Affordable housing development with 69 units moves forward in Santa Paula

The Santa Paula Planning Commission has unanimously approved an affordable housing development, clearing the way for the project to move forward. 

Peoples' Self-Help Housing, a nonprofit housing organization based on the Central Coast, is proposing a 69-unit affordable housing development at 714 W. Harvard Blvd. in Santa Paula. The development is Peoples' Self-Help Housing's first in the city of Santa Paula. 

"We've been around for a long time but have been working mostly in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, but we've been hearing more from Ventura County recently about the severe crisis of the need for affordable housing there," said Kenneth Trigueiro, executive vice president of Peoples' Self-Help Housing.

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"We're a community-based nonprofit, so our role is really responding to the community, and folks have been telling us that the situation in Santa Paula is that there needs to be more affordable housing," he continued. 

The project, named People's Place, will be 100 percent affordable. This means all units are set aside for lower-income tenants. The average affordability of the project will be for families making less than 60 percent of the area median income. 

At least 10 percent of units will be for households making less than 30 percent of the area median income, with the cost varying depending on the size of each household. For example, Ventura County's area median income is $97,800, so a family of four making less than $33,850 makes less than 30 percent of the area median income.

The planning commission approved the project Tuesday.

Jeff Mitchem, planning manager for the city of Santa Paula, says the project will provide "sorely needed affordable housing" for the city. He believes it will be the largest affordable housing development in the city.

"Ordinarily, we're lucky to get 20 to 30 affordable units at most. So to deliver 69 units with one project that is 100 percent affordable, and is designed as well as this project is designed is unique for this community," he said. 

Plans include 22 one-bedroom units, 29 two-bedroom units and 18 three-bedroom units. People's Place will include two separate three-story buildings with interior courtyards, walking paths and drought-tolerant landscaping. The site will also feature a community room for events and meetings and a learning center for after-school programs, college tutoring and classes on financial literacy and other topics. 

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The project also received a density bonus. Under the city's municipal code and the state's density bonus law, affordable housing projects are eligible for more density than the development code would normally allow. For People's Place, this will mean a density of 35.5 units per acre, slightly above the development code's allowed density of 29 units per acre. 

The project site is currently the location of Mountain View RV Park, and the land is zoned for commercial development. Because of this zoning, the project required a conditional-use permit in order to build multifamily housing at the site. 

Peoples' Self-Help Housing is purchasing the site from the RV park's owner and will continue operating the site as an RV park until financing for the affordable housing project is secured, according to Trigueiro.

The organization will also contract a relocation specialist to assist people in the RV park with finding a new place to stay. According to Mitchem, while the park only allows temporary stays of 30 days or less, one elderly resident has lived in the park on a permanent basis. 

Now that the project is approved, Trigueiro says Peoples' Self-Help Housing will continue to secure funding, and hopes to finish construction drawings within the next six months. 

"I would hope that in another year we can break ground," he said. 

The city received just one comment in opposition to the project, which Mitchem views as a "really good sign" for future housing projects in the city.

"This project was viewed as a procedural test case for us in a way, because historically the city has had less permissive stances from a policy standpoint on this sort of project. We've had a lot more NIMBYism and opposition to projects of this scale, and I think it was in a large part due to the quality of this application, the design, and the transparency of the process that resulted in far less opposition than has historically been the case," he said. 

Peoples' Self-Help Housing has a similar project planned for the nearby city of Fillmore, which could provide even more affordable housing for the region. That project would include 68 affordable units and is awaiting a hearing date with Fillmore's Planning Commission. 

Erin Rode covers housing, real estate and development for The Star. Reach her at erin.rode@vcstar.com or 805-437-0312.