Another problematic motel in a working class Anaheim neighborhood is being converted into housing – this time for very low income young adults exiting the foster care system or at risk of becoming homeless.
The Tampico Motel conversion in Anaheim on State College Boulevard and Lincoln Avenue comes as cities across Orange County like Stanton and Costa Mesa in recent years have transformed motels that illicit police calls regarding drugs, prostitution and disorderly conduct into affordable homes.
The motel – nestled between a pharmacy and a pizza parlor – is currently fenced off with a security guard monitoring the premises.
Last week, Anaheim City Council members voted 6-0 to issue up to roughly $13.1 million in tax-exempt bonds to help fund construction for the motel conversion and $3 million in taxable bonds if the project goes over budget.
Mayor Ashleigh Aitken was absent from the meeting.
Councilwoman Norma Kurtz said the project is going to help kids coming out of the foster care system find their way and make it on their own as adults
“Up until the time they’re 18, they’re taken care of in the foster youth program. They turn 18, and now they’re an adult, they have no place to go,” Kurtz said at the April 22 meeting.
“They will be able to move here, and you will have wraparound services there to help them get a job so they can pay those rents, start making a living, move themselves, hopefully out of the project before the age out of that project,” she said.
The conversion will create 31 rental studio apartments for people between the ages of 18-24 earning 30% or less of the area median income – people considered extremely low income, earning roughly $33,000 a year or less.
There will also be an apartment for the property manager.
Orange County’s median income is close to $128,000, according to the state’s Department of Housing and Community Development. A four-person household making less than roughly $115,000 a year is considered low income and less than nearly $72,000 is considered very low income.
The bonds for the project will be paid off by a 4% low income housing tax credit issued by the state and rent from tenants.
The total development cost for the project itself is expected to be nearly $26 million with most of the funding coming from the bonds and the tax credits.
The Orangewood Foundation – a youth service provider – will provide onsite supportive services to help tenants reach economic stability, help with job training, education and finding employment.
Dealing With Problematic Motels & Housing The Youth
City officials throughout North and Central Orange County are grappling with scores of problematic motels – places where police are routinely called for illicit activities like drug dealing, prostitution and various violent crimes.
As officials in Anaheim move forward with the Tampico Motel conversion, city council members in Santa Ana are looking to crack down on two motels and a restaurant on First Street they say are “drug dens.”
Earlier this month, Santa Ana City Council members voted unanimously to allow the city attorney to launch a lawsuit against the property owners after local police received over 1,400 calls to the properties related to drugs and disorderly conduct in the past three years.
[Read: Santa Ana Cracks Down on First Street ‘Drug Dens’ After Years of Police Calls]
As Santa Ana officials grapple with what to do with problematic motels – council members in a couple of different cities in Orange County are turning to motel conversions with the help of funding from the state’s Project Homekey program.
Stanton city officials have been aggressively pursuing the program since its inception during the pandemic and have committed at least $6 million to convert rundown motels into housing.
Officials there also issued a moratorium on new motels after over 3,000 police calls at seven motels in the city since 2019 for crimes like prostitution, drugs, robbery and assaults with deadly weapons.
[Read: Stanton Issues Moratorium on New Motels Over Prostitution, Drugs and Crime]
In Costa Mesa, officials converted a Motel 6 into 87 homes for veterans, low income seniors and people at risk of becoming homeless – or are already living on the streets with onsite services like mental health support.
In Anaheim, officials bought the Rainbow Inn, Anaheim Lodge and Covered Wagon motels in recent years – lodgings that officials say were a hotbed for nefarious criminal activity.
[Read: Anaheim Moves to Take Over Motel That Houses ‘Nefarious Activities’]
At Tuesday’s meeting, Anaheim City Manager Jim Vanderpool announced that Rainbow Inn is set for demolition.
Anaheim officials also bought the Tampico Motel in April 2023 for about $5.3 million with State Senator Tom Umberg earmarking $5.5 million in state funds for the project and CalOptima throwing in $2 million.
“This is a very blighted, troublesome motel that our police officers were called to several times just to respond to crimes that were occurring on the property. So to see the transformation that’s coming is, I think, a needed thing,” said City Councilwoman Natalie Rubalcava at Tuesday’s council meeting.
Construction on the conversion is expected to start in mid-June, with the project expected to be finished in September 2026.
Editor’s note: Ashleigh Aitken’s father, Wylie Aitken, chairs Voice of OC’s board of directors.
Hosam Elattar is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at helattar@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @ElattarHosam.