Housing and Services Come Together on a Seniors Campus

Coastside Senior Housing puts its elderly residents within footsteps of critical ­services.

Located in Half Moon Bay, Calif., the property includes a 7,035-square-foot adult day health center and an 8,358-square-foot senior center with a meal program on the ground floor. The development’s 40 affordable housing units are above.

The $14.7 million development is an integral piece of the larger Half Moon Bay Senior Campus that earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s Build­­ing Healthy Communities for Active Aging Award in 2010. The overall plan envisions linking seniors programs with nearby housing. Residents in more than 300 seniors housing units built or under development will be able to walk to the Coastside Senior Housing building to access its key programs.

Co-locating the housing with essential service programs allows residents to age in place, says Tim Dunn, housing developer at Mercy Housing California. His organization partnered with Lesley Senior Communities to develop the new project.

Many residents were homeless or living in unsafe situations prior to moving into Coastside. The community is a project-based Sec. 8 development, so residents pay just 30 percent of their income toward rent.