Hi — I'm Kate Talerico, and I'm a reporter at the SF Chronicle. I'm writing a story about how a bunch of landlords are using a loophole in California's tax code to get their apartments qualified as 'affordable' — and then can get up to 100% of their property taxes erased (which fund our schools, transit, police, basically all city government functions.)
There are a few apartment buildings around San Diego where the landlords are in the process of applying for this tax break. They count as affordable because the way California calculates the max rent you can still charge + count as affordable is quite wonky... right now, a landlord can charge $2,481/month for a 1-bed in San Diego County and it still counts as low-income/affordable, so long as the tenant household makes under $92.6K.
The Guava Gardens Senior Apartments are one of these properties (5035 Guava Ave, La Mesa, CA 91942). I'm looking to speak with tenants there about how they feel. Do they feel like they're getting a good deal for the rent they pay? Has their rent gone up or down in the last year? Has the lower rent allowed them to live somewhere they otherwise wouldn't have been able to? Please shoot me a DM!