For the first time in years, Anakalia isn’t worrying about the rent. As a resident of the newly opened The Iris at San Ysidro, she is enjoying a peace of mind that has long eluded her.
“People don’t understand how important affordable housing is,” Anakalia, 33, said. “Until you have it, you spend all your money on rent and you have nothing left for life’s emergencies.”
Rent has always been a challenge for Anakalia – she’s a health and wellness coach for the San Diego Unified School District and head of a household that includes her 10-year-old son and two ailing grandparents, who grapple with diabetes and heart failure.
Like so many others, she has been buffeted by the rising cost of housing and other living costs.
San Diegans, in particular, need to earn nearly $48 an hour to afford median rental prices – a figure more than double her income. Still, she always managed, even if paying the rent meant forgoing other necessities.
Then, in December 2020, her longtime landlord gave her 30 days’ notice to vacate so he could sell her duplex. She said she was driven sick with fear that her family would end up on the streets or in shelters.
Luckily, 211 San Diego approved her need for a one-time $3,500 emergency affordable housing voucher to help her find a new apartment and pay for the deposit. After four years, the new complex became unaffordable, jumping up to $2,145 per month for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment.
“Every year, apartment complexes send you a letter explaining how your rent is going up by hundreds of dollars and it’s so discouraging,” she said. “It disrupts your whole life.”
This November, just as her rent was about to exceed her resources, Anakalia received a call that took her breath away: Her family had been selected to live at The Iris at San Ysidro in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment home.
The rent? A fraction of the cost of the surrounding area – roughly $900.
The 100-apartment Iris at San Ysidro is a community built with Anakalia and similar young professionals in mind. It is adjacent to San Diego’s light rail system and across the street from a park freshly renovated by National CORE.
“It feels amazing to know that someone cares,” Anakalia said. “This new apartment means I’ll be able to have a savings account. I’ll be able to afford car repairs and my grandparents’ medical emergencies. I can even start saving for my son’s college. People my age don’t have savings because housing costs take up most of their pay.”
This newfound financial flexibility means her son can access programs that support his academic growth and nurture his interests, including coding, cooking, art, sports and world cultures.
That peace of mind also means Anakalia can turn her attention to a long-delayed dream: obtaining her nursing degree. Now that she worries less about housing, she plans on becoming a licensed vocational nurse.
“I’m still young – I’m still in my 30s and there are people who still go back to school in their 50s,” Anakalia said. “That is a goal that I for sure will complete.”
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