On June 1st, Governor Newsom announced the awarding of $16 million in grants to increase homeownership for farmworkers in California. The grants will support five programs statewide to build or purchase homes for lower-income farmworkers and advance programs that help farmworkers become or remain homeowners through mortgage assistance.
Three of the five awards are for programs in RCRC member counties:
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Santa Maria - People’s Self-Help Housing: $4,004,000
People’s Self-Help Housing will use the funds for a homeownership development project and technical assistance for self-help housing. The development project will have 49 total homes with 40 of those being affordable for people at 40-80% AMI; of these, 16 homes will be reserved for farmworker families. The community will be built in Santa Maria, Santa Barbara County.
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Watsonville - Habitat For Humanity Monterey Bay: $1,202,500
Habitat for Humanity Monterey Bay will assist five units with funding under the First-time Homebuyer Mortgage Assistance Program and Technical Assistance for Self-Help Housing Grant. The current project, located in Watsonville, will support families at or below 70% AMI.
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Merced, Madera, Kern - Self-Help Enterprises: $999,370
Self-Help Enterprises will work with families in Kern, Madera, and Merced counties to provide first-time homebuyer mortgage assistance. The program will assist 10 low-income, and/or very low-income, farmworker families at or below 80% AMI. Funds to individual homeowners will be in the form of loans.
The full announcement is available on the Governor’s Office Website here.