San Jose Builds More Unaffordable Housing
4th November 2026
Construction is about to begin on 220 “affordable” apartments that average 635 square feet but whose construction will cost $900,000 each. Called Gateway Towers, the project will cost $197.8 million and the apartments will be available to people who earn up to 70 percent of median incomes.
Median income for a four-person household in San Jose is $205,500, so that means that people who earn $144,000 a year will be eligible to apply for housing built with taxpayer subsidies from the rest of the country where median household incomes are less than $88,000. Isn’t it wonderful to live in a country where people cheerfully pay higher taxes to subsidize the housing of others who earn 64 percent more income than they do?
Gateway Tower is so important for San Jose that the city council overrode the recommendations of the city’s Historic Landmark Commission and allowed the builder to demolish parts of historic Herrold College, an early electronics engineering school. Don’t worry: the developer promises to include a “permanent historic display” somewhere in the building.