Union Tower opens in National City, with 94 homes and 24 of them for veterans
A new affordable housing community opened on Tuesday in National City, the County of San Diego reported that afternoon. Union Tower brings 94 apartment homes to F Avenue for low income families and veterans, in a project the city and its nonprofit developer have been building since the summer of 2024.
NATIONAL CITY: The doors are open. Union Tower, a new affordable housing community of 94 apartment homes for low income families and veterans, opened on Tuesday in National City, the County of San Diego reported on Tuesday afternoon, and the county carried the grand opening live. The county describes the opening as a step against the region's housing shortage, and the timing gave the day a second meaning: a building with homes reserved for veterans opened on the eve of Veterans Day.
The homes stand at 2312 F Avenue, in two buildings of four and seven stories, built on the site the city has tracked through its project page since construction started on June 28, 2024. Of the 94 homes, 93 are affordable units and one is a manager unit, and more than half of the homes, 69 units, carry adaptable features, according to the city's project record.
Who the homes are for
The apartments are open to households earning between 30 and 60 percent of the County of San Diego's area median income, and the development prioritizes local, low income households under the city's Local Preference Policy, the city said when it announced the project in February. Twenty four of the homes are reserved for veterans who have experienced homelessness.
For those veteran households, the housing comes with support attached. The city records that residents who have experienced homelessness are offered case management, care for physical and mental health, and coordination of the services available to residents.
The partnership behind it
Union Tower was developed by Wakeland Housing and Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization that serves low income communities, working with the City of National City, whose housing authority announced the development in February as a step toward expanding access to quality, affordable housing. The city said the project serves the housing authority's stated mission: adequate, affordable housing for National City, and wider economic opportunity.
Tuesday's opening closes a construction story that began in the summer of 2024 and an application story that ran through the city's funding competitions. What it opens is simpler to state: 94 households, in a county where affordable openings are routinely counted in dozens, now have an address on F Avenue.
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