‘A miracle’: Coachella’s newest affordable housing complex opens after years of work

“A miracle.”

That’s what the head of an affordable housing nonprofit called the first phase of Coachella’s new Placita Dolores Huerta complex at its grand opening celebration on Thursday.

The 56 one-, two- and three-bedroom units are already fully occupied and provide housing to around 200 residents on 2.7 acres off Bagdad Avenue.

Manuela Silva, CEO of Community Housing Opportunities Corporation, explained why she wasn't exaggerating when she called the opening of the community a miracle. Building affordable housing in modern California is always difficult, she said, but Placita Dolores Huerta seemed divinely blessed because the first phase received needed approvals in February 2020 — right before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It started construction right after the COVID-19 crisis and shutdown, and everything at the time was unknowable…,” Silva said. “And we started with labor shortages, inflation, supply chain challenges, this project was hit by every challenge you can imagine.”

Cobbling together $44.2 million to build the project from the federal, state, county and city governments was difficult. But leaders touted the impact it will have on both the people who will live there and the broader community.

“Housing is the most basic of needs, but it is the foundation for health and wealth and family and good schools,” Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez said during the event.

Later he put it even more simply: “If someone is not housed, they’re homeless. We need to make sure they are always housed.”

Massive demand for apartments

Placita Dolores Huerta was built on a portion of an existing affordable housing complex, the Coachella Valley Apartments. A portion of that complex is still standing and inhabited, with CHOC working to secure funding to replace it with the second phase of the new development, which would roughly double the total number of units.

To qualify to live at the complex, residents must earn less than various income thresholds ranging from 30% to 60% of the area median income for their household size. The complex was filled on a first-come, first-served basis with residents needing to show each year that their earnings remain below the income thresholds for their unit.

Those affordability rules will be in place for the next 55 years. Many of the residents are agriculture workers in the Coachella Valley, although the complex is open to anyone who meets the income thresholds.

Joy Silver, CHOC’s Chief Strategy Officer, said it received more than 500 applications from people wanting to live at the complex when the application period opened last year.

The intensity of the demand was on full display during Thursday’s groundbreaking, when a group of residents who said they live in the old Coachella Valley Apartments showed. Some began yelling, saying they had been unfairly denied from living in the new apartments and told their incomes were too high.

They also said conditions at their own apartments are substandard. Several leaders in attendance at the groundbreaking, including Hernandez, told the residents they would look into their concerns and what could be done.

‘The job is not done yet’

The Dolores Huerta project, named after a noted labor leader who cofounded United Farm Workers, is one of a growing number of affordable housing developments in Coachella either finished or in the works. Another developer, Chelsea Investment Group, has built multiple projects, including the 108-unit Tripoli one near downtown. Hernandez said ground will also be broken on the city’s first affordable housing project for seniors.

Joey Acuña Jr., a state assembly candidate and member of the Coachella Valley Unified School District board, said he was proud of Coachella’s leaders for embracing affordable housing at a time when there are constant headlines from around the state about communities fighting the construction of new and affordable housing within their borders.

“It warms my heart to know that we have truly good leaders in our community who are not fighting against, they're fighting for housing in our communities,” he said.

But even as they celebrated the opening of this latest complex, many of the leaders who spoke said there is much more work to be done to address the shortage of housing in the Coachella Valley and beyond, beginning with ensuring the second phase of Dolores Huerta is built.

“For me, this is mixed emotions because the job is not done yet,” said Hernandez, who noted the city still has many residents who need help with housing, including some whose incomes are now too high to qualify to live at the new complex even as they struggle to afford housing elsewhere.

Paul Albani-Burgio covers growth, development and business in the Coachella Valley. Follow him on Twitter at @albaniburgiop and email him at paul.albani-burgio@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: New affordable housing complex opens in Coachella