Mayor Ed Lee that the city purchase the McDonald’s, which opened in the 1960s, and turn it into affordable housing.
Lee died the same day that the city officially reached a deal to purchase the building for $15.5 million. In a statement to the San Francisco Examiner, Breed said it was “the last piece of legislation” the two discussed. The McDonald’s was demolished by 2020, and groundbreaking on the housing development began in 2023.
The city’s development team relied on California laws to fast-track housing paired with state “density bonus law incentives,” according to a city press release. This allowed the project to exceed the site’s 50‑foot height limit and deliver an eight‑story, 83‑foot building.
“Bureaucracy has stood in the way for far too long,” Lurie said, adding that his recently passed Family Zoning Plan will also add housing in the city.
According to San Francisco’s housing dashboard, there are currently 18,206 pending affordable housing developments. Over the past decade, 11,897 affordable housing developments have been created.
Residents of the complex were selected via a lottery system. The Garapovas, a Kurdish family with three generations living under one roof, were one of the lottery’s winners.
Gulnaz Garapova said she entered the city’s affordable housing lottery in 2017.
“It’s a very beautiful place. Clean. Nice views. A lot of sunshine,” Garapova said as her mother prepared bersagh, a traditional Kurdish pastry.
The family’s new three-bedroom apartment has large windows showcasing views of Twin Peaks, Golden Gate Park and Zion Skate Plaza. Garapova said it’s the nicest place she’s ever lived in.
On the same day of the apartment building’s opening, ground broke on another affordable housing project on Market Street that will provide 94 homes for artists.
While housing advocates speaking at the event said the project was a win, Lurie said he believes that there is more to be done to bring more housing to San Francisco.
“We still have work to do. I’m not where we want to be. We need to move faster,” he said.