Quarterly Newsletter - Q2 2019

Donations Now Being Accepted for Salerno

Our next development, Salerno, is set to open next Fall at Nightmist and Sand Canyon Avenue, and it presents a tremendous opportunity for citizens and business to support our veteran, developmentally disabled and homeless neighbors.

We are inviting anyone with a stake in Irvine to join the cause and enrich this 80-family community with a tax-deductible donation of money and/or in-kind goods and services. Materials, equipment, appliances and furniture are just a few of the types of items that can be accepted by our non-profit, which has recently earned a 2019 Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. This is a golden opportunity – particularly for local businesses with strong Irvine roots.

Practically speaking, tax deductions from working with a nonprofit can provide businesses and individuals with sizeable savings. There is also an important return on investment for addressing workforce housing and homelessness – affordable housing has been demonstrated to enable destitute families to become financially self-sufficient and contribute greatly to the community. Even more significantly, you’ll have a chance to show how much you care for the city’s future – and people are sure to take notice.

Are you ready to make a difference? Contact the Land Trust at info@irvineclt.org or visit our OC Nonprofit page at https://bit.ly/2USFNRp.

It’s been a busy quarter for our executive director, Mark Asturias, who has been out engaging with the community. Most recently, he was invited to speak to ICLT’s housing specialist peers at a workshop titled “Community Land Trusts: Scaling Lasting Affordability in Southern California.” Hosted by Citibank and Grounded Solutions Network, the conference highlighted the great potential land trusts have for solving the Golden State’s ever-growing affordable housing needs.

If you are interested in having Mark speak with your community organization about ICLT and its unique solutions to affordable housing, please contact us at info@irvineclt.org.

Our next affordable housing development, Salerno, is coming to Nightmist and Sand Canyon Avenue in the Fall of 2020. This beautiful community will include 80 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, and will come with a suite of amenities offering a high standard of living. If you or someone you know wants to be a Salerno resident, the interest list is open at www.irvineclt.org/interest-list.
 
Important: Depending on the level of demand, Salerno’s initial residents may be chosen by a lottery of names taken from the interest list. This system is used to ensure fairness, with no priority given regardless of further communications. After the first residents have moved in, everyone else will automatically be included on a first-come-first-served waiting list.

We are pleased to welcome Anthony Kuo, the newly appointed Irvine Mayor Pro Tem, as the latest addition to the ICLT Board of Directors. Anthony was elected to the City Council in 2018 and had previously served on the city’s Task Force on Housing Needs for the Developmentally Disabled and the Ad Hoc Committee on Veterans Affordable Housing. Drawing on his experience, firm roots and connections in the community, Anthony will be an enormous help in continuing the Land Trust’s mission of ensuring the city’s vulnerable populations can safely and proudly call Irvine their home.

Even more fresh faces are coming soon – nominations recently closed on two more board positions, with the successful candidates set to join the board in the coming quarter.

Creating and maintaining affordable housing communities is complicated work to begin with, and legal changes can make it significantly harder or – potentially – greatly speed it along. We’re fortunate enough to have a legal updraft on the horizon in the form of SB-196.

This important bill has an upcoming hearing among the California legislature set for May 1. If approved, the measure would grant a state tax exemption to properties being developed by land trusts. This would remove a considerable financial hurdle and allow the ICLT to develop new communities much more quickly and effectively. Timely work is also incentivized by the bill, which demands all exempted taxes be paid in full if the property in question isn’t completed within five years.