The city of Coronado is planning to purchase a pair of apartment complexes at 349-363 D Ave. as a boost to the community’s affordable housing inventory.
At a City Council meeting on Dec. 2, staff requested $1.8 million from the affordable housing in-lieu fund and around $4.2 million from the city’s general fund to pay for the property.
The total cost of the apartment complexes is just under $6 million, working out to about $750,000 per unit, according to the staff report.
Coronado’s affordable housing in-lieu fund consists of dues received from developers of multi-family properties who choose not to set aside a percentage of units for low-income housing.
The decision to purchase the apartments was passed unanimously by the council, but Council member Mark Fleming expressed frustration with the housing expectations passed down by the state of California, calling them “ridiculous.” Council member Kelly Purvis agreed with him.
Both members voted in favor of the decision to purchase the property.
“We are using taxpayer dollars to do this, and that is to subsidize the cost of housing for people that can’t afford to live here in Coronado, so that they can afford to live here,” Fleming said.
The council member explained that in his past, he’d have to live in places that weren’t his ideal neighborhood or community because that was what he could afford at the time. Fleming said that he never felt he had a right to live someplace he couldn’t afford.
There’s plenty of affordable places to live in our country. There’s plenty of affordable places to live in California. Coronado doesn’t have to be one of them.
Council member Mark Fleming
“There’s plenty of affordable places to live in our country. There’s plenty of affordable places to live in California. Coronado doesn’t have to be one of them,” Fleming said.
Purvis said that she agreed with many of the points Fleming made, but that “the rules are the rules, and we have to do the best we can to meet the mandate of the state with affordable housing.”
Council member Amy Steward favored this decision and said that even her family could not have afforded their home on Coronado today if not for her husband purchasing it years ago.
She said that she thinks about the city’s first responders who don’t live on the island because they can’t afford to, and would love to have affordable housing for people like them — who work in Coronado but can’t live there.
Steward also suggested that the city do an intra-fund loan, meaning the city would use future affordable housing in-lieu fees to reimburse the general fund.
Coronado’s history with housing
Coronado has had a long history with its housing element, established to make sure the city meets required numbers for low-income housing. Last year, the allocation for cheaper units jumped from around 50 to just under 1,000, causing the city to have to find enough properties and land to accommodate the increase.
The city doesn’t technically have to build all 1,000 units, but needed to locate the space for those units. It would be up to the property owner to build affordable dwellings on their lots.
The complex at 349-363 D Ave. comprises two buildings, each with four 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom units of about 900 square feet. There is a detached building with garages for each unit, plus a laundry room and storage room.
The apartments are currently set at market rate and the city will decide at a future date when to turn the units into affordable housing.
