Ito Girard & Associates were mentioned in an opinion piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune earlier this week in regards to affordable homes in San Diego.
You can find the piece, written by Louis Nguyen, by clicking here.
Taken from the article:
“Hilltop Encanto, a project by longtime San Diego developers Ito Girard & Associates and La Jolla MJ Management to bring 47 homes to the Encanto community, highlights the importance of attainable homeownership for middle-income families — also known as the “missing middle.”
This approach aims to put homeownership within reach for working families and public service providers. Taking care of the “missing middle” is especially challenging in California given the high costs of land and construction.
Most housing projects in San Diego are high-end ones because those units command the highest profit margins. On the other end of the spectrum, the government provides tax and other incentives to reduce the costs of construction and encourage the building of affordable homes.
Unfortunately, there are no such economic factors to drive the middle market. This market consists mainly of rental units and offers little assistance to single-family homebuyers, which makes it tough to build wealth through homeownership.
To help close this gap, the Hilltop Encanto developers are pricing their 47 homes below market price so they are attainable for families in the middle-income range. Even more impactful is that the project will provide support for closing costs and down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers and Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities.”
Click here to see the entire article on the San Diego Union-Tribune website.