Poway gets more affordable housing

By: DARRYN BENNETT - Staff Writer
Road improvements part of the deal | Friday, March 21, 2008 10:08 PM PDT ∞

POWAY ---- City officials have agreed to loan a nonprofit organization $7.3 million to convert aging apartment buildings on Oak Knoll Road into homes for low- and very low-income residents.

Council members last week voted unanimously to loan redevelopment money to Community Housing Works, which already manages five affordable-housing developments in the city. The money will be used to buy and renovate the 52-unit Oak Knoll Villas apartment complex.

The first units should be renovated and tenant-ready by early next year, City Manager Rod Gould said Friday.

"This is positive for the whole neighborhood," he said. "The city is investing heavily in infrastructure in the area to create a nicer living standard."

Last year, the City Council approved a nearly $10 million capital improvement project for Oak Knoll Road. A sewer main is set to be replaced, and curbs, sidewalks and gutters will be added along sections of the road sometime this year.

Not everyone is a fan of the conversion. Residents at recent council meetings have argued, among other things, that crime increases when low-income families move into a neighborhood.

City officials counter that other affordable-housing developments in the city haven't led to a spike in crime and that the nonprofit organization is required to have on-site management and offer high levels of resident services, such as tutoring and after-school activities.

Moreover, Gould said, affordable-housing tenants make good neighbors because they have to pass stringent credit checks and can't have a history of eviction.

People who live in affordable-housing developments "aren't down-and-out derelicts, drunks and bums," he said.

Under the terms of the loan, the affordable-housing organization will repay the city over 55 years. Escrow is expected to close by April 1.

The two-bedroom units now rent for roughly $1,000 a month. After the renovation, tenants will have to meet income requirements to live in the complex and monthly rents will be reduced.

Community Housing Works rental guidelines for the complex will require a family of four to have an annual income of less than $47,700, and monthly rents will drop to between $746 and $903, depending on income.

City officials said they don't think that many current Oak Knoll renters will be forced to move because of the income guidelines. They added that no one will be "kicked out on the streets" because the nonprofit is obligated to pay to relocate any displaced tenants.

The Oak Knoll market-rate to affordable-housing conversion also brings the city one step closer to meeting a state affordable-housing goal, Gould said.

State law requires cities throughout California to zone enough land to accommodate its "fair share" of the housing that state officials have said will be needed for an ever-growing population.

The mandate covers all levels of housing, including that built for people with high, moderate, low and very low incomes.

Households with annual incomes that are 50 percent or less than the median income for the region fall into the very low-income category, while those with incomes of 51 percent to 80 percent of the median are considered low income.

In San Diego County, the median income is $63,400 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Contact staff writer Darryn Bennett at (760) 740-5420 or dmbennett@nctimes.com.

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