SOLANA BEACH — Local organizations have offered financial assistance to former residents of the Solana Highlands apartments who have been displaced during its reconstruction, assisting them in relocating to new homes.
Coastal Community Foundation granted $25,000 through its Solana Beach Fund for this effort, partnering with Encinitas-based Community Resource Center to act as the service provider, offering case management to residents searching for housing.
So far, CRC has been able to allocate $1,500 each to over 10 families and has already assisted some in relocating to new units. CEO John Van Cleef said with the moving costs such as housing application fees, a deposit and the first month’s rent, these funds are used up quickly, but they make a big difference.
“We really work with the family to make sure they are the director of the decision for their housing,” Van Cleef said on June 2. “Right now, we are actively working with 10 households. Two have transitioned into new units, and with eight we have active case management happening.”
Residents were told last year by Solana Highlands management company H. G. Fenton that they would need to vacate in the summer of 2023 in preparation for the building’s reconstruction, which they say has been long overdue.
The Highlands has long been known as a housing site for many of the city’s low-income Hispanic residents, providing naturally affordable housing not easy to find anywhere else. Several Highlands residents told city leaders last fall that finding a new home they can afford locally is simply not feasible.
The 198-unit complex, built over 60 years ago, will be demolished, and replaced with 260 new craftsman-style units. While 32 units will be designated as affordable housing for seniors, most will likely be too expensive for former residents to move back into.
“The good news in the development that’s coming is there are affordable housing units included there. The hard part of this new development is we have multigenerational families who have lived in Solana Highlands, and it started as an affordable place they could live,” said Van Cleef.
Solana Highlands owners are also helping some tenants transition new housing. H. G. Fenton spokesperson Maggie Newman Tsay said the company has assisted over 60 residents and their families in their search for housing, given residents priority at their sister properties like Bella Del Mar and provided relocation payments equal to one month’s rent for tenants of at least 12 months.
“A number of our residents are still living on site and will move out over the course of the next three months based on the timing of availability for their replacement housing and other individual considerations,” Tsay said.
Solana Beach Fund Program Director Laura Fleming said while they typically select grant recipients via an application process, they decided this year to focus specifically on the city’s historic Hispanic population being affected by gentrification in areas like La Colonia.
Organizers eventually decided to narrow the scope of their efforts to vulnerable families displaced from Solana Highlands.
“We decided as a group that we wanted to focus our attention in that community,” Fleming said. “Because it was so big, we knew we wanted to do something targeted that we could get our hands around. There were enough people in that complex on a specific timeline, so we wanted to help some of those more vulnerable residents.”
Fleming said they asked CRC to be the service provider due to their past work with the local community, particularly the food and housing aid they offered during COVID-19.
The $25,000 grant, funded entirely through community contributions, is the 50th grant issued by the Solana Beach Fund since its founding in 2013.
Solana Beach Fund is one of around 90 funds managed under the Coastal Community Foundation. For more information, visit coastalfoundation.org/programs/solana-beach-fund
