Quarterly Newsletter - Q3 2020

Qualifications Underway for Salerno

After opening to sign-ups from May 1 to July 15, the interest list for Salerno, our next affordable community, closed with an impressive 6,818 people aiming to be among the initial residents of the 80-unit apartments.

We’ve assigned every name on the list a number by holding a completely random lottery via computer – and we’re now starting outreach to begin the qualification process. Everyone on the list has been notified of their ranking, and later this year those near the top will have their qualifications checked and begin the application process.

Salerno includes 15 units for veterans, 10 for individuals with developmental disabilities and 10 for extremely low-income families. Those on the general interest list who fit these special circumstances will have a chance to be moved to a priority, first-come-first-served list for these units at a later date, which we will share as soon as it opens.

The property originally was set to open to residents in December, but construction delays resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed back the opening to the first quarter of 2021. We look forward to sharing Salerno with the community, and to continue weaving thread after thread into the ever-growing fabric of Irvine’s affordable housing.

While COVID-19 has slowed down many industries, the ICLT has continued tirelessly to provide high-quality affordable housing to Irvine.

Unfortunately, there’s another group that’s currently working overtime: thieves.

A burglar broke into our offices earlier this month and made off with all of our computers. Fortunately, our data is all backed up, and there’s no way for the culprit to access any confidential information. Still, it’s a shame to see such criminal acts being committed during these troubled times.

The computers will be replaced and all systems fully operational in time for our return to the office – a date for which is still undetermined. We’ve also added new security measures to our offices and continue our work unabated through our remote work-from-home solutions. Whether it’s a pandemic or a burglary, we refuse to let anything hamper our mission to make Irvine more affordable for the city’s most vulnerable populations.

We’re excited to share that, even as we put the final touches on Salerno, we’re already preparing to break ground on our next project, tentatively called Native Spring.

Set for construction north of Irvine Boulevard, this project will be the first affordable homeownership project in the ICLT portfolio – an exciting development for both us and our future residents.

The community will feature 16 two-bedroom homes, 36 three-bedroom homes and 16 four-bedroom homes, with sales prices estimated in the low four-hundred thousands. Qualifications for these homes, designed for Irvine residents with moderate incomes, will be released in the coming months.

Currently, the groundbreaking of Native Spring is set for October. As the date draws near, more information will be available on our social media and our website.

When ICLT Secretary Nancy Donnelly moved to Irvine in 2002 after 35 years of experience advocating for those living with developmental disabilities, she knew there was plenty more work to be done.

In the past, she has developed housing in Massachusetts, worked with the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Reach out and Read Program and served as the executive director of New Vista School - a secondary school in Laguna Hills for children with autism.

Nancy immediately fell in love with Irvine – particularly with its bountiful green space. With a smile, she recalls driving her grandson over for a visit and hearing him excitedly proclaim “Grammy, it’s getting green now – we must be close to your house!”

It wasn’t long before Nancy found an opportunity to put her wealth of experience to work for her new city. The ICLT was founded several years later with Nancy as one of its inaugural board members.

Before she turned her resume over to the ICLT, Nancy attended regular forums to hear concerns from family members of adults with developmental disabilities, ensuring the specific issues they faced were top of mind as the ICLT took shape.

This insight afforded the ICLT wisdom well beyond its years when accounting for those with developmental disabilities, who, in the vast majority of cases, fall well under 30 percent of the area median income. At this extremely low level of income, the only options for housing are often either group homes, Section 8 housing vouchers or, at worst, nothing at all.

From the outset, the ICLT aimed to change this unfortunate status quo for the better. In multiple projects, it has carved out homes specifically designated for those with developmental disabilities.

Nancy says this fight will continue to be critical for Irvine, especially as older affordable units age out, leaving older parents and their children with developmental disabilities fewer options for staying close to one another.

“Many of these parents are ageing, and they don’t want their family member living in Anaheim, for instance, because we all know what the commute is like in the middle of the afternoon from here to Anaheim,” Nancy said. “They wanted to look to the city and say – we’ve raised our children here, we’ve sent them to schools here, our families have contributed here, and we would like our children to continue living here when they become adults.”