The Miraflores apartment community, an affordable housing project in the city of Anaheim, will be completed in September.Anaheim has received $3.5 million to help create Orange County’s first city housing trust fund that will fill in funding gaps for affordable housing projects to help bring them over the finish line. The federal funding will also be used to apply for other grants and research on how to build affordable housing faster and more cost effectively.
The federal funding will also be used to apply for other grants and research on how to build affordable housing faster and more cost effectively. Adding to the federal seed money will be $30 million that the Disneyland CorporationAnaheim’s city council must now decide who will serve on the board and manage the fund. Unlike cities like Irvine that run their housing programs as nonprofits, Anaheim intends to have the trust fund run as a city organization.
The average Social Security monthly income is just over $1,700, but the average rent for a studio apartment in Anaheim is close to $2,000, according to city officials.In April, city leaders debated the merits of creating a housing trust fund with a goal of increasing affordable housing options., the city had been working toward goals in the Affordable Housing Strategic Plan.
The new trust fund can be used not just for building affordable housing, but for creating programs to assist in homeownership and programs to prevent eviction. Mayor Ashley Aitken called the trust fund “another tool in our toolkit that makes sure that grants that we are receiving, partnerships with our business community that want to support our effort are being directed to Anaheim residents for projects built in Anaheim.