Y
Eden Housing
A Model of
Affordable
Housing
Written By Larry J. Mickartz
The mission of Eden Housing
is to build and maintain
high quality, well-managed,
service-enhanced affordable
housing communities that
meet the diverse needs of
lower income families,
seniors, and persons
with disabilities.
78
ears ago, my friend, Dennis Lalor,
asked me to write an article on
Eden Housing. I’ve fi nally gotten
around to it. I wrote this article to honor
Dennis, who passed away in 2018, and
to recognize a phenomenal organization.
According to the Eden Housing
website, its mission is “to build and
maintain high quality, well-managed,
service-enhanced affordable housing
communities that meet the diverse
needs of lower income families, seniors,
and persons with disabilities.”
This is something of an under-
statement. Eden Housing has affordable
housing units spread all over California.
In all, there are more than 11,437 units
in 165 projects serving over 22,000
people. Maps show there are projects
in three counties in Southern California
and twelve counties in Northern
California. Locally there are eight
facilities in Morgan Hill and twelve
facilities in Gilroy.
South County Housing (SCH), the
local low-income housing developer,
was hit hard by the 2008-9 recession
and had to relinquish its holdings.
Dennis Lalor was the Director of
SCH and he managed the transition
of ownership of 41 of the local SCH
facilities to Eden Housing.
Eden Housing started in 1968 when
six volunteers got together to address
the lack of affordable housing in the
East Bay. Today, support and man-
agement of this multi-million dollar
nonprofit enterprise is headquartered
in Hayward. Despite being an “under
the radar” type of organization, Eden
Housing takes pride in their work and
has demonstrated how to do a difficult
job efficiently while remaining mission-
driven. The development firm serves
the needs of low-income residents,
seniors, the disabled and veterans.
Some indicators of the “spirit” of this
organization are that the San Francisco
Business Times/Silicon Valley Business
Journal recognized Eden Housing
as one of the “Best Places to Work”
(2012, 2015 to 2017) and one of the
“Healthiest Employers” ( 2012 to 2017).
On a national scale, Eden Housing is
ranked among the top 50 Affordable
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
june/july 2019
Housing Owners (2016) and the eight
largest nonprofit affordable housing
companies. Eden Housing has become
one of the most productive and
successful nonprofit affordable housing
developers in California.
To celebrate its 50th Anniversary,
the organization produced 50 Years
50 Stories in Review. Each story is a
compilation of pictures or a video
celebrating some of the people, events,
and happenings of Eden Housing.
Speaking of “spirit,” the President
of Eden Housing is a bundle of energy,
focus, and drive. Linda Mandolini has
served in this role for 16 years. She
communicates the mission of Eden
Housing with remarkable clarity and
direction. When asked why Eden
Housing has been so successful she
goes straight to the point: “We are in
it for the long haul.”
LINDA MANDOLINI, PRESIDENT
EDEN HOUSING
Mandolini has received numerous
recognitions and awards including
being inducted into the Alameda
County Women’s Hall of Fame in
2017. She also received the Affordable
Housing Management Association
(AHMA) Pioneer Award as well as
being named to the Bay Area's Most
Influential Women in Business on
gmhtoday.com