San Bernardino board OKs funds for housing, community center

The San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors committed up to $5 million for 92 affordable housing units and a community center, officials announced Thursday.

The funding, which comes primarily from the federal HOME Investment Partnerships Program, will enable the San Bernardino County Housing Authority and its partner National Community Renaissance to develop the housing units and community center as part of Phase IV of the Arrowhead Grove Inclusive Redevelopment Project, officials said.

Arrowhead Grove will replace the former Waterman Gardens public housing site that was situated on the southeast corner of Waterman Avenue and Baseline Street in the city of San Bernardino. Waterman Gardens was a 38-acre, 252-unit complex the housing authority built in 1943.

“Since 2018, (the housing authority) has pursued an aggressive revitalization plan for the site, which has included the demolition of the 76-year-old buildings and the development of a mixed-used, mixed-income, sustainable community that, at full buildout, will consist of 534 new units of housing, commercial space, an onsite Head Start preschool program and a new community center,” county officials said in a statement.

The county maintains ownership of the entire 38-acre parcel of land, subdividing the lot into separate parcels by phase, officials said. Phases I, II and III of the project have yielded the 322 affordable housing units.

Phase IV will include 22 one-bedroom, 46 two-bedroom and 24 three-bedroom units, totaling 92 new affordable units. The targeted income levels for prospective occupants are 80% and below the area median income. 

A community center is also planned for Phase IV of the project. The center will lease office space to nonprofit organizations to provide co-located services for low-income residents, officials said.

“Preliminary plans for the community center include a partnership with Dignity Health, a major healthcare provider in California, which would lease the west wing of the building to open a new Federally Qualified Health Center,” according to the county.

Officials described Arrowhead Grove as “a collaborative effort with numerous stakeholders” that seeks to help achieve the objectives of the Countywide Vision and the Homeless Strategic Action Plan. Constructing affordable housing units is “a critical component of the homeless continuum of care, offering safe, affordable sources of permanent housing that are needed to resolve and prevent homelessness.”

The $5 million that the board just approved will be leveraged with additional funding from federal, state and local governments and other third-party funding sources, according to the county.

“San Bernardino County … has the highest concentration of unsheltered homeless, the highest concentration of homeless K-12 students as identified by school district data, and one of the highest concentrations of poverty and households at risk of homelessness,” officials said.

The project was expected to start construction in 2026’s first quarter, with a completion target set for the fourth quarter of 2027.

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