News from Coachella Valley Housing Coalition:
Friday, May 4, 2018 at 12:15 PM
Community Room @ Rosa Gardens Apartments
555 Rosa Parks Road, Palm Springs, CA 92262
Light refreshments will be provided
The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC), community advocates, elected officials, and many other concerned residents in the Coachella Valley will be hosting a rally for affordable housing during the national Our Homes, Our Voices Week of Action on May 4. The event will take place at Rosa Gardens Apartments in Palm Springs at 12:15 PM to bring attention to the affordable housing crisis throughout the nation. It will be preceded by a tour of several affordable developments in the cities of Palm Springs and Desert Hot Springs beginning at 9:00 AM.
Among the programs that form the cornerstone of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) community development efforts are the HOME Investment Partnerships Program and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG). Across the country, HOME and CDBG funds are helping communities and nonprofits like CVHC, develop new affordable housing for both renters and homebuyers, rehabilitate existing homes, and turn around troubled neighborhoods. Several other programs of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) also support the construction of maintenance of affordable housing in rural parts of the Coachella Valley. Without this investment by the federal government, many of these families would be homeless, living in substandard or overcrowded conditions, or struggling to meet other basic needs.
In the Coachella Valley and across the nation, far too many families– including low income seniors, people with disabilities, farmworkers, veterans, and families with children—struggle to keep a roof over their heads or are experiencing homelessness. More families are renting their homes than ever before, and our nation’s investments in affordable housing have not kept pace. As a result, rents are increasing everywhere. And, because of underfunding, three out of every four families in need of housing assistance are turned away. A recent study conducted by The Desert Sun revealed that the Coachella Valley has about 16,000 rent-restricted housing units and at least 48,000 households who would qualify for them—meaning the Coachella Valley has only about a third of the affordable housing units it needs.
Located in Indio, California, about one hundred miles east of Los Angeles, the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) is an award-winning nonprofit housing development corporation dedicated to helping low-income households improve their living conditions through advocacy, research, construction, and operation of housing and community development projects. For more than 35 years, CVHC has been providing affordable housing and community development programs to hundreds of working families. To date, CVHC has developed more than 4,000 homes and apartments in Riverside and Imperial counties. In addition, CVHC provides its residents access to a variety of programs, including: early childhood education centers, after-school and recreational programming, medical clinics, cultural music, art and dance classes, computer technology instruction, STEM-blended Lego Robotics, an Alternative High School and GED Diploma program, Financial Literacy, English as a Second Language courses, homeownership counseling and other opportunities that improve their lives and livelihoods. For more information on Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, please visit www.cvhc.org.