New low-income senior apartments coming to Huntington Beach
Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley has seen the importance of affordable housing for seniors in her own family. She had a 95-year-old grandmother and 75-year-old mom who both needed to find housing after their respective spouses passed away.
A new development soon to take shape in Huntington Beach, nestled away on an “L”-shaped vacant lot off of Beach Boulevard, offers a possible solution for situations like these.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Wednesday morning for the affordable housing development, which has a working name of Huntington Beach Seniors. Irvine-based Jamboree Housing Corp. is managing the property in a joint venture with USA Properties Fund, in partnership with the city, county and the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
According to Jamboree officials, Huntington Beach Seniors, located at 18431 Beach Blvd. near Five Points and behind Allen Tire Co., will be a four-story apartment complex with 43 one-bedroom homes for seniors. The majority of the homes, 33, will be permanent supportive housing for seniors experiencing homelessness.
Project-based vouchers will be provided by the county. Residents will pay a portion of the rent based on household site and income level.
Nine of the apartments will serve low-income seniors, and there will also be a full-time case manager and part-time supportive services coordinator on site. Additionally, there will be 3,800-square feet of community space and a 2,300-square foot outdoor courtyard and small pet park.
“It’s super-important that we continue to find these infill sites, and that the county continue to invest,” Foley said. “We have an unprecedented amount of funding coming from the state and federal government right now, and we need to just get it out into the community and get housing built where appropriate … These 43 units are going to provide much-needed housing. It will make a small dent, but I think it will be a model that we can use in other places.”
Jamboree President and CEO Laura Archuleta said her nonprofit organization has a good relationship with the city of Huntington Beach. In 2007, Jamboree partnered with the city to convert and renovate 19 homes in the Oak View community to serve low-income families.
Four years later, Jamboree acquired and renovated Emerald Cove, a 164-unit apartment community off of Talbert Avenue.
“We know that there is quite a bit of demand for senior housing in Orange County, specifically here in Huntington Beach,” Archuleta said. “There’s a lot of single-family homes here, people raise their kids and they want to stay in the community. By building senior housing, it allows them the opportunity to sell their home and move into something else. This property specifically is for folks at the very-low income range.”
The recently completed 2022 Orange County Point in Time count found 718 seniors experiencing homelessness, up from 612 three years earlier and contrasting the overall decrease in homelessness found.
Total development costs for the .78-acre Huntington Beach Seniors complex, slated to open in October 2023, are nearly $31 million. U.S. Bank has a large stake, providing $23.8 million in construction financing and $13.3 million in tax credit equity.
Architecture Design Collaborative is the architect, while Quality Development and Construction, Inc. is the general contractor.
Special guests at Wednesday’s ceremony included Foley, Huntington Beach Mayor Barbara Delgleize and City Council members Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton. Jack Du, representing Supervisor Andrew Do, also spoke.
As Huntington Beach skews older — according to the Office on Aging Orange County Area Plan for 2020-2024, Surf City has the second-highest number of residents aged 65 or older in the county — Delgleize said developments like Huntington Beach Seniors become more important.
“What I’m seeing in the community myself is that a lot of people are retired,” Delgleize said. “If they lose their spouse, they sometimes — not always — end up in a giant house by themselves. They close all the doors except the family room and live downstairs. One of the things that’s wonderful about a community such as this is the people. I think this is a way to help them not feel so alone.”
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