IRVINE : Crossing a Bridge to Low-Cost Housing
Before moving into a her brand-new apartment last month, Hayley Thomsen and her 4-year-old son yearned for a home they could call their own.
Over the past few years, they moved from place to place, living with a friend for a while and more recently staying with Thomsen’s mother in Fullerton.
“We kind of bounced around for a while,” said the single working mother. “We finally feel like this is stable.”
Thomsen’s new place is one of 173 dwellings at the San Paulo Apartments set aside for low-income renters. The new residents, who began moving into the just-completed 382-unit apartment complex last month, pay $500 to $600 a month for apartments that would normally rent for up to $1,000.
In the bargain, the renters become part of a community with good schools, parks aplenty and amenities like hot tubs and swimming pools that few thought they’d be able to afford.
“We love it here. We go to the pool and swim,” said Thomsen of the complex, situated off Harvard Avenue in the Westpark village. “It’s a very nice place to live.”
The affordable housing is the product of a partnership between the Irvine Co., which owned the land and built nearby developments in the Westpark village, and Bridge Housing Corp., a nonprofit company specializing in low-income developments.
The units are just one result of the city’s desire that 25% of most new housing developments be earmarked for affordable housing.
Officials from both Bridge and the Irvine Co. are quick to point out that the San Paulo apartments actually exceed the 25% mandate and provide about 40% of the units for low-income renters. The city plans to give the Irvine Co. “credit” for the extra low-cost units that it can use when building future developments.
“We actually showed that it is financially feasible not only to meet the city’s goal but to exceed it and (create) future affordable housing,” said Don Terner, president of the San Francisco-based Bridge Housing.
To make the project work, Bridge and the Irvine Co. each provided special expertise. Bridge secured tax credits and various federal and county grants to help finance low-income units, while the Irvine Co. found other sources of funding for the $30-million project, Terner said.
“The situation we had was a nonprofit agency teaming up with a profitable company that is credit-worthy,” he said. “It illustrates that the private and public sectors (must) work closely and cooperatively together.”
The demand for affordable housing is significant in Irvine, where there are three jobs for every housing unit; many people who work in the city simply can’t afford to live here.
More than 1,200 people applied for the 173 low-cost units at San Paulo. A lottery system was used to select the families who would be offered the units.
Eligibility for the units was based on family income. Most of the low-cost units required that the renters make less than 50% of Orange County’s median income, which for a family of four is $28,250, said Naomi Guth, Irvine’s acting senior planner.
