Upon entering Hillview Court Apartments (formerly Extended Stay America), one encounters a wide front lobby. Every day, a resident comes down to it to leave a fresh display of photos and flowers. These items serve as a warm welcome for anyone walking through the doors of 1000 Hillview Court. Touches like these go a long way toward bringing some warmth to the newly-transitioned property.

Hillview Court is unique in that it’s an affordable community, made possible by funding from the CARES Act. Last year, $846 million in funding was put toward California’s Project Homekey in an effort to help people without homes get off the street during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across California, nearly 100 buildings were purchased and converted into apartments to provide long-term housing for those experiencing homelessness.
Jamboree, the development company behind Hillview Court, has had projects like this one in the past. Those usually took 3-5 years to develop, from acquisition all the way to completed construction.
This one was different. With the State required to provide the funds by the end of 2020, Jamboree’s usual pre-development timeline was compressed to 90 days.
Since the Hillview Court property had recently served as an Extended Stay America hotel, the process to transition into studio apartments had not been particularly arduous.
“Homekey funds do come with certain benchmarks a developer must meet, such as achieving 50% occupancy by March. Jamboree will meet or exceed that requirement,” Jamboree’s Senior Director Roger Kinoshita told The Beat. “One of the compelling reasons to acquire Hillview Court is that the property was in excellent condition and would require little renovation in order to convert the hotel rooms into apartments for the new residents.”
In January of 2021, residents began moving into Milpitas’ Hillview Court community.
All apartments are fully furnished and thoroughly cleaned before residents arrive. Surfaces are cleaned and wiped down, and everything is sterilized.

Currently, Hillview Court is at 50% occupancy. Sixty-six households have moved into the property, which has a total of 134 studio apartments. Two of the apartments are for on-site staff.
The Hillview Court community has a Supportive Services team that is available to help households in a number of ways. The team provides information about services and programs, helps with accessing programs through referrals, and even coordinates on-site social and supportive services.
In the future, Jamboree’s Housing With Heart (HWH) service team will be providing residents with adult education services, leading workshops and events based around vocational skills such as resume building, interviewing, and budgeting; self-development objectives including anger management; health and wellness; and even recreational activities like cooking and arts and crafts.
Case managers are also on-site Monday through Friday.
“It’s been very smooth. Residents are loving it here. They’re happy, they’re transitioning in really well. And they’re grateful,” Jessie Hernandez, Portfolio Manager for FPI Management (which manages the property), told The Beat.
In September of 2020, when news of the Hillview Court project came about, some in Milpitas voiced their opposition, saying that it was unsafe to have unhoused residents in the area while citing concerns about alcoholism, mental health, and the potential for increased crime. The Milpitas City Council even contemplated filing a lawsuit against the State and County of Santa Clara for moving forward on the project without any input from the City. However, the Council eventually voted not to proceed with any litigation efforts. A group of community members then took up the task, trying to file their own lawsuit. But the judge shot down their attempts.
After contacting the Milpitas Police Department about whether or not crime statistics in the area have changed, The Beat received a breakdown of crimes that happened within a half-mile radius of the facility. This breakdown is from the department’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) list, which is based in major crimes that police departments voluntarily report to the federal government.
From December 1, 2019 to February 17, 2020, 15 crimes were reported within a quarter-mile radius of the property, which was a hotel at the time.

From December 1, 2020 to February 17, 2021, 9 crimes were reported within a quarter-mile radius of the property, which was turned into the Hillview Court Apartments in January.

Based on the data, crime has gone down in the area, although Acting Chief of Police Jared Hernandez said that the period is too short to identify any kind of trend.
Next month, Jamboree plans to build out the common areas on the ground floor. The lobby area, along with some first floor units, will be remodeled and redesigned into common area amenities for residents. In total, there will be over 4,000 square feet of new community rooms (which include counseling and group counseling rooms, a lounge area, and multipurpose room with a kitchen), along with case management and management offices.
All units at Hillview Court are expected to be filled by May or June of this year.
Thx for letting us know how things are going at the former Extended Stay. This is a great addition to our community and SCC. It shows how we can help those in need. Sounds like this housing is off to a great start.
As a resident of this new project, I can report that besides a few knuckleheads not aware of the opportunities placed in front of them, we have developed a decent addition to the Milpitas community.
Resident concerns in the surrounding area are overblown as crime has actually decreased. We look forward to continued support from our community. Please don’t be afraid to stop by and say hi. Paul Jamison
Good story and well reported, Rhoda. Looking forward to see how this housing trend helps the whole culture.
Already seeing panhandling outside the BevMo! and an increased homeless population creekside. Burglaries are up in the neighborhood as well. This project was bulldozed through without any local and city insight. If the state and county really wanted it to succeed, the community would have been involved instead of feeling left out. Locals in the area are pissed off and Governor Newsom is up for recall. It’s because of policies like this that people are fed up with his tenure as Governor (in addition to terrible vaccine rollout, keeping CA closed, massive wildfires, and now $31 million in unemployment insurance claim fraud). Milpitas is not San Francisco, people chose to live here because it isn’t a big city. Also, housing projects like this were tried in the 1980s. It didn’t work then, and it’s highly likely that it won’t work now.
Everyone hates the problem, but nobody wants to be part of the solution.
Chris, you hit it on the head.
You must be one of the locals who’s hating. You don’t know all the good it’s done for folks who need it. Like he said be a part of the solution. Tell us what you think you would have done during this pandemic
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I’m looking forward to seeing what they have done with the place. I’ve stayed there with my daughters and have an opportunity to leave you all my honest opinion, once I get settled in. Thank you
I’m currently waiting to be housed there. I have my voucher and I’m just waiting still homeless and wondering how long it’s gonna take me to get in there. ??
Instead of looking up crimes reports from a quarter mile radius, why don’t you look at the actual address. Then you can see crime has actually increased.
I hate this place it’s so bad here I want to be in a place where it’s respectful there’s people here that sell drugs get in to fights and no one cares the workers don’t care it feels like people are in jail and no one wants to help there’s a lot I can say but I’m not
Denise Moreno I like my home it’s better then the streets Praise God.