Affordable Housing, & Homelessness Prevention
John and Sue believe stable housing is the foundation for dignity, health, and opportunity. When people have a safe place to call home, they can begin to rebuild their lives. Guided by this “Housing First” approach, they have invested deeply in both immediate relief and long-term pathways to housing security. Whether interim solutions that offer people a dignified place to stay temporarily, or innovative developments that provide lasting, affordable homes, John and Sue view their commitments as a responsibility to their community and a reflection of their shared humanity.
Since 2015, John has served on the board of Destination: Home, and been an ardent voice of support, helping drive its collective impact model to end and prevent homelessness in Santa Clara County. He and Sue were also instrumental in championing the County’s landmark $950 million affordable housing bond in 2016, rallying public and private partners around a bold vision of housing stability.
And in 2024, they put $10M in personal resources (alongside the Sobrato Family Foundation’s $20M) into The Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund’s new $50M Housing Accelerator Fund. It champions strategies to significantly speed up the creation of affordable homes in the Bay Area, providing favorable loans to projects that can deliver affordable homes much more quickly and cost-effectively. The pilot fund supports at least four projects, serving 400 households — double the number of people housed compared to traditional methods. Nearly half of the homes will be reserved for formerly homeless or extremely low-income households.
Our region has the resources to meet its housing crisis, but it requires a collaborative effort. In this spirit of partnership, we are proud to anchor the Bay Area Housing Innovation Fund as part of our family’s and our company’s philanthropic efforts to support increasing affordable housing.
John A. Sobrato
Real estate is their wheelhouse, and John and Sue have put that expertise to work for the community. With investments in Casa Sobrato at the St. Francis Center, and the Immanuel-Sobrato Permanent Supportive Housing project with land-provider Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of San Jose, to early support for transitional housing in Gilroy and Santa Clara — John and Sue have directly helped thousands of families regain stability and hope.
Beyond bricks and mortar, John and Sue have helped pioneer models that accelerate construction timelines and lower costs in one of the nation’s most expensive housing markets. Read below how they’ve also strengthened the entire ecosystem of care — from interim housing that serves as a humane stopgap, to frontline outreach, supportive services, food security, and cross-sector coordination that unites public, private, and nonprofit actors around lasting solutions.
