The Santa Clarita City Council approved a staff recommendation Tuesday intended to help in the transfer of ownership of a Canyon Country apartment complex and add to the city’s affordable housing stock.
With a unanimous vote Tuesday, Santa Clarita City Council members authorized the Maple Housing Foundation, a Beverly Hills-based nonprofit, to issue $110 million in bonds to help with its acquisition of the 256-unit Diamond Park Apartments property.
The plan also designates half of its units as affordable housing units for decades, as part of the terms of the hearing. The complex is located at 27940 Solamint Road, north of Soledad Canyon Road, in Canyon Country.
The nonprofit needs Santa Clarita’s authority to issue the bonds, but the city assumes no liability, under the federal Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982, according to the city.
The bonds are intended to help Maple finance the acquisition of its purchase, and Maple also plans to increase the number of units already in the complex considered affordable housing, which is a condition of the bond financing.
Maple did not respond to a request for comment.
Maple’s plan would move the complex from having 25 units available at 50% of the adjusted median income to 51 units; and the number of units at 80% AMI would go from 26 to 141. “In total, 192 units will be restricted under the … agreement, for a term ending on the later of 15 years or the maturity of the bonds issued in connection with the project,” according to the city’s meeting agenda. A separate agreement with the city also guarantees that 128 units, half the total complex, will remain at 80% AMI for at least 55 years. (For reference, based on current figures from the state’s Treasury Office, a one-bedroom restricted to 80% AMI can cost no more than $2,499 per month; at 50% of the AMI, that same unit tops out at $1,561 monthly.)
The apartments near Solamint and Soledad Canyon roads currently are listed as properties of GHP Management, which drew concern from the council due to past interactions with the developer-property manager.
Residents from several GHP-run buildings took to social media, and then City Hall, earlier this year, due to concerns about mold in multiple units.
Councilwoman Marsha McLean asked about GHP involvement, and Management Analyst Amber Rodriguez, who presented the item, confirmed the item called for Maple to take over the building.
“So, we should not have the same problems that we had with the management, for people that were living with mold, correct?” McLean asked.
“That’s correct,” Rodriguez said.
Mayor Pro Tem Patsy Ayala, who represents District 1, where the apartments are located, asked whether the building was a part of complaints that were lodged at City Hall in February.
Rodriguez said it was not, but it was part of a number of GHP units that were inspected in March.
The month following those inspections, a mold complaint was made, according to an L.A. County Public Health website search. That mold complaint for Building No. 5 was not substantiated; however, the inspector did cite management for a water intrusion reportedly caused by “damaged, broken, buckled, missing or deteriorated walls/ceilings.”
A re-inspection date was scheduled for April 21, but there was no record of an inspection that date, according to county records.
