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SALINAS CALIFORNIAN January 9, 2008
Council OKs housing project
The Salinas City Council approved a permit to tear down Casa del Sol and convert it into housing for low-income people with mental illness Tuesday night. The 6-1 vote, with Councilman Sergio Sanchez dissenting, approved a permit to replace the chronically underutilized farm-worker housing with a $5.6 million project. Casa de Sol opened in 1996 with 44 rooms for single farm workers. But for three months each year, rooms are available for non-migrant, low-income workers in the area. Right now, out of the 22 people who live in the housing unit only six of them are migrant workers, said Starla Warren, director of development for housing from the Monterey County Housing Authority. With a vacancy rate of 68 percent for the last several years, she said the model has not worked for the community. Warren said Casa del Sol has struggled since its opening to attract renters, and because of that has struggled financially. She told the City Council that Casa del Sol is about $780,000 in debt. Verifying tenants' legal immigration status has been an obstacle, Warren said, along with not having someone available to cook for the workers, who share bathroom and kitchen facilities. "We have to maximize the highest and the best use," Warren said. "There are finite housing resources in Salinas, and we want to utilize the unit to its full potential." Interim Inc., a Monterey-based nonprofit organization that provides support services and affordable housing to people with mental illness, plans to take over the site. Interim will replace the existing buildings with new permanent and transitional affordable housing for low-income adults with psychiatric disabilities who are homeless or are at risk of homelessness, said Barbara Mitchell, Interim's executive director. The renovated site, located on Sun Street in Salinas, would have 15 studio apartments, two four-bedroom units, one apartment for a resident manager and a community room and offices, Mitchell said. The project is expected to house 23 residents, she said. But the new construction project was not welcomed by everyone during the City Council meeting. Councilman Sanchez said he felt torn about the issue. "In principle, I can never be supportive of this," he said. "We need both, and we shouldn't have to sacrifice one for the other." Sanchez said that if the situation were reversed and the city planned to demolish a facility for homeless people with mental disabilities and replace it with one for migrant workers, he would be against that, too. "Destroying something to build something else is a waste of taxpayers' money," he said
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