A Few Minutes With Cristina Martinez

Cristina Martinez | Project Manager, Affirmed Housing

Though still in her 20s, Cristina Martinez brings a lifetime of experience to her role as project manager with San Diego-based Affirmed Housing.

As a little girl, she recalls her grandfather saying he’d only sell his long-time neighborhood market if there was a covenant placed on the land that only allowed affordable senior housing to be built in its place.

A Magna Cum Laude graduate of UC San Diego (Urban Studies/Planning) in 2016, Cristina is now in her second year with Affirmed, after three years with Community Housing Works as an assistant project manager.

She’s also a proud graduate (2016-17) of LISC’s Housing Development Training Institute (HDTI), a two-week seminar that provides practical, comprehensive, and intensive skills training for staff members of non-profit affordable housing developers in California.

What are your day-to-day tasks?

As a project manager, I’m responsible for taking on a project after the property is acquired.  I obtain entitlements, apply for financing, select the consultants, oversee the design process, and work with the lenders and investor to close the deal. Then comes the process of actually building the project to completion. Shortly after we reach building completion, we hand it off to our asset management team.

What do you like most about your role?

I like the fact that no two days and two projects are ever the same. The job keeps me on my toes, which I enjoy. I try to anticipate everything before it happens, but you can’t always do that. My colleague has a coffee mug that says, “Being a project manager is easy. It’s like riding a bike – except the bike is on fire. And you’re on fire.”

Tell me more about your grandfather’s market and how that experience had a role in what became your career…

When I was growing up, my grandparents had a little neighborhood market in San Fernando, which we had in our family for over 60 years. The city took away the market’s liquor license unfairly, and the market couldn’t survive without it. After losing that battle, my grandfather told the city that he’d sell them the property – but only if a covenant was placed on the land which only allowed affordable housing for seniors to be built in its place.

What were the most important lessons you learned from the Housing Development Training Institute?

What I learned was the “why” behind almost every step in each phase of development. Not only did I gain a greater appreciation of those specifics, I gained a deeper knowledge of the overall process.

What feeling do you get when one of your projects gets completed?

I haven’t completed a project as the project manager yet, but I will experience that over the next couple of years with the four projects I’m currently working on. A few years ago, as an assistant project manager at my previous company, our first residents were moving into North Park Seniors, San Diego’s first LGBT-affirming affordable housing development. One resident told me he was on the verge of living in his car, and others told me they were ostracized from their family because of their LGBT identity and were in financial distress with nowhere to turn. They were so excited and truly grateful.

What do you find most fulfilling about your current role?

I’m always thinking about the end goal, which is to provide housing for people who need it most. I feel very fortunate to be working in this field because, ultimately, we have a positive impact on peoples’ lives by providing much needed affordable housing.