SANTA CRUZ (California) SENTINEL June 2, 2006 First phase of low-income housing project completed in Pajaro
PAJARO — Jose Luis Piñon spent the past five years laboring in Pajaro Valley strawberry fields. No matter how hard the 50-year-old Piñon works and how many berry crates he fills, the American dollar seems to slip away from him when it's time to pay rent. "The bills are expensive," said the Spanish-speaking Piñon, who pays $850 a month for the one-bedroom apartment he shares with his wife in Las Lomas. His last paycheck, $245, makes putting a roof over their heads even tougher. That's why Piñon happened to stop by the Salinas Road apartments Thursday hoping he might have a shot at moving into the new low-income complex. A year ago, it would have been hard to find anyone to live at the Salinas Road apartments, said Matt Huerta, project manager for the Gilroy nonprofit South County Housing Corp. "No one did that before," said Huerta. "No one came by Salinas Road apartments and said, 'Can we live here?' " That was before South County Housing razed the 77 dilapidated and boarded-up apartments occupied by 55 families at the property known as 15-17-19 Salinas Road and replaced it with a 63-unit, $23 million complex. The project was funded through money secured by nearly a dozen partners including Monterey County's Redevelopment Agency and state and federal sources. "It's absolutely amazing the people power it took to get here," said Huerta. On Thursday, the construction crews that labored to complete two of the five buildings that are now ready for tenants were treated to a barbecue lunch in appreciation for their work. "We had some real quality subcontractors," said Ted Lytle, senior project manager of Point Richmond-based Segue Construction Inc. There were several hurdles the project had to clear, though, before it got off the ground. "The site was just really nasty," said Huerta. During the construction phase a crew discovered an underground vault of diesel fuel that had to be cleaned up. "There were a ton of issues," said Huerta. One of the biggest was buying the old complex from the owners. The residents held a rent strike finally, forcing its sale in 2002. "You ride down the street and you no longer see a slum," said Jack Foley, manager of communications for South County Housing. "It's a stunning difference not just in the structures itself but in the whole tone this gives to the neighborhood," Foley said. In the complex, 26 of the units are designated specifically as farmworker housing. Of those, 21 will be occupied by families who moved from the old dilapidated complex and have since been staying at Kents Court Mobile Home Park on Railroad Avenue. All of the units though are for low-income families who can expect to pay anywhere from $430 for a one-bedroom to $930 for a three-bedroom apartment, but no more than 30 percent of their income toward rent, said Huerta. The first residents could begin moving in over the weekend, now named Nuevo Amanecer, or New Beginning, he said. "It will perhaps set the tone for some other wonderful changes in their lives," said Foley. Piñon, the berry picker, hopes there is room for him and his wife in one of the 20 vacant apartments. "If we have luck, it would be nice," he said.
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