Alliance is Investing in the Housing Continuum

Alliance is now an active investor in the housing continuum in San Diego, including housing for the homeless, housing for low-income individuals and families, and workforce housing for the “missing middle.”

According to the recently released Affordable Housing Needs Report conducted by California Housing Partnership, 81% of extremely low-income households are paying more than half their income on housing costs. According to Freddie Mac, San Diego is the second most cost-burdened market in the United States, ahead of San Jose, San Francisco, and even New York City.  Renters in San Diego need to earn $36 per hour –2.6 times the City of San Diego minimum wage to afford the average monthly asking rent of $1,872. As one of the least affordable places to live in America, housing production has been massively under-paced with the rate of economic and population growth for decades. It is estimated that we need over 130,000 units of new affordable housing units to meet the current need. Housing is one of the primary social determinants of health, so it is critical that Alliance continue to grow as an active contributor to housing solutions.

“It’s not enough to support housing in just one silo of a broader continuum,” said Sarah Lyman, Executive Director, Alliance Healthcare Foundation. “As people are able to improve their financial situation, we need options for upward mobility. Due to a lack of alternative and attainable housing options, many families and individuals are unable to move out of traditional, limited affordable housing units, which adds enormous pressure to an already overburdened and limited supply.”

Importantly, each of our recent projects is positioned to disproportionately support people of color, recognizing the historic and systemic barriers to stable housing that have plagued these populations for generations.

The following three housing projects are in various stages of early development. We’ll update you periodically as projects progress. Here’s the most recent announcement:

Announced July 7, 2021: With a new collaborative investment, the area near Normal Heights and City Heights is one step closer to having more affordable housing. A hundred and ninety affordable housing units are planned for the nearly 20,000-square-foot piece of land next to the City Heights Transit Plaza, at the corner of El Cajon Boulevard and 40th Street.  Referred to as “Bridgedeck,” this is a collaboration between Bridgedeck Partners LLC, Mission Driven Finance, The San Diego Foundation and Alliance Healthcare Foundation.

“Recent regional housing needs assessments show a current estimated gap of roughly 70,000 units of low-income housing needed to meet demand. We need to be doing everything we can to catalyze more housing solutions. This project is one step in the right direction,” said Sarah Lyman, Executive Director, Alliance Healthcare Foundation. Read more here about the Bridgedeck project.

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