Irvine Affordable Housing Development to Offset Hot Housing Market

Irvine Affordable Housing Development to Offset Hot Housing Market
A property estimated at nearly $4 million is up for sale in Arcadia, Calif., on May 17, 2016. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)
Jack Bradley
1/29/2021
Updated:
2/1/2021

To meet a growing demand for housing in Orange County’s strong market, a new affordable housing development in Irvine is underway.

The Irvine Community Land Trust has almost completed its Salerno apartments, which are scheduled to open in March.

Located on the corner of Nightmist and Sand Canyon Avenue, the development will provide 80 units of affordable housing units for renters making no more than 50 percent of the area median income (AMI).

Half of these apartments will serve residents having extremely low income, veterans, individuals with developmental disabilities, and families in jeopardy of being homeless.

Residents have already begun moving into the apartments.

The Trust is opening an additional 68 townhome ownership units in January 2022 called Sage Park. It will be located north of Irvine Boulevard, will have 16 two-bedroom, 36 three-bedroom, and 16 four-bedroom homes.

The Irvine Community Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that partners with the city of Irvine, the land developer, the service provider, and the school district to create affordable housing.

Potential residents interested and qualified for the properties need to sign up on a lottery list basis until the homes are leased.

According to the California Association of Realtors, the median price for homes in Orange County last year was $950,000. The local housing market saw a year-over-year price increase of 13.1 percent.

Most of the Trust’s units will be limited to households making less than 80 to 120 percent of the AMI.