OCEANSIDE — Construction crews are ramping up work on Coast Villas, a 56-unit affordable housing project for formerly homeless or at-risk seniors and veterans with severe mental illness on South Coast Highway.
Local leaders met with the project’s developers, National CORE and the San Diego Community Housing Corporation, along with numerous other partners, to celebrate the project’s groundbreaking on May 12 at a temporary construction site near the development’s address at 1111 S. Coast Highway.
According to John Seymour of National CORE, the 56-unit project includes 28 homes reserved for seniors 55 and older earning up to 30% of the area median income and 27 homes for those at or below 50% of the area median income. Additionally, 15 homes are set aside for formerly unhoused veterans supported by the federal VASH program, 12 of which are reserved for veterans with severe mental illness.
The development will include 35 studios, 16 one-bedroom units, four two-bedroom units, and one apartment for the full-time on-site property manager.
Coast Villas is National CORE’s second affordable housing project with units set aside for veterans with severe mental illness. Greenbrier Village, a 100% affordable housing project on Apple Street, includes five units for veterans.
National CORE is also behind Mission Cove, another affordable housing project in Oceanside.
Two years ago, the Oceanside City Council approved $4.25 million from the city’s housing fund for Coast Villas, along with 40 federal project-based vouchers and 15 federal VASH vouchers for housing.
The project is also partially funded with $2.4 million from the No Place Like Home program, which initially raised concerns among some residents who feared it would resemble Windsor Pointe, a controversial affordable housing project in Carlsbad funded through the same program.
Seymour previously assured the City Council that onsite security, high-definition cameras and skilled staff would help keep Coast Villas in check. He also noted that Coast Villas would include 20% permanent supportive housing compared with Windsor Pointe’s 50%.
The project site is a small, 0.37-acre former used-car lot within walking distance of Buccaneer Beach, the Oceanside Municipal Pier and other downtown amenities, making it a prime location for residents.
Coast Villas will feature all-electric appliances, drought-tolerant landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures, rooftop solar panels and high-efficiency lighting, HVAC systems and appliances.
Residents will also have access to a 1,030-square-foot community center, a wellness center, covered parking and laundry facilities on each floor.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Seymour said the project aligns well with the city’s vision for smart housing growth along the Coast Highway transit corridor. It also helps address a growing local need for affordable senior housing.
“We’re living through a moment of profound demographic change as I see it,” Seymour said. “The baby boomers are retiring… The need for senior housing is just growing exponentially. We can’t keep up.”
John Wurster of co-developer San Diego Community Housing Corporation said his organization has completed nearly 350 affordable housing units throughout the county in the past seven years, with another 200 units under construction and 150 more in the pipeline.
“Both nonprofits have a core mission to provide housing to those who are underserved,” Wurster said of both developers. “That really shines in this project.”
According to Wurster, creating low-cost affordable housing is both challenging and expensive, noting it costs between $500,000 and $700,000 to build a single affordable studio apartment.
Partnerships with local governments and organizations — including the Hope Through Housing Foundation, which will provide onsite wraparound services to Coast Villas residents — were essential to making the project happen, Wurster said.
Frank Pearson, director of VA San Diego Health Care, said the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s VASH program is currently serving 127 veterans in housing units across 15 project sites throughout the county. He noted that the Greenbrier Village units were part of that success.
According to Pearson, at least 12 more project sites with 222 additional units for veterans are planned over the next three years.
“These 15 units are going to be extremely important for our veterans,” Pearson said of Coast Villas. “These veterans have gone through a lot.”
National CORE and the San Diego Community Housing Corporation have co-developed several other affordable housing projects in the region, including the recently opened Santa Fe Senior Village in Vista, which offers 54 furnished units for residents 62 and older, including two units reserved for unhoused senior veterans.
The two nonprofits are also working on the future Valley Creek Senior Apartments, a 136-unit project for low-income seniors and formerly homeless veterans in Escondido, with up to 14 units reserved for veterans. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors approved the project last year to be built on county-owned land on East Valley Parkway.
According to David Estrella, director of Housing and Community Development Services for the county, more than 60 developments have been funded through local housing trust funds, with more than $300 million invested since 2017.
“We’re now seeing a growing inventory of housing across the region,” he said, citing action from the Board of Supervisors and cities like Oceanside that contributed financially to the project.
Deputy Mayor Eric Joyce, who represents District 1, where both Coast Villas and Greenbrier Village are located, also praised the partnerships that made the project possible.
“We take care of our own, and this project is all about making that phrase a reality,” he said.
Coast Villas is expected to be completed in 2027.
