Costa Mesa to add much-needed senior housing
Andrew Glazer
COSTA MESA -- With seniors waiting as long as six years for affordable
housing, the manager of a soon-to-open apartment complex expects rooms to
fill immediately.
Early next month, 71 new studios -- designated for low- to very
low-income seniors, as defined by county housing standards -- will be
available. The apartments are at 2080 Newport Blvd., the former site of
the dilapidated Sea Breeze Motel.
“Every day, we have several seniors here asking for housing,” said Alan
Meyers, executive director of the Costa Mesa Senior Center. “There’s
nowhere for us to refer them to.”
The Newport Senior Village will help fill some of the city’s growing
demand for affordable housing. As property becomes more valuable in Costa
Mesa, a rising number of seniors with fixed incomes -- generated
primarily from Social Security -- are finding it increasingly difficult
to pay rent.
Half of the rooms in the new complex will be reserved for seniors who are
older than 62 with an annual income of less than $24,350, said apartment
manager Sharo Khastoo, of Prudential Property Management. The remaining
units will be open to seniors who earn less than $35,150 a year.
The Newport Senior Village will not receive subsidies from either the
city or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
But Khastoo said management would accept low-income housing vouchers
granted by the Orange County Housing Authority.
In 1998, the Planning Commission required the management group to reserve
housing for low- to very low-income seniors before it approved its
request to renovate the rundown motel.
“We’re glad to know there will be more housing for those who need it,”
said Judith Weatherspoon, an administrator at Bethel Towers in Costa
Mesa, an 18-story tower providing affordable housing for more than 290
seniors.
The towers, across the street from the senior center, have a six-year
waiting list for one-bedroom apartments, Weatherspoon said. Bethel Towers
managers still have more than 700 additional applications to sort
through.
FYI
For more information on the Newport Senior Village, call Prudential
Property Management at (949) 722-8104.
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