As rents continue to climb in Oakland, a housing nonprofit will renovate an aging complex in the city’s Chinatown neighborhood and reserve all 33 of the building’s apartments for low-income residents.

The East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation (EBALDC) will rehab a three-story structure originally constructed in 1914 with a $4.8 million investment from the Housing for Health Fund, which is an $85 million collaboration among Enterprise Community Partners, Kaiser Permanente and JPMorgan Chase.

Located steps from the Lake Merritt BART station, the complex’s current low-income tenants will be allowed to remain in their homes as the work is done. Some upgrades to individual units will be performed as tenants decide to move.

“By purchasing existing buildings and stabilizing rents for low and very low-income residents, we can ensure that the diverse mixed-income neighborhoods that make Oakland special can continue to thrive,” said EBALDC CEO Josh Simon in a statement. “It takes many years to build new affordable housing and we must act quickly to stabilize the communities that exist today. If we do not continue to act now, the culture and creativity that we love here will be lost.”

According to a recent report from Rent Cafe, which analyzes rent trends, average rents in Oakland rose to $2,935 in January, up 5.7 percent from the year before. And a recent analysis of affordable apartments by the California Housing Partnership found that thousands of subsidized apartments are at risk of converting to market rates in the coming years.

Since it launched last year, the fund has put $23 million into preserving 582 homes in and around the Bay Area. Ultimately about half of the money will be spent in Oakland.

EBALDC’s Chinatown renovation will take place over about a decade, with some work beginning immediately. The property includes 10 studios, 15 one-bedroom units and eight two-bedroom apartments. As apartments become available, they will go to households earning 80 percent or less of the area median income — about $98,550 for a family of four in 2019.

“Homelessness and the lack of affordable housing are creating a public health crisis across the nation, particularly in the Bay Area,” Bechara Choucair, chief health officer for Kaiser, said in a statement. “Given our understanding that stable housing is fundamental to a person’s ability to achieve and maintain good health, we are thrilled to support the preservation of another affordable multifamily property in Oakland, improving lives and strengthening our community.”

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26-story housing highrise eyed in downtown San Jose As part of the work, residents of the building will be asked about their health needs and a public health worker will make recommendations for ways to improve their health and well-being.

“Affordable housing is critical to build thriving neighborhoods, yet the Bay Area’s tremendous growth has put this out of reach for too many residents,” Amy Wallace, vice president of global philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement. “HFHF investments, such as this apartment building in Oakland, will help ensure that more people can remain in their neighborhoods, participate in the local economy and benefit from the region’s growth.”