San Diego Housing Federation Soccer Clinic Provides Free Fun for Poway Kids

Nearly 150 kids and their families visited Poway's Hilleary Park last night for a free soccer clinic led by Julie Veee, five-time San Diego Sockers champion and USA 1980 Summer Olympics qualifying team member, and professional players from the San Diego Sockers.  

Assemblyman Brian Maienschein and Poway City Councilman Jim Cunningham were also in attendance to present the young aspiring athletes with certificates of completion for the training. 

The children, ranging from kindergarten to grade 12, were all residents of affordable housing communities in Poway and the surrounding area. The San Diego Housing Federation, along with affordable housing developers with properties in the area, hosted the free clinic to bring the children and families of these neighborhoods together for an evening of fun and healthy exercise.

The recent economic crisis made an already difficult housing situation for San Diegans much worse.  The collapse of the for-sale housing market resulted in increased rents and decreased vacancy of rental units affordable to San Diego's working families, seniors, veterans and those with disabilities.  Paired with the substantial job losses experienced throughout the County, housing options became even more out of reach.  

Housing is considered “affordable” when it costs no more than thirty percent of a household’s monthly income – including rent and utilities. When people can afford to live in safe and stable housing, while covering other household necessities – healthy food, transportation and medicine – families, communities and economies thrive.

A study by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition demonstrates that in San Diego County, the “housing wage" — the actual hourly wage needed to be able to afford a standard two bedroom apartment — is $26.58. Earning minimum wage, a person would have to work 3.3 full-time jobs to afford a place to live. 

Affordable housing communities are rent-restricted to those who earn low to very low incomes –generally thirty to sixty percent of area median incomes. Affordable housing residents are the workforce that keep our city running like: leisure and hospitality workers (average annual income $22,360) childcare workers (average annual income, $ 24,476); and nursing aides and orderlies (average annual income, $ 25,642.) Residents are also our communities’ seniors, servicemen and women and those with disabilities.

—Provided by the San Diego Housing Federation