Avanzando – Casa Familiar Case Study

This case study aims to serve as both a historical record and an instructive resource for future community-led development efforts.

Introduction

With over 50 years of community building, Casa Familiar is embarking on an innovative journey to bring more affordable housing and opportunities for creating generational wealth along the way. Avanzando will bring 103 affordable homes to San Ysidro, through a Community Land Trust (CLT) model that separates the land from the housing, with a resident-majority governing board, and affordable rentals that will lead to future homeownership opportunities.

This case study highlights some of the goals, people, places, processes, and physical design ingredients that have played a role in shaping the Avanzado San Ysidro Community Land Trust (ASY-CLT) from initial exploration to the groundbreaking today.  Areas covered in this case study include:

  1. The Story of Avanzando CLT
  2. Learn About Community Land Trusts and the San Ysidro Community
  3. Analysis and Impact
  4. Inspiring Similar Community-Driven Initiatives

The groundbreaking ceremony is built on five years of community-driven engagement, but the story of Avanzando is still being written. You can help us continue to write the story to share with future generations of residents and the San Ysidro community.

About Casa Familiar

Casa Familiar (Casa) was founded in 1973 as a 501(c)(3) community-based organization dedicated to serving residents in South San Diego County and specifically the border community of San Ysidro. The mission of Casa Familiar is to enhance quality of life for people living in underserved and underrepresented communities.  To reach this mission, Casa provides over 40 services and projects to address the unique and evolving challenges of this border community with a multi-dimensional benefit approach.

Learn More about Casa Familiar and their work serving San Ysidro.

UnidosUS

The Avanzando Case Study was conducted by the Policy & Innovation Center, and was supported by a grant from UnidosUS.

Honoring the creative use of Lotería as a form of community engagement in the process, the story of the Avanzando CLT is shared through a series of ingredients or “tablas” that represent some of the many goals, people, places, process, and physical design elements that have played a role in shaping the Avanzando CLT from the initial idea to the groundbreaking. These elements were identified through interviews with key stakeholders and review of the materials developed as part of the Avanzando CLT process and highlight the relevant historical and political background, key partnerships, and pivotal community engagement efforts.

Help us continue writing the story to share with future generations of residents and the San Ysidro community by completing the Avanzando form below.

This section provides an overview of the ASY-CLT initiative, including the community context, housing and land use challenges, and some of the community needs that motivated Casa Familiar to explore a CLT.

What is a Community Land Trust?

Casa Familiar began exploring the community land trust (CLT) model as an anti-displacement strategy to help remove land from the speculative real estate market. In a CLT, land is legally separated from the housing and amenities on it, where a nonprofit or the residents own the land on behalf of the community and hold the land “in trust” for community needs.

All improvements on the CLT are governed by a board of community and resident stakeholders and a ground lease that will dictate the terms of sales and rents to keep the housing affordable. With a community-based governing board, CLTs can help provide permanent affordability and create long-lasting community control of the land.

Casa Familiar is also aware that CLTs are not all structured the same way. Across the country, there are hundreds of variations: some CLTs are created by residents themselves, or the residents own the land rather than an external nonprofit; some focus on housing, while others center on farms, parks, or other community assets. This flexibility enables CLTs to be adaptable to local priorities while maintaining the same core goal of ensuring land and property serve long-term community needs rather than speculative interests.

Community ownership creates opportunities for homes to meet community needs, be designed and shaped by the community and its members. Often, the trust can act as a supportive backstop against foreclosure, default, or eviction due to non-payment of rent, as they provide tenants with casework support (e.g., connection to job opportunities, enrollment in entitlement programs).

Learn more from the International Center for Community Land Trusts

What does a Community Land Trust Accomplish?

CLTs can take many forms, but one of the most common applications is a type of “shared equity affordable housing” that preserves housing affordability for a more extended period than other housing affordability strategies. This provides stability and security for communities and families. Under a typical affordable housing project, the homes are required to be affordable for a set period of years (e.g., 15, 30, 55 years) as a condition of government funding (e.g., tax credits, grants). These affordability provisions are stipulated in covenants or deed restrictions. When these covenants or deed restrictions expire, the homes can be sold or rented at market rates, which are often 2-3 times what a tenant was paying previously. In many cases, the tenant can’t pay the new rental amount and is effectively evicted from their home. According to AP News, over 220,000 homes will lose their affordability protections in the next five years alone, and this problem will be compounded as government funding – and the protections it requires – expire.

While shared-equity housing is a core application, CLTs can also extend to other community priorities, such as preserving green space, supporting cooperative housing models, protecting cultural corridors, or creating community-owned parks and farms.

A CLT offers a solution to these affordability challenges through a few unique structures. First, homes are more affordable to begin with because the value of the land is separated from the cost of the home. In regions like California, where land costs are high, the value of the land can drive up the cost of the home. In a CLT, the homes are valued separately from the land, and the land is held “in trust” for the community. Second, when the covenants and deed restrictions expire, there are often caps on the amount of profit that can be generated when a home is sold. This can be in the form of formulas around appreciation, or the trust can be given the first opportunity to purchase the home in the event of a sale. This anti-displacement strategy helps keep homes available to residents within a community.

There are also economic, social, and civic benefits from a CLT. Economically, CLTs foster home-ownership, strengthen economic resilience within the community, help to narrow racial wealth disparities by increasing access to home-ownership for minority communities, support small businesses, and offer fiscal advantages to local governments. CLTs contribute to the built environment by promoting community vitality and enhancing public amenities like street lighting, access to transportation options, and parks. Civically, CLTs build community capacity, encourage resident engagement in local decision-making, and help address other neighborhood issues. Finally, CLTs offer social benefits by fostering a strong sense of community, facilitating inter-generational engagement, such as access to childcare and elder care services, and improving the overall quality of life for residents.

What other communities have created Community Land Trusts?

In 2021, approximately 3,500 residents and 1,500 housing units were part of a Community Land Trust in California. While interest in social housing and Community Land Trusts has grown in recent years due to California’s housing crisis, CLTs are still an often-underutilized model due to a variety of regulatory, financing, and policy challenges.

Learn about other CLTs with the Shared Equity and CLT Census Map from the Grounded Solutions Network or the Community Land Trust Directory from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics.

Why is a Community Land Trust needed in San Ysidro?

The San Ysidro community has several needs that align well with the opportunities offered by a Community Land Trust (CLT). Demographically, San Ysidro’s population of around 26,507 is predominantly Hispanic (93%), with 90% speaking Spanish at home and a large foreign-born population (12,209), primarily from Mexico, according to the 2023 American Community Survey. This creates a high potential for civic engagement and culturally competent planning within the CLT model. The median age is a youthful 36, with 23% of the population under 18, which highlights a need for inter-generational stability that CLTs are designed to provide.

Economically, the community faces significant challenges, with 13% of the population living below the federal poverty level—double the San Diego County rate in some census tracts. Exacerbating this is a high rate of housing cost burden, with 29% of homeowners and 56% of renters paying over 30% of their income toward housing, suggesting a high demand for affordable housing options that CLTs can provide. While the home-ownership rate for the community is 35%, it is consistent with the county average for Hispanic or Latino households (37.7%) but remains below the overall county average (50%).

Environmentally, San Ysidro’s location near major freeways and the world’s busiest border crossing contributes to significant air pollution, resulting in a much higher asthma rate among residents compared to the national average. By promoting resident control over community assets, a CLT could foster engagement and decision-making on environmental issues facing San Ysidro. By acquiring land, a CLT could permanently remove properties from the speculative market, ensuring any neighborhood improvements benefit the existing residents and are tailored to meet their specific needs rather than leading to displacement.

How do the needs of San Ysidro align with Casa Familiar’s goals for creating a Community Land Trust?

Based on the community needs of San Ysidro and the objectives that a community land trust can help achieve, the following goals were identified to provide stability and opportunities to a population experiencing high poverty rates, housing cost burden, and significant environmental justice issues:

  • Create affordable homes in San Ysidro
  • Address the threat of gentrification and displacement
  • Address environmental justice issues in San Ysidro
  • Provide opportunities to create generational wealth
  • Explore a community ownership model
  • Create housing stability for families
  • Commitment to a community-driven engagement process
  • Catalyze policy change

Casa Familiar is well-positioned to advance a CLT in San Ysidro based on the established relationships and supportive services that serve the community. With more than 50 years of experience in planning, community engagement, and long-term advocacy, Casa Familiar has built the capacity to move projects from vision to reality. For example, Casa Familiar’s advocacy contributed to investments in community amenities that took years of sustained organizing to bring to fruition. This same planning expertise, combined with supportive services and trusted community relationships, makes Casa Familiar uniquely equipped to steward a CLT model that not only creates affordable housing, but also ensures residents and the community are supported and engaged over the long term.

This section examines the underlying issues addressed through the creation of the ASY-CLT, highlighting the strategies and solutions that emerged as the project took shape. It also traces the decision-making and implementation processes that guided Casa Familiar’s work, situating these efforts within the broader local, state, and national policy context. By doing so, the discussion helps illuminate both the barriers and opportunities that shape community-driven housing models and identifies the lessons that can inform policy change beyond San Ysidro.

Public Policy Implications

The work of Casa Familiar in creating the ASY-CLT highlights a series of policy challenges and opportunities with broad implications at the local, state, and national level. Developing a CLT can be aided by a carefully assembled mix of philanthropic, local, state, and federal funding. While philanthropic support is not always required, it can help launch new or innovative projects by providing funding to explore how the CLT can provide greater community impact.

Yet Casa’s experience underscores how these funding sources are often misaligned, creating unnecessary barriers and inefficiencies. Predevelopment proved especially challenging, as most available funding sources lack the flexibility needed to support the early stages of project development. Casa relied on expert partners to help navigate this complex process, a strategy that proved essential but resource intensive.

Aligning Regulatory Requirements

One of the most significant policy breakthroughs involved Casa’s ability to use Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) for a CLT project—an approach rarely attempted in California due to its complexity. When Casa began discussions with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), even agency staff were unaware that a regulatory pathway already existed within their own guidelines. Casa’s partnership with Ginger Hitzke was critical in this effort, as Hitzke’s development experience enabled Casa to qualify for both LIHTC and Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) funding. Unlike most projects where large for-profit and nonprofit developers  dominate and smaller grassroots organizations hold only a small share, Casa assumed the role of lead developer. It took time to cultivate this partnership and build the necessary trust and expertise for a new model to work. This position allowed the organization not only to apply for major funding streams independently but also to position itself for future designation as a BIPOC-led developer.

At the heart of the ASY-CLT model is the goal of converting affordable rental units into affordable, owner-occupied homes at the 15-year mark. This transition provides residents with the chance to own a home—an opportunity that remains out of reach for many San Diegans—while keeping homes affordable through CLT protections. However, Casa quickly encountered a structural conflict in state and local policy. Federal tax credits allow conversion to homeownership after 15 years, but state and local funders like HCD and the Strategic Growth Council (SGC) mandate a 55-year regulatory agreement for rental housing. Although Casa was not seeking to deregulate its housing—on the contrary, it committed to permanent affordability—the rigid framework of a “55-year rental only” standard created major obstacles. Staff at state agencies lacked the authority to approve or even interpret regulatory flexibility, leaving Casa with the burden of proving that conversion was permissible. As one project leader noted, “The government can’t get out of its own way with respect to rental. This is rental only… That’s what we have to change.”

This experience makes clear that legislative reforms are needed to provide a clear, supported pathway for projects to transition from rental to homeownership (or other tenure models) after the initial compliance period. Without this clarity, innovative projects like ASY-CLT are forced into prolonged negotiations and excessive administrative costs. Future legislation should also account for tax implications and technical complexities, bringing tax professionals and legal experts into the policymaking process from the start.

Leveraging Flexible Funding Sources

Flexibility in funding is another key lesson from Casa’s work. Local and philanthropic funding sources can be especially catalytic in the predevelopment phase, but only if they are designed to be adaptable rather than rigid. Casa benefited from the County of San Diego’s Innovative Housing Trust Fund (IHTF), which is typically structured as a final gap-financing source. Leaders at the San Diego County Board of Supervisors created a new pilot program for predevelopment, and the ASY-CLT was eligible to receive some initial predevelopment funding. This adjustment allowed the funding to play a much more strategic role in advancing the project at a time when other dollars were scarce. The project also received $1.26 million in the California state budget, secured through an appropriation championed by Senate President Pro Tem Emeritus Toni Atkins and approved by Governor Gavin Newsom. These early public investments signaled institutional support for the CLT model and provided critical momentum.

Philanthropic partners also played a role. The Alliance Healthcare Foundation provided an initial investment that supported capacity-building support for early exploratory work and ongoing community engagement. Flexible, trust-based funding illustrates how philanthropic partners can help de-risk early stages of innovation while setting the foundation for long-term success. Importantly, there were many thought partners engaged and provided a model with Casa Familiar of bidirectional trust, sustained engagement, and collaborative problem-solving. They all understood that the process would not be perfect at the onset, but that a strong partnership could help build capacity over time.

Establishing New Local Funding Mechanisms

ASY-CLT also secured funding from the San Diego Housing Commission. While all these local funding sources were important, the San Diego region lacks larger funding sources such as those available for projects in Los Angeles or the Bay Area. Both regions have established housing finance authorities, which can levy taxes and help fund housing development. Los Angeles also adopted Measure ULA, which is a real estate transfer tax on home sales over $5 million that funds affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs. A similar model could be established in San Diego.

Expanding Environmental Justice Designations

Environmental justice designations also proved critical to unlocking resources. San Ysidro’s status as a state-designated “disadvantaged community” opened doors to competitive programs such as the Strategic Growth Council’s AHSC and SANDAG’s Regional Early Action Planning (REAP) program. These designations demonstrate how equity-driven policy frameworks, such as SB 535, can create tangible opportunities for community-led projects.

Looking ahead, Casa’s experience points toward four policy changes that could strengthen the enabling environment for CLTs and similar community-led housing models:

  1. Aligning regulatory requirements across federal, state, and local levels to allow projects to assemble comprehensive funding stacks without conflicting mandates.
  2. Leveraging flexible funding sources, especially for predevelopment, to catalyze innovation and reduce early barriers.
  3. Establishing new local funding mechanisms, such as those pioneered in Los Angeles through the housing finance authority, the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority, or local revenue tools like the ULA tax.
  4. Expanding environmental justice designations to ensure disadvantaged communities gain access to state and regional funding opportunities.

Funding Implications

In order to create a CLT, a range of funding sources needs to be incorporated. This is true for this CLT and many other CLTs,  but the complexities  require additional strategies and perspectives. Creating a funding stack that builds upon itself can be helpful for others interested in creating a CLT.

The ASY-CLT pulled together a robust capital stack of multiple funding sources, a total of 13 in all. For some CLTs, and especially for new groups, assembling that many funding sources is an incredible lift that requires significant time, energy, and capacity from the organization, whether it be a nonprofit steward or a resident-led trust model. This process came with several challenges. First, the team had to figure out how to make the financials work for both the development of affordable housing and the eventual transition to resident ownership. This required careful planning to ensure the model was feasible for residents earning between 30 and 60 percent AMI. At the same time, securing and aligning various streams of public funding was a significant hurdle. Each funding source carried its own requirements and timelines, which made coordination particularly complex.

Another major challenge arose during the tax credit application process. There was a period when it was unclear whether the project would score high enough to receive credits, partly because the surrounding area already had a concentration of low-income housing. The project’s unique features—such as the CLT structure and the planned transition to ownership—were not recognized in the scoring criteria. In response to this feedback, the project team adjusted its approach and increased the project size to at least 100 units to remain competitive.

Throughout this process, the team needed to advocate for the project and educate policymakers and supporters about its innovative aspects, ensuring it received the necessary support and recognition. Early on, grant funding was especially critical. These resources allowed the team to answer key legal and feasibility questions, work that was essential to getting the project started.

The table below summarizes the four categories of funding sources and their recommended sequencing during the development process.

Funding Source Description Recommended Sequencing
Casa Familiar Assets Casa Familiar’s Board of Directors supported staff leadership’s recommendations to donate $1.8 million in land assets for the project. This upfront commitment demonstrated Casa Familiar’s investment in the project to the philanthropic, local and state agencies that were asked to support the project with grants or loans. First
Philanthropic Can be the most flexible funding source, could be particularly useful for pre-development activities Second
State and local Grants, bonds, etc. Most require a 55-year regulatory agreement for rental housing. Third
State tax credits and tax-exempt bonds Federally created and regulated but issued by the state. The regulatory period is 15 years. Fourth

Impact Across Region, State and Nation

The successful creation of the ASY-CLT represents a significant milestone, both for the San Ysidro community and for the broader field of community land trusts. For San Ysidro, it demonstrates that a community with deep-rooted environmental justice and housing challenges can also be a national leader in innovative, community-driven housing models. More broadly, the project provides a roadmap for other communities across California and the country that are seeking to combine affordability, community control, and long-term housing stability.

The lessons learned from ASY-CLT fall into two categories: those that are broadly applicable to other CLTs, and those that are specific to San Ysidro’s unique context.

Applicable to all CLTs Applicable to ASY-CLT
There was community engagement throughout the process, and it will continue during construction and once tenants are living in the CLT. Designations (such as the CalEnviroScreen “disadvantaged community”) helped open the door for funding sources that were unique to that location.
Receiving early predevelopment funding was essential. For ASY-CLT, the project received $1.5M from the County of San Diego through the Innovative Housing Trust Fund) and $1.26M in the California state budget, via an appropriation from Senate President Pro Tem Emeritus Toni Atkins and approved by Governor Newsom. Casa and partners hosted innovative community engagement sessions (e.g., Loteria) which enabled them to get indirect feedback and introduce design terms.
Funding needs to be invested in grassroots, community-driven decisions and ideas, rather than a top-down structure. Casa is a trusted nonprofit that is well-suited to provide the casework and bring partners to the table to support residents while they are living at the ASY-CLT (e.g., workforce/ economic development; apprenticeship programs; immigration services; financial opportunity center; access to health services ).
It is crucial to establish strong relationships with local elected officials, local/ state leaders, and philanthropy to help champion the CLT.

In many ways, the story of Avanzando is just beginning, and its future chapters hold valuable guidance for other communities. The question now is how to leverage the lessons learned from this project to inspire and support the adoption of similar community-driven affordable housing initiatives elsewhere. By sharing both the successes and the challenges of Avanzando, other regions can draw from their experience to adapt the CLT model to their own contexts, ensuring that community voices remain at the center of development while advancing long-term affordability and stability.

  1. Document and Share the Model: Create accessible materials (such as infographics and detailed reports) that highlight the project’s process, challenges, and successes. These can be distributed to other communities, policymakers, and funders to showcase the impact and replicability of the model.
  2. Emphasize Community Ownership and Engagement: Highlight the importance of resident-driven development, where community members are involved in planning, governance, and ongoing management.
  3. Promote Bi-Directional Trust and Flexible Funding: Encourage funders and partners to build relationships based on trust, transparency, and flexibility. Avoid overly prescriptive funding requirements so local organizations can adapt resources to their unique challenges.
  4. Showcase Success Stories and Impact: Collect and share personal stories and measurable outcomes (e.g., number of families housed, wealth generated, community pride) to demonstrate the tangible benefits of the approach.
  5. Encourage Policy Advocacy: Use the project’s experience to educate policymakers about the value of community land trusts and advocate for supportive policies and funding streams.
  6. Foster Peer Learning: Facilitate opportunities for leaders from other regions to connect with those involved in this project, enabling direct knowledge transfer and mentorship.

View References

Ingredients that Shaped Avanzando

Click to expand each card to read more.

Community Amenities

Through the community workshops and design process, the community expressed their desire for community amenities, including "espacio comunitario" with a fountain, playground, and community room. Avanzando's design incorporates several amenities such as retail space, community rooms, a splashpad, and other enhancements that will benefit not only residents, but the entire community.

Important Because

Finding ways to incorporate features and amenities identified by the community into the design of Avanzando is central to the community-driven engagement process where the community-- whether they are future residents, neighbors, or part of the broader community -- can see their collective interests reflected in the design.

Storytellers

"We are trying to expand community benefits beyond the benefits that are within the footprint of the development", with "certain aspects of the development that will be available for the whole community of San Ysidro."

Sustainability Features Aligned with Community Needs

Advancing sustainability and clean energy is part of Avanzando. Avanzando is planned as an all-electric powered development expected to surpass Title 24 requirements for energy efficiency, maximize the use of natural light, and will include solar panels. The development will use multiple water conservation methods, including high-efficiency toilets and high-efficiency fixtures in bathrooms and kitchens. Plant and tree selection will include drought-tolerant, native and pollution-absorbing plant species, limited turf, and grouping plants according to water needs. The project is transit-adjacent; each household will be provided with transit passes and extended weekend service for the Trolley's Blue Line will enable residents to more easily take transit. Finally, electric car-sharing vehicles and a neighborhood circulator are all part of the project design and funding structure.

Important Because

The sustainability features of Avanzando were intentionally selected to address the environmental needs of San Ysidro (including air quality, need for tree canopy, and additional transportation options), be responsive to the sustainability features desired by the community and minimize utility costs for future residents by utilizing energy and water resources more efficiently.

Storytellers

San Ysidro is an "environmental justice community that bears high pollution, so trying to insert sustainability techniques to the development itself is also part of the intention of this project"

Local and State Public Agency Support

Over the past five years, Casa has engaged with local and state government agencies and officials to build the case for support and secure funding for Avanzando. Two early sources of funds include the County of San Diego’s Innovative Housing Trust Fund and an earmark in the Governor Newsom’s budget that was facilitated by Senate Pro Tem Emeritus Toni Atkins. Through the relationships and capacity Casa Familiar has built, there are 13 different financing sources, including 10 different city, county, and state funding sources that have committed funding for this project and related investments in the San Ysidro community.

Important Because

The relationships and partnerships formed with local and state agencies have been key to Casa Familiar's success both to secure the funding needed and navigate the complex and varied regulations that come with each source of funding.

Storytellers

"This will probably be the first one of its kind, in terms of the size that is social housing being developed by a nonprofit developer with governmental financial support."

La Gente de San Ysidro

"La comunidad" or "la gente de San Ysidro" are the motivation for all the work Casa Familiar does. Identifying and addressing the needs of the San Ysidro community has been central to the creation of Avanzando thus far. Empowering the people of San Ysidro to have a voice in this project, the Avanzando governing board will include future residents and community members to guide the CLT and provide a venue for ongoing community engagement.

Important Because

Although many types of affordable housing and community ownership models exist, community land trusts use a mixed governance structure, in which residents and community members serve on the board and help oversee and guide the organization. In this way, community land trusts remain connected to the communities they serve and provide a space for ongoing community engagement.

Storytellers

"Lo mas positivo a sido la ilusion de el proyecto que va ser para la gente." The most positive part of this project has been the hope it has given the people. "They build houses, they build like, buildings and everything, but we build community, and that's why I love what I do." "We're building community. It's not only 103 families are going to benefit of it, but also the rest of the community."

Experts in Community Land Trusts and Community Development

While Casa Familiar staff led much of the early research on different models and structures that could address the affordable housing and anti-displacement goals, Casa also enlisted partners with expertise and experience to build a project of this scale, ensure eligibility for specific funding sources, and guide their decision-making on the project. This included expertise in community land trusts structures and governance, development partnerships to access certain funding sources, and an innovative process to hire architects following a series of community workshops from multiple architecture firms.

Important Because

Casa Familiar has an extensive understanding of community needs, and experience managing and developing housing with projects like Las Casitas (8 units) and Living Rooms (10 units). With 103 affordable housing units included in Avanzando "ground up construction, that is an entirely different ballgame" that required the guidance and support from a team of experts. By having the right people at the table, Casa Familiar was able to envision, pursue, and ultimately secure funding to deliver even greater benefits to more households in the community.

Storytellers

"Hire the right people, consultants, a good team" - This refrain was echoed across interviews. "We wouldn't have been able to do it at all...without that expertise"

Las Promotoras

Casa Familiar's Promotoras - trusted community members who connect residents with services and programs - have a long history of organizing, educating, and advocating for residents, ensuring that projects reflect the community’s voice and priorities. For Avanzando, promotoras were part of the early focus groups with staff to build the collective expertise and knowledge about community land trusts within the community.

Important Because

Casa has built trust within the San Ysidro community, and the promotoras program is one way Casa Familiar has demonstrated their commitment to examining and addressing the needs of the community. By building capacity within the promotora network to learn about and facilitate discussion around Community Land Trusts, the promotoras helped ensure community needs and voices were heard - and will continue to be heard - throughout the Avanzando design process.

Storytellers

The "Promotoras network has been especially effective in organizing, educating, and advocating for residents, ensuring that projects reflect the community’s voice and priorities.”

Innovative Model for Other Communities

In creating the Avanzando CLT, Casa Familiar aims to deliver on the needs of San Ysidro residents, while also hoping to create new models to create affordable housing for communities with similar goals to address threats of displacement and create opportunities for generational wealth.

Important Because

This project is the first in California to test the use of Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) for a rent-to-own model—especially at this scale and as a new-build project. With Avanzando being the first, advocacy and education with decision-makers was needed about how the affordable housing tax credits can be used to transition to resident ownership and where policy changes are needed so that other communities can pursue a similar model.

Storytellers

"This is a bright spot on a model that could be replicated." "My hope is that more people will invest in community-led solutions that more decision makers from the state, regional and local level will value community-led solutions and challenge their systems to be able to invest when it counts the most."

Commitment to a Community-Driven Engagement

Centering community needs is a core pillar of Casa Familiar's approach to community development. While Casa Familiar's roots are in programming and services, they recognize that the community and their clients have changing and varied needs and that San Ysidro has experienced decades of underinvestment. By simultaneously examining and addressing community need, Casa Familiar can adapt programs and services to center the community's needs, pursue a multi-faceted funding strategy, and advocate for the San Ysidro community. The goal to center community needs in the design and development of Avanzando builds on Casa's history of engaging the community through workshops, focus groups, and participatory design processes.

Important Because

Storytelling is a way to lift up voices that aren't normally heard, build trust, and highlight community assets and agency within the community development process. Through workshops, listening sessions and informal interactions, the community was given space to share their stories, ideas, and aspirations for Avanzando. Through these interactions, the architects at Yellow Giraffe heard directly from the community about their needs and ideas and worked collaboratively to shape the design of the project. This commitment to community-led development and co-learning has fostered a community that is invested in the success of the Avanzando CLT because they can see how their input has been incorporated and addressed in the project design.

Storytellers

“Tuvimos muchos talleres para darnos a entender como iba funcionar el proyecto, con mucha paciencia y mucho cariño.” We had a lot of workshops to help us understand the project, with a lot of patience and a lot of compassion.

Vision of the Casa Familiar Board

While staff and partners lead the day-to-day activities of Casa Familiar, the Board of Directors sets the strategic plan and vision to guide the organization and provide the resources necessary to achieve the vision. With a deep understanding of community needs and the organization's assets, Casa's Board expanded the focus on community development in the most recent strategic planning effort, Construyendo Juntos, to advance community-led development and solutions in San Ysidro, aiming to build a healthier neighborhood where all residents have the opportunity to thrive.

Important Because

The Board followed through on this vision with a commitment to allocate resources to hire a team with the expertise, experience, and relationships that could create community-led development solutions, like Avanzando.

Storytellers

This is "about Casa delivering something that is transformational for the community they serve." "Casa is in a very different position than most organizations that are starting up community land trust because of the land and properties that they hold and for them to make a decision to transfer those properties into the CLT is a significant decision for any nonprofit organization." "We were able to have the right team on board to drive towards the completion of this project"

Dedicated Staff at Casa Familiar

Casa Familiar has over 50 years of experience serving residents in South San Diego County and specifically San Ysidro, with over 40 services and projects to address the unique and evolving challenges of this border community. A small but dedicated staff lead these programs and services who have a deep appreciation for their colleagues and the community they serve.

Important Because

Due to the complexity of the project, a dedicated staff team has been necessary to make the case to regional leaders, create partnerships, secure philanthropic and grant funding, and motivate internal staff. It took years of work to be where Casa is today. That commitment to community and relationship building, paired with the experience from previous community development efforts motivated Casa staff to explore other models for community-driven projects that could be funded, constructed, and deliver impact to the San Ysidro community more quickly.

Storytellers

“Bold innovation and transformation requires trust and tenacity.” “Thank you to every single person in our team, starting from maintenance to the top, for all the work, the hard work that they do to be able to make every single project, small or big, make it happen.”

Early Philanthropic Supporters

Alliance Healthcare Foundation was an early supporter of the project, providing thought leadership and operational funding that afforded Casa Familiar with time and resources to explore the feasibility of the community land trust, build relationships, train leaders, collect input, and implement feedback to shape the Avanzando process. The early funding was critical to remove barriers and answer questions that enabled this project to get off the ground.

Important Because

Flexible funding and committed partners were essential to building a strong coalition. The collaborative partnership with Alliance Healthcare Foundation helped support effective community engagement efforts to ensure that Casa Familiar's resident-driven development projects reflected the priorities and desires of the people that they intended to benefit, creating lasting benefits for residents while addressing affordability and economic stability.

Storytellers

Alliance Healthcare Foundation funds were used "to help ensure that resident-driven development projects reflected the priorities and desires of the people they intended to benefit."

Create Affordable Homes in San Ysidro

Finding affordable housing is a struggle for many San Diegans, but the need is particularly high in San Ysidro, where more than half of renters spend 30% or more of their monthly income on housing. San Ysidro is a majority Latino community of 26,507 residents, with some of the lowest income census tracts in the City of San Diego and a median gross rent of $1,587 per month. Addressing the need for more affordable housing options in San Ysidro was an early goal with Avanzando.

Important Because

Casa Familiar learned from the outreach efforts for the 10 housing units being developed with the Living Rooms at the Border project how high the demand for affordable housing is in San Ysidro. Units at Living Rooms are designated for low (70% area median income) and very low (50% area median income) income households, but many interested residents left these outreach events saying “I thought” this was affordable housing. Recognizing the high demand for housing and the need for even deeper affordability, Avanzando includes 103 units and will be available to households making 30 - 50% of the area median income.

Storytellers

Avanzando will provide "a triple layer of impact" for the San Ysidro community: 1) new housing for low-income households; 2) perpetual affordability through the community land trust with resident leaderships at the table; and 3) opportunity for generational impact with the transition to home ownership.

Future Homeownership Opportunities

The rent-to-own model will provide residents with the opportunity to purchase the home after 15 years. This strategy helps create generational wealth and is unique as very few developers provide this opportunity as part of a community land trust. While beneficial, it has not been without difficulty due to the requirements imposed by certain funding sources. Casa Familiar has navigated these constraints by offering the 103 units as affordable rental housing for the first 15 years following construction and then proposes to offer the families living at Avanzando an opportunity to purchase the unit they live in at an affordable price.

Important Because

Only about a third of residents in San Ysidro are homeowners, and this project will create the opportunity for families to build generational wealth. Affordability will be maintained through the community land trust structure, providing opportunities for homeowners to build equity, while ensuring the units are affordable in the long-term for the community. Casa Familiar has turned the 15 year timeline into an opportunity to assist and prepare families interested in transitioning from renters to homeowners with financial literacy and education classes.

Storytellers

"Having stability of a home is such a huge thing, right? When people are living day by day, paycheck by paycheck, to have stability in your home. It's like it's golden, right?" And "to even take it even further, and when we do that conversion of ownership, be able to impact the economic well-being of the of that family, perhaps not the parents, but maybe the future generations that are going to be tied to that family are going to see the bearing of that benefit."

Address the Threat of Gentrification and Displacement

San Ysidro residents, like many communities in San Diego and Southern California, face a high cost of living that continues to rise faster than incomes. San Ysidro has also experienced rapid increases in property values that adds pressure to build additional housing. This pressure creates a market for outside investors to purchase or develop property which can push long-standing residents out of a community resulting in displacement or gentrification. Casa Familiar began exploring a community land trust model with help from experts in the field and the California Community Land Trust Network as a way to address the housing need and remove properties from the speculative real estate market to prevent community displacement.

Important Because

San Ysidro residents highlighted this concern to Casa Familiar, which helped shape the creation of a community land trust that minimizes displacement potential. Balancing the need for more affordable housing in San Ysidro with threats of displacement or gentrification became central goals for Casa Familiar in the process to explore and pursue a CLT.

Storytellers

“Casa has adopted a very strong anti-displacement framework and theory of change. That piece has been critical to all of how the project has unfolded and step by step, of involving and engaging the community directly, and creating the CLT.” The community wasn't "saying we're afraid of gentrification, but they were saying Casa, if you build something cool and pretty, what is it going to do to the to the values of the properties and we're seeing this happen in places like Barrio Logan and we could, we could be next."

Experience from Previous Projects

Casa Familiar's experience with previous community development and housing projects - like Las Casitas de Florecitas, Living Rooms at the Border, and La Semilla - have helped to build knowledge and expertise among the Casa team. This prior experience along with a deep understanding of the community's needs motivated Casa Familiar to explore and pursue the creation of the Avanzando CLT.

Important Because

While these previous projects were a smaller scale than Avanzando, they were key to demonstrating the organization's ability to secure funding, and manage land for community benefit.

Storytellers

Living Rooms at the Border "really was an inspiration to see how development can be done differently."

Future Residents and Generations

The community land trust model emphasizes long-term affordability and community benefits in a way that traditional housing development may not. This forward-looking approach provides housing stability for families, creates economic opportunity, and supports greater resident involvement in shaping their community by addressing affordability and displacement for current and future generations.

Important Because

Several of the partners involved in Avanzando spoke about the impact that stable affordable housing had on their families when they were children, and how that had a profound impact on their families and their life trajectories. This personal experience helped shape the long-term focus of Avanzando to provide similar generational impact to future residents.

Storytellers

"I hope they see this as something that is for them and for their families, and that we really wanted to give back something," "You don't see a lot of projects like this, that have that level of generational impact for the individuals and the region." If we can invest in more forward-looking projects like that that bring more heart and community, "those things have ripple effects beyond what you can measure."

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