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THE DESERT SUN (
Group secures support for housing
$15.6M in tax credits set for Mecca farmworkers' home development
Debra Gruszecki
The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition on Wednesday nailed down $15.6
million in state and federal affordable housing tax credits to build a
new Farmworker Manufactured Home Park in Mecca.
The $20 million project will provide rental housing for permanent
farmworkers and their families in the eastern Coachella Valley.
The Home Park is expected to be completed in February 2010. It will
include 53 rental units, a community center, after-school computer
learning center and tot lots. Construction could begin as early as
December.
Located on 10 acres of land at Lincoln Boulevard and 65th Street, the
home park is believed to be the only Inland Empire project to land an
award in the 2008 California Tax Credit Allocation Committee's first
round Rural Set Aside competition.
The Housing Coalition is partnering with the Riverside County Economic
Development Administration on the project.
John Mealey, executive director of the Housing Coalition, said in a
statement that the project will provide affordable housing to
special-needs families in Riverside County.
It will stand as a solid example of the collaboration between Riverside
County and the coalition to offer assistance to local, hard-working
farmworker families, Mealey said.
The Economic Development Agency awarded a $1.5 million grant to the
project.
“Farmworker housing in the eastern Coachella Valley is in short
supply,'' said Riverside County Economic Development Agency spokesman
Tom Freeman. “The more units we can build and make available, the sooner
we will alleviate the shortage of quality, safe migrant farm worker
housing.''
Other funding sources include the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural
Housing Program Fund, $3 million; Wells Fargo Bank; and California
Housing and Community Development Joe Serna Farmworker Program, $1
million.
John Aguilar, director of development for the Coachella Valley Housing
Coalition, said the investor who will purchase the $15.6 million in tax
credits has not yet been picked.
The Home Park rental units, ranging from 1,060 to 1,240 square feet,
will be leased to low- and very low-income families who work and live in
the eastern Coachella Valley.
The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, a nonprofit housing development
corporation, has built more than 3,000 homes and apartments for
low-income households across Riverside and Imperial counties.
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