Orchard View Gardens, the affordable housing development at St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church in Buena Park, is set for a grand opening ceremony March 12. Bishop John Harvey Taylor, National CORE team members, local officials, and others will celebrate with St. Joseph’s and welcome residents to the building.
The congregation of St. Joseph’s has been working towards developing affordable housing on their land for almost 10 years, and now Orchard View Gardens is ready to welcome seniors earning less than 60% of the area’s median income into 66 affordable apartments, 12 of which are reserved as supportive housing for seniors who have experienced homelessness, on the St. Joseph’s campus.
Orchard View Gardens was developed by National CORE as the second affordable housing development created in a collaboration between National CORE and the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. The development was additionally supported by Episcopal Communities & Services (ECS) and the Hope through Housing Foundation, which will provide support and services to residents of the apartments.
“Orchard View Gardens represent a generational commitment to the foundational work of the church in Southern California,” said the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles. “Thanks to the welcoming spirit of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church, the visionary work of National CORE and the indispensable support of our partners at Episcopal Communities & Services, a whole new community of our neighbors will have a place to lay their heads for years to come.”
Taylor has set a diocesan goal to create affordable housing developments on at least 25 percent of the diocese’s 128 church campuses.
Alexa Washburn, National CORE chief development officer, said that the development, and the opportunity it provides for its residents, shows the power of partnerships like that between National CORE and the diocese.
“Orchard View Gardens is yet another amazing community that will protect seniors, who are quickly becoming our most vulnerable homeless population,” Washburn said. “Orchard View Gardens is proof that hard work and cooperation can be powerful tools in the fight against homelessness.”
The Rev. Cindy Voien, rector at St. Joseph’s, said that exploration with National CORE began even before her time at St. Joseph’s, under former rector the Rev. Canon Mary Trainor, around 2016. The process was long, and had its ups and downs, but the congregation has always remained committed to development, Voien said. “It’s never been on the back burner. It’s it had its moments where it wasn’t progressing very fast, but interest did not wane.”
Voien said that now she and her congregation are excited to welcome new residents. She doesn’t know exactly how residents will want to interact with St. Joseph’s, but hopes that there will be interest in participating in the church community. “It’s new territory for us; we don’t know,” Voien said. “But we’re a place of extreme welcome.” She said the congregation is currently preparing some welcome gifts for the 13 apartments that will serve as permanent supportive housing.
The Rev. Michael Bell, director of housing and business development at ECS, said developments like Orchard View Gardens are essential as the housing crisis makes seniors increasingly vulnerable.
“People aged 50 and older are the fastest-growing group of our neighbors at-risk-of housing insecurity or already experiencing homelessness,” Bell said. “We all benefit from collaboration with mission-aligned housing developers like National CORE who graciously navigate the complex, heavy-lifting of financing and development, manifesting exemplary affordable housing communities like this one that will benefit our neighbors for generations.”
Voien said that if she were to give advice to congregations currently exploring the possibility of affordable housing or working towards development, it would be not to get discouraged. She said that after a couple of competitions for funding in which the project at St. Joseph’s was not selected, a California budget surplus led to the promise of funding. “It was a very great blessing for us, and those blessings will come again,” Voien said.
The development was funded in part through the Orange County Housing Finance Trust, Special Needs Housing Program, the City of Buena Park and Orange County Community Services.
Voein said that it was only through the work and cooperation of many organizations and entities that this good work is possible. It took “a lot of people working in their own capacity and in jobs God called them to work to get this done,” Voien said.