Carlsbad will celebrate the opening of its newest affordable housing complex Tuesday, the 93-unit Pacific Wind Apartments in the city’s Barrio neighborhood.
Pacific Winds has been in the works for more than 12 years and survived a lawsuit filed by residents who objected to the size and layout of the three-story complex. A legal settlement in 2018 reduced the number of apartments by six.
Completion of the project shows a commitment by the city and developers to “deliver much-needed, high-quality affordable housing amidst ever-changing public sentiment, as well as shifting political priorities and funding sources,” said Rochelle Mills, president and CEO of Innovative Housing Opportunities.
“We are grateful to have so many champions that supported the project and helped get it across the finish line,” Mills said in a news release.
The apartment complex is on Sydney Way along the west side of Interstate 5, at the southern end of Harding Street and a block north of Tamarack Avenue. The homes previously on the property were duplexes built in the 1950s, and many were in poor repair. They were demolished to clear the site for construction.
The apartments are fully leased and will be home to more than 300 residents, according to the news release. To qualify, tenants must make between 30 percent and 60 percent of the area median income, which is $119,500 for a family of four.
Innovative Housing was formed in 1976 to build affordable housing in Orange County and has completed residential and mixed-use projects throughout California. The company’s partner for Pacific Wind, C&C Development, is also based in Orange County and builds and rehabilitates affordable housing.
“We are proud of the city of Carlsbad’s commitment to developing affordable housing and our role in assisting them in achieving their goal,” said Todd Cottle, principal with C&C Development, in the release.
The developers received a $7.4 million loan from the city in 2012 to purchase the lots for the site. Also, the city agreed to close more than half a block of Harding Street and dedicate that property to the project.
Originally the developers planned to build as many as 140 apartments, but they were unable to buy all the lots needed for that.
Pacific Wind is about one block south of one of the two buildings in Windsor Pointe, an affordable housing development with 50 apartments that opened two years ago on Harding Street and nearby Oak Avenue. Since then, Barrio residents, upset about frequent reports of crime and disturbances, have pushed for changes at Windsor Pointe.
City officials asked for tighter security at Windsor Pointe and some changes have been made, but complaints persist. Carlsbad Mayor Keith Blackburn said in March that, if he had expected the trouble, he would have voted no with the City Council approved the project in 2017.
Windsor Pointe is a different type of housing, though. Part of its construction financing was obtained in 2019 from San Diego County’s No Place Like Home program, which requires the apartments to accept mentally ill tenants. Pacific Wind did not receive No Place Like Home funding.
Also on Harding Street in the Barrio is Tavarua Senior Apartments, a 50-unit, all-affordable complex for residents 55 years and older, and there is other subsidized affordable housing in the Barrio. Another seniors-only, all-affordable complex has 75 apartments a few blocks away on Tyler Street.
Some Barrio residents feel like their neighborhood has become a dumping ground for affordable housing projects, said Denis Jensen, one of the leading opponents of Windsor Pointe.
“I take issue with the logic and motivation behind these types of Carlsbad decisions,” Jensen said in an email Thursday.
“The physical structure (of Pacific Wind Apartments) is an improvement on the dilapidated block that it replaced,” he said. “But the neighborhood concern is that, instead of Carlsbad taking care of its own … social workers from all over the county may be sending their low-income residents here.”
However, while some categories of applicants can be given preference, such as veterans, state law says tenants cannot be restricted to applicants from any specific city.
Another concern Jensen raised is that Carlsbad seems to be building a majority of its affordable housing in its traditionally Hispanic downtown Barrio neighborhood, one of the oldest areas of the city.
However, every new development in the city is required to include at least 15 percent affordable housing. And their location is largely dictated by the market.
One of Carlsbad’s largest all-affordable complexes, Villa Loma on Tabria Terrace, has 344 one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments in the newer, upscale Aviara neighborhood near the intersection of El Camino Real and Poinsettia Lane.
Pacific Wind has five two- and three-story buildings, two play areas, a community building, clubhouse, and a multi-purpose room with a kitchen and learning center. It’s within walking distance of Jefferson Elementary School.
Funding for the $56 million project was provided by the Bank of America, the nonprofit National Equity Fund, the California Municipal Finance Authority, the city of Carlsbad and federal tax credits, according to the news release.
Mills, Cottle, Blackburn and Carlsbad Director of Housing and Homeless Services Amanda Mills are scheduled to speak at Tuesday’s grand opening.
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