SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The first of 11 residential developments on excess county land opened Thursday, with elected leaders dedicating the Levant Senior Cottages community in San Diego's Linda Vista neighborhood.
Wakeland Housing and Development built the Linda Vista affordable housing development as part of a partnership with the county and San Diego Kind for vulnerable seniors. Levant has 126 affordable homes, according to a statement from the developer.
"I'm not going to call it an apartment. I'm calling it a home. I can't believe the quality of it," said Earl, a cancer survivor who will receive rental assistance from the San Diego Housing Commission. "I have a place here I can be proud of -- a place where I can put up my children's pictures. I can decorate. There's actually room to put a TV, which I haven't had in some time."
The complex is 4.5 acres featuring a mix of single-story cottage-style bungalows and apartment homes in two-story buildings with elevator service for older residents' easy access. The homes are surrounded by courtyard gardens and feature a communal kitchen and computer lab, along with a small dog park.
According to Wakeland, at least 20% of the units will be affordable to seniors 55 and older with 50% or less of the Area Median Income. The remaining units will be affordable to seniors with 60% or less of the AMI. The units include 32 set aside for seniors identified as frail whose income is extremely low.
Rents range from $603 to $1,206 per month and will not exceed 30% of a resident's income, according to Wakeland.
"We must be honest about the crisis our region is facing and decide when enough is enough," said County Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe. "Today, we are seeing the very first property to open doors on land offered by the county through an initiative to use excess county sites to develop affordable housing. This also a first step for many more positive projects to come.
"We know that we must do more -- we don't have a choice -- we must do more to alleviate the housing burdens for all the people in our region," she said.
Levant Senior Cottages was built on land owned by the county and leased to the development for $1 per year for 70 years. The site formerly housed a county child welfare center and later became an empty lot.
SDHC awarded 70 rental housing vouchers to Levant, which is fully leased, to assist residents with their rent. The housing vouchers are tied to the development. When a resident moves on, the voucher remains with the unit to help another senior.
"The blueprint to help us address this crisis is collaboratives like this one," said SDHC Board Chair Eugene Mitchell said. "The collaborative -- as part of the blueprint for success that will allow us as a community, as a city, to truly address this crisis -- must continue."
The housing commission also authorized $22.9 million in tax-exempt Housing Authority Multifamily Housing Revenue Bonds and $19.7 million in taxable bonds toward the financing for the development. Levant also was funded $19 million from the California Department of Housing and Community Development's Multifamily Housing Program.
Residents will begin moving into the development in several weeks.
The Wakeland and county partnership has two other developments in the works -- part of a San Diego County initiative to repurpose excess land as affordable housing -- including two adjacent properties in the Grantville area that will create a combined 334 affordable homes for families and seniors and a complex for seniors in Ramona.
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