Doug Ford Community Apartments Holds Grand Opening 

Abode Housing Development was excited to join community partners and local stakeholders recently to celebrate the grand opening of Doug Ford Community Apartments — a new permanent supportive housing development for seniors.

Louis Chicoine, CEO of Abode Housing Development & Abode Property Management served as emcee of the ceremony at the housing site at 41191 Fremont Blvd.

The Feb. 7 event’s scheduled speakers included Fremont Mayor Lily Mei; Michelle Starratt, Director, Alameda County Housing and Community Development; and James Vossoughi, Executive Director, Community Development Banking at Chase.

Doug Ford Community Apartments provides 90 new units of permanent supportive housing on a 1.4-acre property in Fremont’s Irvington District. The housing community is available to people age 55 or older who are very low income and/or have experienced homelessness. The development has 81 one-bedroom units, and 9 two-bedroom homes. Residents’ amenities include a community room, activity room, tenant storage rooms, locked bicycle storage, large outdoor courtyard, and a covered rideshare waiting area. Laundry facilities are available on each floor. Abode Services, one of Abode’s family of agencies, provides on-site services.

Doug Ford is a longtime advocate for supportive housing who channeled his expertise and passion for fighting poverty to craft a lauded, enduring career dedicated to helping those in need. His many contributions have included serving as Abode Services board president, and as a board member for its maximum number of terms. Ford also joined Chicoine in co-founding the organization now known as Abode Housing Development, the area’s first anti-poverty housing developer and an agency that developed the housing site named after Ford.

“We are very excited to open this housing development because a home is the best solution for homelessness,” Chicoine said. “We also are celebrating Doug Ford, a longtime friend and dedicated partner in our mission to end homelessness and make our communities stronger.”

Abode Housing Development has partnered on this site with the City of Fremont, Alameda County Housing and Community Development, Alameda County Health Care Services Agency, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, Community Vision Capital and Consulting, California Department of Housing and Community Development, Enterprise, and Chase.