SAN DIEGO—High-quality affordable housing for lower-income residents of all levels is critical to San Diego's economic health and prosperity, but a shortage of state and local funding inhibits production, Affirmed Housing's senior project manager John Wurster tells GlobeSt.com. As we recently reported, Affirmed, in partnership with the San Diego Housing Commission, has broken ground on Cypress, a 63-unit affordable apartment complex in the East Village District of Downtown San Diego. We spoke exclusively with Wurster about the affordable-housing market in Downtown San Diego and what makes this particular project unique.
GlobeSt.com: How would you characterize the affordable-housing market in Downtown San Diego? Wurster: There is a great willingness and a very active effort to produce more affordable housing in Downtown San Diego. Though we are making progress, the lack of state and limited local funding make it difficult to produce the number of units truly needed.
GlobeSt.com: What will be unique about Cypress in this market?
Wurster: Cypress will not only provide a permanent home, coupled with intensive supportive services for some of San Diego's most vulnerable homeless population, but it will also be one of the first in the county to utilize the Coordinated Assessment and Housing Placement system for filling its units with individuals most appropriate for the services offered.
GlobeSt.com: Who is your target demographic renter for this project?
Wurster: Extremely low-income homeless individuals who are identified as most in need of permanent supportive services.
GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about affordable housing in San Diego?
Wurster: High-quality affordable housing for lower-income residents of all levels is critical to the region's economic health and prosperity. It's essential infrastructure that not only supports job growth, but also lowers housing costs for everyone by closing the extreme imbalance between supply and demand for all types of housing.
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Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
