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Carlsbad Affordable Housing Project Covers Two Sites

A $30.7 million affordable senior housing development by Sabre Springs-based Affirmed Housing has opened in Carlsbad.

Built as two three-story buildings on separate but nearby sites in Carlsbad’s Barrio neighborhood, Windsor Pointe has 48 rental apartments and two manager’s apartments – one in each building.

The two buildings are about half-a-mile apart, said Marie Allen, senior project manager.

Although not unprecedented, the two-site makeup of Windsor Pointe is unusual and required special state approval for the project to qualify for tax credits as part of the financing.

“They had said that we couldn’t do a scattered site, new construction project,” Allen said. “We had to appeal that decision.”

The two sites are at 3618 Harding St. and 965 Oak St. with a 36,000-square-foot building at Harding Street and a 30,000-square-foot building at Oak Street.

Scaling Up

Affirmed Housing was looking for sites west of Interstate 5 but was unable to find a single site that was big enough so the company bought three lots in 2016, combining them to create the two nearby sites for Windsor Pointe.

Marie Allen
Senior Project Manager
Affirmed Housing

“The location is probably the most special thing about it,” Allen said. “Being west of the five is pretty special.”

Building a smaller project using just one of the sites wasn’t economically practical, Allen said. “It’s a matter of scale. We typically don’t build projects that are smaller just because it doesn’t make sense financially.”

The project targeted veterans and their families as tenants.

Half of the rental apartments have been earmarked for chronically homeless tenants who have been diagnosed with mental illness.

City Investment

Taken together, the two buildings that make up Windsor Pointe have 24 studio apartments, 17 one-bedroom apartments, and two three-bedroom apartments.

Monthly rents are pegged to income with the apartments meant for households with annual incomes ranging from 25% to 60% of the Area Median Income.

Studio apartment rents for range from $280 to $1,093 a month, one bedroom apartments for $427 to $1,530, and three-bedroom apartments for $719 to $1,762.

The studio apartments range from 422 square feet to 447 square feet, one-bedroom apartments range from 524 square feet to 644 square feet, and the three-bedroom apartments are 1,017 square feet.

Case management is provided by the county Behavioral Health Services.

All of the apartments have balconies and large windows, and the overall project was designed in a Spanish Revival style with red-tiled roofs, and arched windows and doorways to blend in with the neighborhood.

“On the third floor on a clear day, you can actually see the water,” Allen said.

Amenities include an indoor and outdoor community space, a parking garage, laundry rooms, and elevators in both buildings.

In addition to the tax credit funding, the City of Carlsbad provided $3.8 million in direct funding and an additional $4.5 million by buying the land from Affirmed Housing to acquire an ownership interest in Windsor Pointe, Allen said.

“Instead of just giving us cash, the city preferred to acquire the site,” Allen said.  “It was kind of a negotiation between Affirmed Housing and the city to make the project feasible and to kind of make sure the city wasn’t just throwing a lot of money at it.”

Other funding sources included Bank of the West, Raymond James, and the state No Place Like Home program, created in 2016 to provide up to $2 billion for the development of permanent supportive housing for people in need of mental health services who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

Affirmed Housing

FOUNDED: 1992
CEO: Jim Silverwood
President: Jimmy Silverwood
Headquarters: Sabre Springs
Employees: 28
Website:    www.affirmedhousing.com
Contact: 858-679-2828
Social impact:  The company supports the San Diego Housing Commission, the Boys & Girls Club, Compass for Affordable Housing and People Assisting the Homeless.
Notable: Since 1992, Affirmed Housing has financed more than $2.5 billion in affordable housing projects and has more than 5,500 apartments developed or under development in 70 communities.

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