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Ribbon cutting celebrates two new affordable housing projects in Irvine

10/30/2017

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Irvine adds two more affordable housing properties

Family-friendly and affordable housing is celebrated at Great Park Neighborhoods
By Irvine City News Staff
​Thanks to two new affordable housing communities nestled within the Great Park Neighborhoods, Irvine’s newest residents include 166 families who otherwise might not be able to afford to live in the city.
 
A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the affordable housing neighborhoods Luminaira and Espaira was held Oct. 27, drawing representatives of the coalition of housing advocates, developers, nonprofits, designers, and landowners that made the much-needed units possible. The event, however, is about more than the 166 families who will benefit. The opening of the two properties is a watershed moment that addresses the broader housing crisis in Orange County and beyond. Both market-rate housing as well as affordable housing are scarce.

The need for affordable housing in Irvine is acute. The median income in the area is $85,000, and affordable monthly rent at that income is $2,125 per month, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition (nlihc.org) report. Someone making 30 percent of the median income can only afford $638 monthly rent in Orange County. In Irvine, nearly half of the total households are renters. Of that, 3,000 units or 13 percent are affordable, according to city statistics.
 
One of the speakers at the ceremony was a resident of the community, Wijdan Abbas, who described the moment she was notified that she, her husband and four young sons would be moving into the family’s new Irvine apartment. “I was honestly happier to receive this congratulations call than I was for my college admission."

Abbas, a stay-at-home mother who came to the U.S. 13 years ago, told the audience that the community “was a dream come true” for she and her husband, Mehdi, a linguist working with the U.S. Marine Corps. “This meant my boys would continue to go to their schools, be with their friends, and best of all receive the excellent education provided by the Irvine school district.”

She explained that her family had lived in Irvine previously, enough time to “fall in love with the city, its people, schools, and organizations. However everything had its price and after seven years we were not able to continue living in this wonderful city without a miracle, affordable housing.”

 “I am proud to be part of your community,” she concluded, “and look forward to all the memories we will have in our spacious and beautiful new home.”

 Irvine Mayor Don Wagner told those gathered for the ribbon cutting: “This project allows for us to strengthen our community by bringing into it folks who might otherwise not have the opportunity to be here, to build their lives, to build their families, put their kids through our wonderful school system, and help enrich the fabric of this community.”

The two communities are developed by FivePoint, Related California and Riverside Charitable and sit on 5.35 acres of the Great Park Neighborhoods. The new affordable apartments join Solaira at Pavilion Park, a nearby affordable housing community for adults age 55 and older, also part of the Great Park Neighborhoods.

The affordable developments are designed not to be separated from the market-rate housing next door; not aesthetically, geographically or socially.

“It's high-quality housing for families,” said Bill Witte, chairman and CEO of Related California. “It doesn't read as affordable housing.”

The communities include pools, playgrounds, a barbeque and picnic pavilion, and dog run. There’s a 4,000-square-foot leasing and social services center that includes a kitchen, media room, computer center, mailroom and play area. Onsite services will include after school programs and educational classes.

The two- and three-bedroom apartments at the 82-unit Luminaira are all leased, while those at 84-unit Espaira will be occupied at the end of the year. Residents must earn less than 50 percent of the median income in Orange County to qualify for the units. Rents range from $657 to $1,029 per month.

The kids who live at Luminaira and Espaira attend Beacon Park School for grades K-8 and Portola High School, neighborhood schools that opened in 2016.

“On the first day of school this year we provided backpacks for over a hundred children that are currently living here, as they walked across the street to go to school,” said Lynn Joachim, FivePoint executive vice president. “We're going to watch them walk across the street and go to the great Sports Park that opened its first phase this summer and perhaps to walk across the street to their first job when we open our first retail center. And we’ll continue to watch them become leaders and members of our community.”

“That's our job, once the families are settled, to work on the education component,” said Allen Baldwin, who served as executive director of the Orange County Community Housing Corp. for 35 years. “To make sure all the kids get to college and complete college, so they can stand at this microphone later on and talk about what they've built and what they've developed.”

Other speakers at the event included emcee Steve Churm, chief communications officer for FivePoint; Liane Takano, Related’s Senior VP in charge of the affordable housing projects; Ken Robertson of Riverside Charitable Corporation; and Craig Gillette, president of LifeSTEPS, the social services provider for the residents.

The speakers described the dedication and vision of numerous individuals, nonprofits and businesses over almost two decades.

 “Yesterday, we celebrated the 40th anniversary of Orange County Community Housing Corp., a voice of affordable housing in Orange County,” Bill Witte said. “And 20 years ago, they and a consortium of nonprofits who are here today, had a vision when the El Toro base was declared surplus to include affordable housing as part of a vibrant, mixed income community.”

The coalition joined forces as El Toro Housing Initiative Collaboration (or ETHIC) Housing Trust.

 “We started in 1995, working with all the shelters and other nonprofits in Orange County to try to keep this as visible as possible, so the mission wouldn't be lost, to have these 166 units,” Baldwin said. “And we've got 'em, thanks to everybody involved.”

The affordable communities will not be the last built at Great Park Neighborhoods. Plans for the master-planned, mixed-use community being built by FivePoint adjacent to the Orange County Great Park include a total of 1,056 affordable units.

“We, the entirely community of Irvine, are thoroughly enriched by the efforts that you've made, the hard work and the investments that you've put in,” Mayor Wagner said to the audience at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Sincerely, on behalf of the whole city, thank you so very much.”
 

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Southern California Veterans Cemetery Flag Raising Ceremony

10/28/2017

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Southern California Veterans Cemetery site dedicated​

Military veterans raise the flag over the site of their new Orange County cemetery
By Irvine City News Staff
Military veterans, civic leaders and distinguished guests stood at attention as an American flag was raised high to fly over Irvine strawberry fields under a brilliant blue sky. It was the culmination of an emotional ceremony and celebration held on land where the Southern California Veterans Cemetery will be located, on a pristine part of the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, near the junction of the 5 and 405 freeways.

In a rare show of strong broad-based bipartisan support, local, state and federal officials joined veterans groups and invited guests at the 125-acre site to dedicate the land that will become the final resting place for thousands of military veterans. The Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, the city of Irvine and FivePoint’s partnership (Heritage Fields El Toro, LLC) hosted the flag raising ceremony for the Southern California Veterans Cemetery on land near the Orange County Great Park.

As the hour-long ceremony opened, an overflow crowd of 300 invited guests gazed into the sky witness a poignant flyover featuring a squadron of World War II-era aircraft. The planes circled the former base where thousands of Marines flew off to fight for their country overseas, many never to return. The pilots maneuvered their planes into the “missing man formation,” an aerial salute to those many thousands who will be buried at the site, and to those who never returned from their service overseas.

Irvine Mayor Donald Wagner led the event at which guests stood and saluted several speakers who came to thank the servicemen and servicewomen there, and throughout Orange County and the country for their service. “This is a milestone for all Orange County residents and especially our veterans and their families, who have championed for this cemetery for years,” Mayor Wagner said. “The city of Irvine is grateful for their service and is committed to housing a memorial park that will honor their service and sacrifices.”

Irvine City Councilmember Christina Shea recounted the history of the effort to locate a veterans cemetery on the MCAS El Toro base, an effort led by Vietnam veteran Bill Cook, chairman of Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation.

Orange County veterans have long wanted a cemetery in Orange County; currently, the closest veterans cemeteries are in Riverside and San Diego counties. With the closure of MCAS El Toro in 1999, the veterans have worked tirelessly to have the cemetery located on the former base.

Their mission moved closer to becoming a reality in September when the Irvine City Council approved a land-exchange proposal put forth by the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation and the FivePoint partnership. The city’s agreement with FivePoint to exchange a former site for the cemetery for the strawberry fields land accelerates the construction timeline to create the cemetery.

State veterans officials at CalVet estimated it would have taken $77 million to demolish the many buildings and prepare the former site for a cemetery. Moving the site to the undeveloped strawberry fields will save Orange County and California taxpayers more than $50 million for the cemetery’s first phase. Construction at the strawberry fields site could begin as early as October 2018.

“We’re honored to be part of this long-overdue dedication to the local men and women who served their country with valor and honor,” said Emile Haddad, FivePoint chairman and CEO. “Thanks to the vision and persistence of the Orange County Veterans Memorial Park Foundation, our service members and their families soon will have a thoughtfully-planned local memorial site that forever conveys the community’s deepest gratitude.”

There was much patriotism and limited politics at the event, with several speakers mentioning the bipartisan nature of the support for the veterans cemetery at all levels of government. Some speakers alluded to a faction in Irvine seeking to delay and damage the effort to establish the approved veterans cemetery by returning it to the $77 million site. As the veterans, many elderly, rose to pledge allegiance to the American flag as it was raised over the site where they wish to be buried, the effort to deny and delay their dream of a veterans cemetery seemed even more demeaned and disingenuous.

Others who spoke during the ceremony included Irvine Councilmember Melissa Fox, who spoke movingly of her father’s and family’s service in the Korean conflict; Orange County Supervisors Michele Steel and Todd Spitzer; Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva and Assemblyman Steven Choi; State Senator Janet Nguyen; and U.S. Representatives Lou Correa and Dana Rohrabacher.

All expressed their gratitude to Orange County service members and congratulated veterans leader Bill Cook, who worked for decades to make the dream of an Orange County place where the brave men and women of the U.S. military could find a final resting place.
​
A 21-gun salute by a local American Legion color guard troop honored America’s servicemen and servicewomen, including an estimated 132,000 veterans who live in Orange County. As the U.S. flag was raised, it flew above and beside the California state flag and flags representing each of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces. As a bagpiper played the hymns of the five service branches—Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine Corps—veterans stood and cheered, while many civilians looking on wiped away tears.
 
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