Amenities at the Cortez Hill Apartments will include bicycle storage, an outdoor courtyard with seating and shaded barbecue cooking area, a children’s play area, a laundry facility, a computer lab, and a community room for events and meetings
Amenities at the Cortez Hill Apartments will include bicycle storage, an outdoor courtyard with seating and shaded barbecue cooking area, a children’s play area, a laundry facility, a computer lab, and a community room for events and meetings

Community HousingWorks (CHW) is building long-term affordable apartments in downtown San Diego’s Cortez Hill neighborhood.

The new five-story building will be on a site that was previously used for transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness. The property had fallen into disrepair and was purchased by CHW to make way for permanent affordable housing for seniors, working families, and veterans.

Cortez Hill Apartments will feature 88 one- and two-bedroom apartments for residents making 30% or less of the area median income, which equates to $31,230 per year for a two-person household and $39,030 per year for a four-person household.

Fourteen apartments will be set aside for formerly homeless individuals who will receive specialized case management services. On-site resident services will be managed by People Assisting The Homeless (PATH).

Sean Spear
Sean Spear

“Here at Cortez, all of the residents would pay a manageable portion of their income—whatever it may be, with rental support from the [San Diego] Housing Commission making up the rest of the monthly rent,” said Sean Spear, CHW president and CEO. “Enriched with services provided by PATH, the goal here is to not just build a place of stability for these future residents but to make a special community where 88 households will start building their own stronger futures.”

The development is the nonprofit’s first all-electric project. As a pedestrian- and transit-friendly community in one of the city’s “transit priority areas,” the development will be CHW’s first to be built without on-site parking. Cortez Hill was recently nominated for a Circulate San Diego 2023 Momentum Award for Sustainable Growth.

Financing for the approximately $45 million project includes 4% low-income housing tax credits from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee; a bond allocation from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee; Home Investment Partnerships Program funds and project-based vouchers from the San Diego Housing Commission; and Permanent Local Housing Allocation funds from the city of San Diego. The investor is Raymond James Affordable Housing Investments, and the construction lender is Banner Bank.