Luis Appreciates the Improvements at His Home, Ellis Gardens

Dated 12.1.2019

Thanks to you, we completed renovations on five buildings and transformed 700 homes in disrepair into brand new beautiful homes where over 800 people can thrive!

For the past five years, you’ve supported this renovation work, known as the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program. Designed by the late Mayor Ed Lee, RAD empowered TNDC and similar nonprofits to reimagine and rebuild public housing in San Francisco.   

Tenants living in these buildings have always valued their homes, but now, the homes are worthy of their tenants.

After losing his housing, Luis Castillo was thankful to find a home at Ellis Gardens in 2012 and immediately began volunteering across the street at the Boys and Girls Club in Boeddeker Park. His face glows with pride when he talks about his time there.

But his home, like the other RAD buildings, had a host of problems from broken floors to a lack of ADA options for its mostly senior tenants.

Only with your help, did Luis’ home start to reflect the same care he had for his community. Because of you, each home now has new cabinets, appliances, and flooring and the building itself has accessibility improvements, a new community room, and more!

“To see it before the renovations and to see it now, it’s so different,” said Luis. “Things have really improved. The tenants are all really happy with it.”

Because of you, Ellis Gardens is a place of comfort and joy. There are gardens in the front and back of the building and one wall has a Precita Eyes mural celebrating the Black community in the Tenderloin. Now, Luis describes his home as an extension of Boeddeker Park.

Through the RAD program, you have helped over 800 people—many who have faced and continue to face enormous obstacles to their basic human needs because of a legacy of discriminatory policies, such as redlining.

Your support is a reminder that when we invest in homes, we are really investing in people and their futures. Together, we are building more than shelter. We are building a place for people to feel welcome, supported, and valued.