San Diego officials say they’re helping to solve the local housing crisis with a little-known “gap financing” program that has spurred nearly two dozen apartment complexes with more than 2,000 units across the city.
Launched four years ago, the program pools an array of funding sources from city, county, state and federal governments to help developers build projects that would otherwise not be financially feasible.
The results include 23 projects in nearly every corner of San Diego, from Rancho Bernardo in the north to San Ysidro in the south, and from Grantville in the east to Pacific Beach in the west.
While all the projects will include rent restrictions for low-income tenants, most will go beyond that to set aside units for military veterans, the formerly homeless or refugees.
Most of the complexes also include unusual amenities like on-site child care, smoking cessation classes, areas for on-site food cultivation, English classes, advice for job searches and help securing a high school diploma.
City officials have also begun making it a higher priority to locate the complexes in neighborhoods with strong resources like good jobs, recreational amenities, educational opportunities and access to transit.
Four of the 23 projects have already opened to residents and five more are under construction. And while the other 14 move toward anticipated groundbreakings, city officials want to add even more projects to the list.
Four additional projects – in Hillcrest, Grantville, downtown’s East Village and Redwood Village near San Diego State – are teed up for City Council approval early next year. They would add another 528 units to the current total of 2,108.
“It’s heartwarming to see so many buildings going up to help affordability,” Councilmember Jennifer Campbell said earlier this month when the four new projects were endorsed by the council’s economic development committee.
Councilmember Raul Campillo said financing for the projects is so complex, often including residual revenue from the city’s now-defunct redevelopment agency, that it’s remarkable the city has managed to get so many projects financed.
“We’re seeing all the layers of partnership that need to come together to actually make homes happen,” he said. “There’s a lot that gets in the way of getting construction done.”
Mayor Todd Gloria, whose staff came up with the idea in 2021 to blend together various funding streams to create a gap financing program, has called the program a major success.
“These investments not only create urgently needed homes — they provide stability for people who need it most,” Gloria said this month.
While Gloria concedes that solving the local housing crisis is a multi-pronged effort that needs far more solutions than gap financing, he said the program really matters.
“Our Bridge to Home initiative is succeeding in opening the doors to hundreds of new, affordable homes much more quickly and giving more San Diegans the opportunity to find housing in neighborhoods across the city,” he said. “This program is an integral component of our broader strategy to build more homes, bring down rents and lower the overall cost of living for San Diegans.”
Gloria has also stressed that most of the money couldn’t be spent on libraries, parks or other city priorities because it’s state and federal money restricted for use on housing.
The program, which Gloria has dubbed “Bridge to Home,” included $106.2 million during its first five phases and the 23 projects included in those phases.
A proposed sixth phase, which council members have endorsed, would add another $15 million. Each of the four projects in the new phase must be approved separately by the full City Council.
At a grand opening this month for the most recently completed project, the 100-unit Iris at San Ysidro on Dairy Mart Road, officials praised the location and amenities.
“This is what community-centered projects look like: housing, transit, open space, safety improvements and neighborhood investments all working together,” said City Councilmember Vivian Moreno, whose district includes San Ysidro.
The Iris is a half-mile from the Iris Avenue Transit Center, which is a stop on the trolley’s Blue Line and a hub for bus service. Also nearby are parks, schools, restaurants, churches and wellness facilities.
The Iris got $5 million in Bridge to Home money, which was combined with tax credits, bond money and some county financing.
Officials also touted their success in securing gap financing for Rose Creek Village, a complex of 59 studio apartments in Pacific Beach where crews broke ground in September.
“Every community in San Diego deserves to have housing that is affordable for residents to live in,” said Councilmember Kent Lee, chair of the council’s Land Use and Housing Committee. “We’re going to continue to fight for that to ensure that we continue to place housing next to the great jobs, the great schools, and the good transit that we have in our region.”
Eighteen of the units at Rose Creek Village, which received $4 million from Bridge to Home, are reserved for veterans experiencing homelessness.
Rose Creek Village is about a mile from the Balboa Avenue Transit Station on the Blue Line. It’s also near Mission Bay and is within walking distance from grocery stores, schools and restaurants.
A list of all the Bridge to Home projects is available on the city’s Bridge to Home website.