Situated a stone’s throw away from the upscale Santana Row and Westfield Valley Fair shopping centers, the celebrated Agrihood Sustainable Community was promised to provide low-income and homeless older adults with a dignified place to live — complete with an 1.5-acre urban farm for residents to grow their own vegetables.
Less than two years after its grand opening at 76 N. Winchester Blvd. in Santa Clara, residents haven’t been allowed to plant seeds or tend to the garden. Multiple older adult residents say they’ve experienced respiratory issues resulting in hospitalizations. Room accommodations for those with disabilities have been ignored, and last year a fire broke out on the third floor caused by an e-bike battery exploding after charging, according to a fire incident report. The aftermath has resulted in health issues, and repairs have been delayed.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” a resident who requested to use the name Sammy for privacy reasons told San José Spotlight.
Shortly after the October fire, Sammy said she began experiencing difficulty breathing. She said her service dog died in March due to respiratory failure. Sammy, who has a history of asthma, took herself to the hospital emergency room numerous times, and was hospitalized for multiple days in April. She was sent home with an oxygen tank.
“I thought I was going to die,” Sammy said, while wheezing. “I couldn’t walk two steps without feeling like I couldn’t breathe. It was scary.”
Residents showed San José Spotlight pictures of exposed walls on the third floor — where the fire started — and unfinished repairs. They said they feel harassed by the management firm, which controls their environment. One resident was written up for videotaping a maintenance worker, according to a letter reviewed by San José Spotlight, in which the action was described as “harassing” the worker. It’s also considered a violation of house rules. The resident, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, said they were attempting to film overflowing garbage bins and rats running around, and the maintenance worker wasn’t nearby.
A representative with John Stewart Company, which manages the building, did not respond to requests for comment on what work has been done since the fire about eight months ago. They referred all follow-up questions to the building’s owner, Core Affordable, LLC, which is under the umbrella of The Core Companies.
A spokesperson for The Core Companies told San José Spotlight property management is working to quickly repair the building from fire damage, but couldn’t provide specifics on what has been done.
Health issues persist
Multiple residents, who requested anonymity, said they’ve experienced health issues while living at Agrihood. A couple months ago, a resident sitting in the common area started having difficulty breathing. The resident said she felt a burning sensation in her eyes and incurred a headache. Another resident said she often wakes up violently coughing. She said her glands are swollen, something she didn’t have before moving into the complex.
“I’ve lived here for about a little over a year, but I’ve never felt this bad before, ever,” she told San José Spotlight.
One resident was hospitalized twice due to an inability to breathe and now gets oxygen through a tank. Having been homeless for more than a decade, they said they’re thankful to have a roof over their head, but fear living in these conditions will kill them.
“It scares the hell out of me that by staying here, I am going to get worse than I would have been in the streets,” they told San José Spotlight. “And I’ve lived in some really bad areas.”
After having persistent breathing issues, residents contacted Breathe California, a nonprofit that provides free indoor air assessments. Before assessors were permitted to conduct tests in the common area and in residents’ apartments, residents said management had maintenance workers remove all the air filters. San José Spotlight reviewed a photo of one resident’s air filter that was completely black.
The air quality assessment to Sammy’s apartment reviewed by San José Spotlight revealed the air quality was fair, just a notch above poor. But that hasn’t eased Sammy’s anxiety, who said the tightness in her chest persists. The Breathe California report recommended a new air filter be installed and for Sammy to regularly use a HEPA air purifier.
Sammy said the air duct in her apartment was finally replaced in May after asking management repeatedly and getting Santa Clara code enforcement involved. But others residents claim their air filters haven’t been replaced, including the other resident who said they were hospitalized because they couldn’t breathe.
Property Manager Sandra Corona, who works with the John Stewart Company, said air filters have been replaced.
“The air quality here was conducted by Breathe California, and there were no findings,” Corona told San José Spotlight.
The John Stewart Company wouldn’t share test results for the common areas with San José Spotlight, and a Breathe California representative said they couldn’t share any reports.
Range of complaints
Janine De la Vega, spokesperson for Santa Clara, said the city takes all complaints seriously and has worked to address numerous issues.
“Since Agrihood senior apartments began leasing in June 2023, Santa Clara code enforcement has conducted nine compliance reviews based on resident concerns involving a range of issues, from ADA accessibility to hoarding to fire,” De la Vega told San José Spotlight. “Compliance review of the property included dispatching code enforcement officers to inspect the property and meeting with management to discuss the specific areas of concern. Each complaint requires a response that is largely dependent on the type of complaint.”
Multiple residents have complained of seeing gnats and larvae in their apartments, and showed photos to San José Spotlight confirming that. Some said they saw larvae in their food. While pest control has come out to spray, residents including Sammy said the problem remains persistent and the remediation isn’t thorough.
“We’ve done pest control in her apartment numerous times,” Corona told San José Spotlight. “She is never ready when we give her notification.”
The John Stewart Company oversees 45 other affordable housing developments in the county, including The Kelsey, Villas on the Park, Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments and Quetzal Gardens. Residents living at Leigh Avenue Senior Apartments have experienced a plethora of problems, including getting charged $25 for spilling coffee on the floor. Disabled residents at Villas at the Park were left stranded for more than a week when elevators broke down and repairs were delayed.
Agrihood was developed by San Jose-based The Core Companies in collaboration with Farmscapes, an agricultural landscaping business in Oakland. Agrihood’s construction was funded by $23.5 million with Measure A, an affordable housing bond passed by Santa Clara County voters in 2016. An additional $15.7 million came from Santa Clara, and a grant of $50 million in tax-exempt bonds came from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee, which sets the state’s debt ceiling and oversees the state’s tax-exempt bond program.
The 165-apartment low-income senior development was lauded as an innovative project and a model for sustainable design. It won numerous awards, including the Structures Award given by the Silicon Valley Business Journal, recognizing it as the best new affordable housing development in the region.
But residents say the development wasn’t designed with older adults in mind, as there’s a limited number of apartments with safety features like handle bars in bathrooms.
“When you’re making affordable apartments, are we sacrificing livability?” one resident told San José Spotlight. “These are serious health and habitability issues. (Many things) were done to save money.”
Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.
