More than 2,600. Over 5,000.
The first figure is the number of affordable housing units that the County will fund by 2025 as a result of recent funding initiatives. The second total is how many San Diegans will occupy those units and enjoy a stable place to live.
Some of the new units are partially funded by the County’s Innovative Housing Trust Fund, a $50 million investment that is actively being used to build more affordable housing to help decrease homelessness in the region.
On Oct. 14, the County Board of Supervisors voted to allow the second phase of the Innovative Housing Initiative to move forward and fund the construction of four additional affordable housing complexes. The board also accepted an update on two additional developments funded through the state’s No Place Like Home program. In some cases, the two funding sources are used on the same development.
The six projects will be built in the following cities and generate 675 affordable housing units: four in the City of San Diego, one in Carlsbad, one in Vista. The initial phase of trust fund spending went to six developments that have recently opened, are under construction or in the pre-planning stage. These will generate more than 450 units that will go to: • Families experiencing homelessness; • Veterans experiencing homelessness and with special needs; • Seniors and older adults with extremely low incomes; • People with developmental disabilities; • People with mental illness or a history of substance abuse; • Domestic violence survivors. With additional phases, the Trust Fund investment, when paired with other state and federal funding sources, is expected to create a total of more than 1,500 units. These homes will remain as affordable housing units for a minimum of 99 years.
The County has also identified five excess properties that are suitable for development that will include about 800 affordable, multifamily residential units. The state’s No Place Like Home program will add hundreds more units. Together, those sources will provide for more than 2,600 new units in the region over the next five years.
Additionally, the County spends more than $100 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds every year to help local residents with housing subsidies. About 10,400 households and over 24,000 people each month receive housing subsidies through the County’s Public Housing Authority.
Together with the Veterans Administration, the County also provides monthly rental assistance to more than 500 veterans and their families through the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing.