Edes Avenue Community Apartments transforms a former hotel, which served as an emergency shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic, into permanent supportive housing for individuals experiencing homelessness. Financed through California’s Homekey program, the project converts existing hotel rooms into efficiency apartments and reimagines auxiliary spaces as a communal kitchen, community room, food pantry, meeting rooms, and supportive service offices. Beyond the change of use, the building was renovated to improve accessibility, resolve water intrusion damage, and replace systems at the end of their service life. The site was fully occupied throughout construction, requiring careful phasing, thoughtful relocation of staff and residents, and close coordination between the operations team and contractors.
The design centers on dignity, access to services, and ease of daily life. Corridor wayfinding helps residents orient themselves and move through the building with confidence, while the unit interiors are finished to feel like home. In a project type where physical and financial constraints are significant, these moves reflect a commitment to treating supportive housing as housing first, and as a place where residents can stabilize, heal, and eventually thrive.
