Clairemont man who opposed complex for homeless seniors: It was ‘blessing in disguise'

As San Diego looks for ways to address the housing crisis, oftentimes the plan is to build more developments, more shelters, more places for people to live. Sometimes, new housing generates controversy and even strong opposition from those who live around it.

In 2018, one complex in Clairemont did just that.

Years later, one resident who led some of the pushback to that development said it turned out better than the community expected and is now asking his fellow San Diegans to keep an open mind if projects like it are proposed in their neighborhoods.

“This was a big eyesore about six years ago,” Mark Bromley said of the site that is now the Ivy Senior Apartments, located on Mount Alifan Drive just west of Balboa Avenue.

“Fast-forward: It actually turned out pretty good,” Bromley said. “It's actually a lot nicer than what people expected, and I think part of that reason is because there were people like myself and a handful of others that were really boisterous.”

Bromley was one of several people who formed the community group Clairemont Cares in an effort to put pressure on elected officials and the developer behind the Ivy Senior Apartments.

The building constructed by nonprofit Wakeland Senior Housing and Development Corporation has 52 units for seniors who have experienced homelessness and have chronic medical needs.

When the plan to build the complex emerged in 2018, Clairemont Cares passed out fliers, packed community meetings and spread the word about the project.

“We just wanted answers. Just be transparent. Just talk to us, you know?” Bromley said, adding that residents were frustrated by what they saw as a lack of communication and input.

“It was just going to be: 'This is going to be what's going on and you don't have a choice. You don't have any input. You don't have anything you can do to push this away,' " Bromley said. "So that was a big problem."

Despite the pushback, the development moved forward, opening in late 2021.

“We often see this kind of reaction from community members when we propose supportive housing for their neighborhoods, mainly based on fears and misperceptions about people experiencing homelessness,” Wakeland president and CEO Rebecca Louie said in a statement. “But once the doors have opened and our residents are moved in, all that goes away. Ivy Senior Apartments is a perfect example of this.

“We went through some of the most intense community opposition we've ever experienced to get it built, but here we are three years later, and now all we hear from neighbors is how happy they are to see our seniors in their neighborhood,” Louie’s statement continued. “Many tell us they feel proud to know their community is part of the solution, providing these seniors with stable homes and the services they need to thrive.”

Wakeland said the project did not fundamentally change based on community feedback but pointed to two community meetings held, as well as an advisory council formed with community representatives that helped guide the corporation.

Now, Bromley looks at what was once a dilapidated gray building and said he feels compassion, calling it “a blessing in disguise.” To developers looking to build a complex like this, he said, buy-in needs to happen from the start.

“If you're an open book and transparent about things, that may have been received a lot better than what it was to begin with,” Bromley said. “Instead of us fighting against it, we could be, like, on your side and explaining why it's going to be a good thing. But there was no communication.”

And for San Diegans who may see a project like the Ivy Senior Apartments in their neighborhoods, he had some advice.

“I would say: Be open-minded,” Bromley said. “Don't have your blinders on like a lot of us did.”