IRVINE — Vice Mayor James Mai stood on a podium in the parking lot and looked up, impressed by the design and features of a new affordable housing community in the middle of the Irvine Business Complex.
Mai spoke to city officials, affordable housing developers and new residents about his own childhood growing up in Section 8 housing.
“It didn’t look like this,” Mai joked as he turned to look at the four-story Cartwright Family Apartments. “We didn’t have a pool. It wasn’t this beautiful…
“But what it was was an opportunity,” he added.
Cartwright Family Apartments
As Orange County continues to grapple with a housing shortage, the Cartwright Family Apartments adds to Irvine’s growing affordable housing inventory, which is much needed in one of the most expensive housing markets in the U.S., where rent for a one-bedroom apartment starts at $2,900.
Tustin-based C&C Development built the $43 million project at 17861 Cartwright Road in partnership with Tustin-based Riverside Charitable Corporation.
C&C bought the former office and flex building for $7.1 million in 2020 with a city loan. Construction started in 2023 on the 1.6-acre site.
The 60-unit community offers one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments and features amenities typically found in market-rate developments, including a swimming pool, children’s playground, barbecue area, community room and more.
C&C Development Principal Todd Cottle said Cartwright serves individuals and families earning between 30% and 80% of Orange County’s area median income (AMI), with a focus on those earning about 60%.
Rents are based on income. So, if a renter’s income is $35,000 a year, the most they would pay for rent is roughly $900 for a one bedroom.
All units are now leased.
He said the project helps address a major challenge in Irvine and across the region: offering working families the opportunity to stay in the communities where they work.
“It’s really important throughout the county, even throughout the region, but almost more acutely in the city of Irvine,” Cottle said. “Our rent disparity between what our residents are paying and what we have across the street is in the thousands of dollars.”
According to RentCafe, the average rent for an apartment in Irvine is $3,237, which is up 1% from last year’s $3,205.
The Need for Affordable Housing
For affordable housing developers, rising land, housing and material costs make it harder to build affordable housing, especially in places like Irvine.
Cottle mentioned that Lennar recently bought the Von Karman Creative Campus, just a few blocks from the Cartwright. The 25-acre former office site sold for $9.3 million per acre.
Cottle explained that affordable housing developers must pay market rates for land, labor and construction. He added that financing these projects is also very complex and usually takes a village.
He said Cartwright needed funding from the city of Irvine, Orange County, tax-exempt bond financing and low-income housing tax credits.
“You’re buying property at market-rate prices and paying market wages to build the project,” Cottle said. “In order to have those rents restricted, you need those funding sources to make the development work.”
Cottle said it is worth it, saying affordable housing developments offer long-term benefits that go far beyond the first residents who move in.
“For families that have the opportunity to move in, stay in the city of Irvine and have a rent that’s affordable to what they’re making, it really helps provide stability,” he said. “It can be a life-changing event.”
The project has a 55-year affordability covenant, so future generations of residents will still have access to below-market housing.
Providing for Residents
For Mai, the grand opening of the 60-unit affordable housing development meant more than just adding another apartment building in the city.
He said it’s a chance for families struggling with Orange County’s high housing costs to find stability and new opportunities.
“What this represents here is opportunity for a family that is stacked six deep in a one-bedroom apartment,” Mai said. “For first responders and people who live and work in Irvine but have to commute two hours. This is a life changer for a lot of people.”
