ShoreLINE
California
ShoreLINE is a new, 100% affordable, transit-oriented development located at the Grantville Trolley Station on Alvarado Canyon Road. The project was built by Affirmed Housing in collaboration with the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS), and was inaugurated on April 30, 2024.
San Diego faces a severe housing shortage, with a significant gap between housing supply and demand, particularly for low-income renters, leading to high housing costs and a growing number of people experiencing homelessness. As of 2024, San Diego County is short more than 134,000 affordable rental homes for low-income renters, and on average, a person needs to make almost $50 per hour to afford the average monthly rent.
The new, five-story ShoreLINE building features 124 studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units reserved for low-income households. Not only is ShoreLINE a beautiful building, with artistic flourishes and luxury-feeling outdoor spaces, but the access to light rail also makes it a convenient place to live and a model for creating inclusive, transit-oriented housing in some of our most expensive cities. ShoreLINE is an excellent example of paving the way for healthier cities and San Diegans by repurposing a park and ride location to provide much-needed relief to San Diego’s housing crisis.
ShoreLINE is part of a larger effort MTS is advancing to redevelop its top-tier park and ride locations into transit-oriented developments. Since the development is a high-density affordable development, the project was awarded as a transit-oriented development, and as such is built adjacent to the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s Grantville Station light rail and bus station. This promotes public transit ridership and provides for easy transportation for residents.
Ryan Clumpner, the Vice Chair of the San Diego Housing Commission, said ShoreLINE is a great example of building housing close to public transit. “More than half the people who live here are relying on public transit and don’t have to pay for a car,” Clumpner said. “So, being able to have housing that they can afford, that is next to transit, is really important to them.”
The ShoreLINE housing development will house people or families who make 30-60% of San Diego’s median income; rent will not exceed 30% of their gross income. “That’s important because it allows them to take the rest of their income for food, education, all the needs a family has,” Clumpner said. “They’ll now spend that money in this area locally, and they aren’t stuck spending 50-60% of their income on housing instead.”
The new, five-story ShoreLINE building features laundry facilities located on every level, and the ground floor includes parking, bike storage, office space for property management, a community room with gathering space, a computer lab and a kitchen. 25 of the units, or 20% of the total units, receive rental assistance through project-based vouchers provided by the San Diego Housing Commission. Residents also have access to an expansive 5,800-square-foot courtyard, outdoor gardens and gathering spaces with built-in seating, an enclosed tot lot play area and a barbecue station. Access to the building will be monitored 24/7 and restricted to residents only. Designed to encourage pedestrian and bike activity, the new development features a lush, 26-foot-wide paseo that leads to the main entrance and several paths through and around the building connect to the trolley/bus station.
In addition to delivering much-needed affordable housing to the region, ShoreLINE offers complimentary on-site services tailored to aid and empower residents to live their best lives. The services plan includes after school programs for children and adult education programs that focus on health and wellness, skills and career building, computer education, human services, contract management, civic involvement and community leadership.
The development provides for a service coordinator who works directly with community-based organizations, and other partnering organizations to add additional services and implement social activities for all tenants. The service coordinator also supports the tenants in establishing a sense of community and increases housing stability.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria gathered with MTS Board Chair and San Diego City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn, Councilmember Raul Campillo, and regional housing leaders for the grand opening in 2024.
“ShoreLINE is another example of how MTS is repurposing park and ride locations to provide much-needed relief to our region’s housing crisis,” San Diego City Councilmember and MTS Board Chair Stephen Whitburn said in a statement. “This transit-oriented development has proven to be a successful opportunity for the public and private sectors to partner to offer affordable housing along with sustainable transit options for San Diegans.”
