'Horror show’ hotel transformed into home for veterans

'Horror show’ hotel transformed into home for veterans
San Francisco Gate
By John Coté
September 23, 2014

Four years ago it was described as San Francisco’s worst SRO and a “horror show.” Now, after almost $10 million in renovations, the former Stanford Hotel on Kearny Street is about to give 130 veterans something many have lacked for years: a home.

San Francisco is preparing to lease the former single-room-occupancy hotel for about $2 million a year for at least 10 years to provide housing for the city’s most desperate homeless veterans. About 73 percent of the costs are to be covered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The project, known as 250 Kearny, represents a sizable piece of the city’s effort to end homelessness for veterans by the end of 2015, a challenge that President Obama issued to the nation’s mayors in June.

“This project will place San Francisco within reach of meeting that ambitious goal,” said Mayor Ed Lee.

“This is the largest number of homeless veterans housed at a single time ever in San Francisco.”
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