LOGAN HEIGHTS, Calif. (KGTV) — A San Diego church is opening 26 new affordable housing units for veterans and seniors in Logan Heights by August.
Bethel AME Church partnered with YIGBY — Yes In God's Backyard — to develop Bethel One, a 3-story building on what was formerly a duplex.
YIGBY is an organization founded by San Diego community leaders that works with faith institutions to activate underutilized church-owned land for affordable housing development. The model is grounded in legislation that allows faith-based organizations to develop affordable housing on their property by-right, overriding local zoning codes.
"To be able to do something like this in this community is transformative," Harvey Vaughn III said.
Vaughn, the senior pastor of Bethel AME Church, said the project got underway two years ago and is nearly ready for leasing. He took ABC 10News on a tour of the 3-story building, which includes 16 units reserved for veterans and 10 for seniors.
Each one-bedroom unit is 440 square feet and includes a full-sized bathroom, a kitchenette and floor-to-ceiling windows. The building also has on-site laundry.
"The units themselves are fabulous. They're one-bedroom units; all of them are handicap accessible," Vaughn said.
The building is all-electric and solar-powered to help reduce tenants' costs.
Veterans looking to live at Bethel One must have a voucher from the Veterans Administration and will pay 30% of their income in rent. Seniors must be at 80% or below the Department of Housing and Urban Development's area median income guideline, which is currently about $97,000.
A ribbon cutting is planned for the end of the month.
"What we're hoping that this, this will be the first of many developments that we build in the Logan Heights area. Our church has been here for 139 years," Vaughn said.
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