IRVINE : Low-Income Units for Housing OKd

The city has approved what will be the largest apartment complex for low-income residents in Orange County. Construction of the 382-unit complex on Harvard Avenue across from City Hall could begin as early as September.

The apartment complex would be built by the Irvine Co. and Bridge Housing Corp. of San Francisco, the nation’s largest nonprofit home builder. The goal of the complex is to have 134 to 150 of the apartments affordable to Orange County families on the lower half of the income scale, Bridge President I. Donald Turner said.

The reduced-rent apartments are meant to stop high housing costs “from breaking the backs of families” with limited income, Turner said. Estimated monthly rents for the least expensive apartments would be $523 for a one-bedroom, $588 for a two-bedroom and $653 for a three-bedroom unit.

Similar apartments in Irvine rent for about $400 a month higher.

“It is a wonderful project,” said Bob Pusavat, Orange County’s director of housing and redevelopment. The partnership between the Irvine Co., Bridge and the government agencies helping to finance the project aims to provide more housing for the county’s very-low-income families, he said.

The county’s housing authority is expected to loan Bridge $1.3 million at 4% interest for the project, Pusavat said. The city of Irvine will also give $700,000 in block grant funds for the project, and the developer is trying to secure a $28-million low-interest loan from the state.

The joint venture between the for-profit and nonprofit developers allows the reduced-interest loans on the condition that many apartments be made affordable to families earning half or less of the county’s median income. That level means a family of four earning a total income of about $26,000 could afford to live there.

For Orange County, the median income for a family of four is $52,200 a year.

If not enough low-cost financing is available, some of the apartments might be set aside for residents earning up to 80% of the median, said Benjamin H. Golvin, Bridge’s manager for the project. But as many lower-income units as possible will be provided, he said.

The Bridge partnership is a test case for the Irvine Co., said Rick Lamprecht, vice president of apartment development for Irvine Pacific, the company’s apartment division. The company wants to provide more affordable housing in large numbers but keep the same quaility of construction of other projects, he said.

Still to be settled, Lamprecht said, is whether the tax-exempt financing from the state and other sources is approved.