Carlsbad to build 50 apartments for homeless and low-income vets – The San Diego Union-Tribune

Carlsbad approved an additional $4 million this week to build 50 affordable apartments in the downtown Barrio neighborhood for homeless and low-income veterans, their families and homeless people with mental illness.

This is affordable housing done right, said John Nguyen-Cleary, a member of Carlsbads Housing Commission, to the Carlsbad City Council before its unanimous approval of the project Tuesday. It will lift people out of poverty and reduce recidivism.

The City Council approved $4.25 million in 2017 as a 55-year loan to buy property for the development at two separate sites, one on Harding Street and the other on Oak Avenue, both just west of Interstate 5. The developer, Affirmed Housing, has been working on construction financing since then, and has also secured a $10 million, zero-interest loan through San Diego Countys No Place Like Home program.

California voters in November 2018 approved funding for the No Place Like Home program, which helps develop permanent supportive housing for people who need mental health services and are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Some downtown residents have expressed concerns that the apartments will house people with severe mental illness.

Im not objecting to the project ... but I have questions about the severe mental illness, said one long-time Barrio homeowner.

If this were my neighborhood, I would share the same concerns, said Councilman Keith Blackburn. However, Affirmed officials assured the council and residents that there are programs in place to help the mentally ill.

Each of the two apartment buildings will have a live-in manager, with supportive services for occupants and oversight from multiple agencies. Applicants are assessed before they move in to determine whether they can live independently.

Its a housing team, said Heather Pollock, director of housing services for Affirmed. It will be a very robust group working together to ensure the stability of those residents.

Representatives of the agencies involved will work with the apartment residents and managers to monitor the needs of individual residents, including those with mental health issues. Residents with a bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, for example, could be treated with prescription medicines.

Construction could begin by the end of the year, said Jimmy Silverwood, executive vice president of Affirmed, the company that will develop, own and operate the housing.

In all, the development has an estimated total cost of $33 million, said David de Cordova, the citys principal planner, at the council meeting. That includes about $8.2 million to cover things such as the design and architecture of the buildings, and $5.7 million for capitalized reserves to help with the subsidized rents.

The cost of the project averages out to $663,000 per unit, de Cordova said, and the amount is reasonable compared to other developments in the area.

The public benefits include ... providing urgently needed housing to the most vulnerable, hard-to-house populations, de Cordova said. The project also helps Carlsbad meet its housing goals for extremely low and very low income households.

More than half the apartments would be studios, and the rest would have one, two or three bedrooms. Rents would range from $280 a month for a studio to $1,600 a month for three bedrooms.

Founded in 1992, Affirmed has built low-income housing projects in 45 communities across California, including the four-building, 56-apartment Cassia Heights completed in 2007 on Cassia Road just east of El Camino Real in Carlsbad.

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Carlsbad to build 50 apartments for homeless and low-income vets - The San Diego Union-Tribune