Chula Vista will provide $4 million to developers to build an affordable housing project and more than $500,000 in services that officials say will help protect people from homelessness.
City council approved the $4.55 million plan for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which began this month, at its July 16 meeting.
Of the total amount, $4 million will be allocated to financing low-cost housing.
City Councilman Alonso Gonzalez said he would like to see middle-income households added to the mix because “we don’t have a lot of projects that target that income level.”
The funds were allocated from the city’s Low- and Moderate-Income Housing Asset Fund. The money can be used in a number of ways, including to develop affordable housing and homelessness prevention and rapid rehousing services. The asset fund was created to receive and spend income from the real estate assets of the former redevelopment agency, which was dissolved along with all state redevelopment agencies in 2012. Real estate assets include land or property acquired for affordable housing and interest-bearing loans that have not yet been repaid. As of June 2023, for example, the city had $25 million in outstanding balances from loans to nonprofits and real estate developers.
According to a city staff report, the city plans to issue a notice of funding availability by the end of the summer. Developers can get preliminary information on the city’s website. Stacey Kurz, director of the housing and homeless services department, said the $4 million will be made available for a single project.
Alan Curry, a Chula Vista resident, said the amount is too high and that some of the $4 million would be better spent on building or rehabilitating a building to serve as a homeless shelter, given the city’s limited beds. Chula Vista has a bridge shelter with 65 pallet homes and is renovating a 30-room motel into full-service apartments for the homeless.
“You’re still not solving the most important problem that people want to solve: people living in tents,” he said. “Even if the Supreme Court says, ‘Yes, you can get rid of the homeless,’ but no, the right thing to do is provide shelter.”
The remaining $550,000 will be distributed as follows:
- $300,000 for administrative costs, which the city says include contract extensions and compliance services.
- $200,000 for its homelessness prevention program. It was created to help people facing eviction by paying up to six months of unpaid rent and late fees. The city said it plans to help up to 30 households. As of June 2023, more than 20 households have benefited from the government program.
- $50,000 for its Landlord Incentive Program. It aims to help people who were previously homeless, had no rental history and no creditworthiness. The program offers landlords rental incentives of $2,500 for accepting a tenant who was previously homeless, security deposits worth up to two months’ rent, payment of application and credit check fees, and a contingency fund of up to $5,000 per unit to cover damages.
Originally published:
California Daily Newspapers
