Architect's rendering of Levant Senior Cottages  Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects

Affordable Housing Project in Linda Vista Begins

by San Diego Daily Transcript Staff
June 27, 2022

​SAN DIEGO - San Diego County officials and local developers broke ground Thursday on a 127-unit affordable housing complex in Linda Vista as the county works to transform surplus land into low-income housing.

The Levant Senior Cottages is being developed by Wakeland Housing and Development Corp. and San Diego Kind Corp. in conjunction with the county. The 4.57-acre site once housed a county child welfare services building but most recently has been sitting as an empty lot.

The developers will lease the land for a $1 a year and pay an annual $10,000 administrative payment to the county. The housing units will remain affordable for 70 years.

The San Diego Housing Commission provided 70 project-based vouchers. The state provided $23 million in tax credits and $19 million in Multifamily Housing Program funds.

Construction on the Levant Senior Cottages is scheduled for completion in early 2024.

"We are taking action, and doing everything within our authority to make more affordable housing available for working families and seniors," County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said. "By using available land in our inventory and providing it to developers at discounted price, it gives them the ability to build new housing more quickly without the hassle of finding the land and acquiring it, which can drive up the cost.

"Our approach at the county is a viable one, and we're working to get more government agencies to join us so we can build more hous­ing San Diegans can afford."

At least 20 percent of the units will be for seniors with 50 percent or less of the Area Median Income (AMI), and the remaining units will be for seniors with 60 percent or less of the AMI. There will be one manager's unit.
The independent living and senior housing units are expected to house 150 people.

''We are so excited about Levant Senior Cottages and the 126 affordable homes it will provide for our low-income seniors," Wakeland President and CEO Rebecca Louie said. "Senior homelessness has been increasing dramatically, and communities like this are the safety net we need to keep them stably housed and healthy."

It will be the first of eight surplus county properties to be turned into affordable housing. Since 2017, the county has invested $175 million toward creating affordable housing in the region.

"We look forward to future projects with the County of San Diego, and other agencies committed to this urgent need," said Jess D. Haro, vice president of the San Diego Kind Corp.