Innovative Housing Opportunities (IHO) is developing a 47-unit intergenerational affordable housing community in Anaheim, California.
The nonprofit has started construction on Lincoln Beach, which will be home to low-income seniors, with 10% of the apartments dedicated to youth transitioning out of foster care.
“The benefit of an intergenerational project that has older adults and transition-age youth is the ability to incorporate skills-exchange and mentorship programs,” says Brenda Walters, IHO community engagement and programs director. “For example, seniors can teach cooking, sewing, or gardening, and young adults can teach tech skills, social media, or smartphone photography.”
The nonprofit organization also looks to organize “Fix-It Fridays,” where youth help with small tech or furniture repairs while seniors share life skills such as budgeting or home maintenance.
“Some of the other special programs that IHO plans to introduce incorporate storytelling and oral history projects, such as a ‘Living Library’ where seniors share their life stories and young adults record them as podcasts or short videos as well as organize creative writing workshops that turn life experiences into a community anthology,” adds Walters.
Lincoln Beach is part of a larger mixed-income development at the site, which includes 60 market-rate and moderate-income for-sale townhomes developed by Brandywine Homes, set to begin construction later this year.
IHO’s development also includes the planned adaptive reuse of an existing gas station at the corner of Lincoln and Beach. Called The Launch Pad, it will be a new small business incubator and “hyper-local community hub” designed to spark local entrepreneurship, support the community’s economic growth, and become a gathering spot. Development planning on this phase will begin late 2025.
“IHO believes in a mixed-income and mixed-use model where we can equip our residents to move in, move up, move ahead, and reach back. Through our comprehensive development strategy and partnership with Brandywine, we are creating an intergenerational high-performance community development model that makes home ownership attainable, and we further IHO’s commitment to social and economic mobility,” said Rochelle Mills, IHO president and CEO.
Lincoln Beach is also notable because it’s part of Anaheim’s initiative to transform a 1.5-mile stretch of Beach Boulevard into a walkable and livable street with new homes, businesses, and public spaces. Launched in 2021, the initiative is focused on demolishing motels and other blighted buildings along the street to make way for redevelopment opportunities.
Financing for the approximately $36.7 million development includes funding from city of Anaheim, Anaheim Housing Authority, California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, Department of Housing and Urban Development, RBC Community Investments, and City National Bank (an RBC company).
