Mid-City Senior Affordable Housing Development Gets Nearly $4 Million Boost from City
City's New Affordable Housing Program Gaining Momentum; Growing List of Projects in Pipeline

SAN DIEGO, CA - The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency this week approved funding of $3.8 million for the Talmadge Senior Village development, a mixed-use development incorporating 90 units of affordable housing in the Talmadge neighborhood. This decision marks the second project to be funded by the new Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program, which was developed by a collaboration of the City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency and the San Diego Housing Commission.

The proposed three-story Talmadge Senior Village mixed-use project, which is within the City Heights Redevelopment Project Area boundaries, will replace a converted motel at 5252 El Cajon Boulevard. The new development will offer 91 housing units, 90 of which would be rented for 55 years at rates affordable to very low income senior citizens. The remaining unit is reserved for an on-site manager. Also included in the project are 3,362 square feet of commercial space to front on El Cajon Boulevard, a 618 square feet leasing office, a 1,573 square feet community activity room and 91 underground parking spaces.

Eligible seniors must be earning from between 30% to 50% of the Area Median Income. For example, in 2003 figures, a single person could earn between $13,400 and $22,330, or for a family of two, between $15,312 and $25,520. Rents for the units will range from $337 to $576 monthly, depending on percentage of Area Median Income earned.

"We know that senior citizens on fixed and low incomes are struggling seriously in the current San Diego housing market," stated Deputy Mayor Toni Atkins, whose Third District includes Talmadge. "This project is critical, and like the 96-unit senior's Renaissance project in North Park, the Talmadge Senior Village brings us one step closer to easing this burden on some of our most vulnerable citizens. I intend to push for support of more projects like this one in District Three and elsewhere in the City. This is the first investment that we have seen on the eastern stretch of El Cajon Boulevard in the City Heights Project Area. It is a good project, and a good model for future investment."

In addition to the $3.8 million in Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program set-aside funds (from the City Heights, Horton Plaza and Centre City Redevelopment Project Areas), the development will be funded by private lenders. The developer has also applied for $1.5 million from the San Diego Housing Commission and will apply for critical federal tax credits. Ken-Tal Senior Partners, LP, a development team comprised of the Southern California Housing Development Corporation and the San Diego Community Housing Corporation, will construct Talmadge Senior Village. Once finalized, the project will be overseen by the City's Redevelopment Division within the Community and Economic Development Department. The City Redevelopment Division manages 10 redevelopment project areas, one of which is City Heights. The development could open as early as January of 2006.

"Obtaining funding from the City's Redevelopment Agency was critical for this development," said John Seymour, director of acquisitions and forward planning for the Southern California Housing Development Corporation, development partner of the Talmadge Senior Village development. "Our next big step is applying for federal tax credits so that we can proceed with this much-needed affordable housing development."

Developer interest is increasing in the City of San Diego's Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program, creating a growing list of proposed projects that will create more affordable housing opportunities for San Diego residents. In addition to the Talmadge Senior Village development, the Redevelopment Agency recently approved nearly $5.5 million for Lillian Place, a 74-unit affordable housing development located in Downtown and designed for families. There are six additional applications in the pipeline, representing 546 more affordable housing units throughout the City. These six projects are located in Banker's Hill, Barrio Logan (two projects), Chollas View, Downtown, and Uptown. If approved, these projects could receive redevelopment subsidies of more than $32.6 million combined.

"We are generating increased interest from developers and consider these subsidies to be a crucial tool to develop more units and help ease the affordable housing crisis in San Diego," said Hank Cunningham, director of the City's Community and Economic Development Department and assistant executive director of the City's Redevelopment Agency.

The goal of the City's Redevelopment Affordable Housing Program is to increase the City's affordable housing inventory for very low- and low-income households, to assist people with moderate-income levels achieve homeownership and, on a case-by-case basis, to acquire and rehabilitate existing properties. Proposals may be for residential or mixed-use developments; housing that is all low-income or is mixed-income; multi- or single-family dwelling units or a combination thereof; and rental or for-sale units. The collaboration of the Redevelopment Agency (which includes the City's Redevelopment Division of the Community and Economic Development Department, the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation) and the San Diego Housing Commission was developed to combine resources to carry out the City's comprehensive affordable housing strategy. The first new units funded by this collaborative program could be available as early as 2005.

For information on leasing space and rental units for the Talmadge Senior Village, contact the Southern California Housing Development Corporation at (877) 273-RENT (7368). For more information about available affordable housing units citywide, contact the San Diego Housing Commission at (619) 231-9400 or visit www.sdhc.net. For more information about the Redevelopment Agency Affordable Housing Program, contact the City's Community and Economic Development Department at (619) 533-4233 or email AffordableHousingNOFA@sandiego.gov. Additional affordable housing information is available on the City's web site at www.sandiego.gov (type "affordable housing" in the search field).

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The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency eliminates blight from designated areas, as well as achieves the goals of development, reconstruction and rehabilitation of residential, commercial, industrial, and retail districts. Redevelopment is one of the most effective ways to breathe new life into deteriorated areas plagued by social, physical, environmental or economic conditions that act as a barrier to new investment by private enterprise. The City of San Diego Redevelopment Agency consists of three divisions: the City Redevelopment Division (housed in the City of San Diego Community and Economic Development Department), the Centre City Development Corporation and the Southeastern Economic Development Corporation.