California’s Plan to Fill the Middle-Income Gap Starts With Market Rate Acquisitions

September 12, 2021 Bianca Barragan, Bisnow Southern California 

In April, a 507-unit, Class-A multifamily building in Glendale called the Altana sold for $300M — a record for the largest multifamily transactions in California this year to date — to a partnership between Waterford Property Co. and the California Statewide Communities Development Authority. 

The partnership’s plan? To lower rents, not raise them.

Using a program available through the CSCDA, partnerships between private entities, the CSCDA and cities can buy newer, high-end multifamily buildings like the Altana, which opened in 2017, and convert the units to moderate-income housing, which is affordable to those making between 80% and 120% of the area median income.