LifeMoves Mountain View Recognized for Development Excellence in North America by Urban Land Institute

Mountain View, Calif. — The City of Mountain View and LifeMoves are proud recipients of the 2022 Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Americas Awards for Excellence, considered one of the real estate industry’s most competitive and prestigious award programs. ULI selected the LifeMoves Mountain View project as one of 10 winners from 68 entries across the North America.

The City partnered with LifeMoves, Silicon Valley’s largest provider of interim housing and supportive services for those experiencing homelessness, to develop and operate the supportive interim housing community located at 2566 Leghorn Street. The site opened in May 2021 and features private modular units for 100 households with beds for up to 124 people.

LifeMoves Mountain View was praised by Governor Gavin Newsom, emphasizing the development as one that needs to be replicated for solving homelessness in California. Unlike other State of California Homekey projects awarded in the first round of the State’s innovative program, this project was not a motel conversion but rather new construction that was custom designed from the ground up. In addition, the City and LifeMoves opened the site in an impressive development time frame of less than six months from the start of construction and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The success of this project catalyzed the development of several other interim housing communities in the second round of the State Homekey program.

“The development of LifeMoves Mountain View has been a game changer in finding more cost-effective approaches for addressing homelessness,” said Mayor Lucas Ramirez. “The City worked quickly to apply and successfully secure State Homekey funding and, within six months, we were able to replace a former car storage yard with shelter for unhoused individuals, couples, and families. We thank the Urban Land Institute for recognizing the City’s collaboration with LifeMoves to develop this innovative project that can be replicated elsewhere.”

“What we have proved we can do as a community is outstanding. Together, we have demonstrated that where there is the will, there is a way to work together quickly and effectively,” said LifeMoves CEO, Aubrey Merriman. “With the City of Mountain View, the County of Santa Clara, the State of California, local corporations, and philanthropic investors, LifeMoves Mountain View is providing safe, high-quality interim housing and services to dramatically address the suffering of our neighbors living on the streets. We are providing the support they need to sustain their independence and return to stable housing.”

The LifeMoves Mountain View model provides a cost-effective solution at $130,000/door for new, codecompliant construction. In comparison, motel conversion costs range between $250,000-$350,000/door and traditional housing construction can reach $750,000 or more per unit in Silicon Valley. Award-winning architect Charles Bloszies incorporated architectural features that cater to LifeMoves’ supportive services program model and promote privacy, dignity, and security. Design features such as individual housing units with ensuite bathrooms and private case management spaces were incorporated based on the feedback of individuals who have experienced homelessness.

Clients benefit from the atmosphere of an individual home, shared cooking and laundry facilities, pet accommodations, and other on-site services and activities that promote a sense of community. Additionally, 30% of the constructed space is allocated towards supportive services and designed to encourage active participation, promote well-being through tall ceilings, lots of natural daylight and open space, high quality sustainable materials, and tranquil areas for quiet reflection. There is also a children’s play area to support families as well as community gathering places. The community is located close to amenities with access to a grocery store, pharmacy and shopping plaza within a two-minute walk, together with numerous transit and employment opportunities.

The LifeMoves Mountain View interim housing community meets today’s stringent building codes; is seismically sound with a full sprinkler system and other life-safety features, fully accessible, environmentally friendly, and sustainable; and was built with longevity in mind. Innovative green building best practices, such as reusable and sustainable energy production and water management, help reduce energy and water consumption.

In addition to the City, the project is supported through financial contributions from the following partners: the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), the County of Santa Clara, philanthropies, and private sector donors including Google.org and LinkedIn. The site developers included Sares Regis and XL Construction. The following designers contributed to the project: Charles Bloszies Architecture & Structures, BKF Civil Engineers, ARUP (MEPF), and West Environmental Engineering.

The ULI awards program recognizes “truly superior development efforts in the private, public and nonprofit sectors.” The LifeMoves Mountain View project will now compete in the 2022 ULI Global Americas Awards for Excellence against projects from Europe and Asia. Winners of the Global Awards will be announced later this year.

For more information, visit LifeMoves.org/Homekey.

About the City of Mountain View
Located between the Santa Cruz Mountains and San Francisco Bay, Mountain View is a diverse community with an estimated population of 83,864. Mountain View covers just over 12 square miles, featuring over 1,000 acres of park and wildlife areas including the 750-acre wildlife and recreation area called Shoreline at Mountain View. In the heart of Silicon Valley, Mountain View is home to a vibrant downtown and headquarters to many nationally and internationally known corporations including Google, LinkedIn, Intuit and NASA Ames Research Center. For more information, visit MountainView.gov.

About LifeMoves
LifeMoves is the largest provider of interim housing and services for homelessness in Silicon Valley. With 26 shelter and service sites from Daly City to San José (our two newest sites are Mountain View and Half Moon Bay), LifeMoves gives our neighbors experiencing homelessness a temporary place to call home while providing intensive, customized case management through both site-based programs and community outreach. The case management teaches the skills that clients need in order to get back to and stay in stable housing and is often referred to as the LifeMoves “secret sauce.” 86% of families and 67% of individuals who engage in LifeMoves programs return to stable housing.

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WASHINGTON (July 12, 2022) — Ten developments from across North America have been selected as winners of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI)  2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence. Two additional projects from the United States received special mentions.

ULI began the Awards for Excellence program in 1979 to recognize superior development efforts in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. Winning projects represent the highest standards of achievement in the land use profession and encompass a wide range of land uses, sizes, investments, and geographic locations. The winners of the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence become finalists for the 2022 ULI Global Awards for Excellence, competing against projects from Europe and Asia. ULI will announce the winners of the Global Awards ahead of the organization’s Fall Meeting in October.

This year, 68 projects and programs from across the Americas region were submitted for the competition. From this impressive field, the 11-member jury composed of development, finance, planning, urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture experts selected 21 finalists. After speaking with the teams behind these projects and visiting all of them, the jury chose the 10 winners.

The public can view the winners, finalists, and submissions at the 2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence gallery.

The 2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence winners are:

• EPIC – Hollywood, Calif.
• Essex Crossing – New York
• Homekey LifeMoves | Mountain View – Mountain View, Calif.
• HopeWorks Station North – Everett, Wash.
• Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park – Edmonton, Alberta
• Meyer Memorial Trust Headquarters – Portland, Ore.
• PopCourts! – Chicago
• St. Pete Pier™ – St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Taylor Street Apartments and Little Italy Branch Library – Chicago
• Truax Lofts – San Diego

Two additional projects received special mentions:

• Helios Education Campus – Phoenix
• Monon Boulevard and Midtown Plaza – Carmel, Ind.

The awards are open to projects and programs in the ULI Americas region that are substantially complete, financially viable, and in stable operation. The program evaluates submissions on overall excellence, including achievements in marketplace acceptance, design, planning, technology, amenities, economic impact, management, community engagement, innovation, and sustainability, among others.

In addition to an open category, which recognizes all product types, the categories for this year’s awards included Equitable Development, Low-Carbon Development, Resilient Development, Small-Scale Development, and Urban Open Space.

The following projects received recognition in these categories:

• Equitable Development – Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park
• Equitable Development – Meyer Memorial Trust Headquarters
• Low-Carbon Development – HopeWorks Station North
• Small-Scale Development – Taylor Street Apartments and Little Italy Branch Library
• Small-Scale Development – Truax Lofts
• Urban Open Space – PopCourts!
• Urban Open Space – St. Pete Pier™

“I was humbled to work with such a committed group of jurors to select finalists who most clearly reflect the possibilities for shaping the physical environment,” said Marilynn Davis, senior advisor at HR&A Advisors in Atlanta and chair of the 2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence jury. “Our horizons have grown for having participated in this exercise and for having seen how these projects have transformed cities and lives.”

In addition to Davis, the 2022 ULI Americas Awards for Excellence jury members are Andy Bush, founder and managing partner, Morgan Creek Ventures, Boulder, Colo.; David Crabtree, founder and principal, HiveWorkshop, Orlando, Fla.; Doug Craig, vice president, RVi Planning + Landscape Architecture, Phoenix; Andrew Garrett, senior principal, Real Estate, IMCO, Toronto, Ontario; Jane Jenkins, president and CEO, Downtown Oklahoma City Partnership, Oklahoma City; Leroy Moore, senior vice president and COO, Tampa Housing Authority, Tampa, Fla.; Paul Morris, nonprofit executive, Atlanta; Sara Queen, managing director and head of real estate equity, MetLife Investment Management, New York; Ben Tranel, principal, Gensler, San Francisco; and Xiao Zheng, principal, SWA Group, Laguna Beach, Calif.

The Awards for Excellence program is the centerpiece of ULI’s efforts to identify and promote best practices in all types of real estate development. For more information about the ULI Americas Awards for Excellence, visit uli.org/aae. For more information about the ULI Global Awards for Excellence, visit uli.org/gae.

For more information, contact media@uli.org.

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 About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has more than 45,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines. For more information on ULI, please visit uli.org, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.