New resorts, arenas, wave parks and other developments are bringing new job opportunities to the Coachella Valley. With workers being driven in by the thousands, affordable housing programs are feeling the pressure to offer additional options.

“We’re talking about a waiting list for single family homes within the thousands,” Javier Lopez, Director of Communications for the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, said.

Lopez said keeping up with the demand for affordable housing is already a challenge. The CVHC, through its mutual self-help program, has assisted over 1,600 low-income families since 1987.

“We just can’t develop fast enough,” he said.

The coalition has 33 rental housing complexes, totaling more than 2,600 homes. Both CVHC complexes in Palm Springs currently have waiting lists ranging from two to three years. Other affordable housing complexes have up to seven year wait lists in Palm Springs.

“We are seeing a lot of families starting to move in together,” Lopez said. “They cannot afford market grade housing.”

Still, Lopez said the process of actually building more housing has its own obstacles. The cost of materials are going up due to the tariff wars and finding affordable lots to build on are few and far between.

Cities across the valley work closely with the coalition but some are more involved than others. The majority of CVHC housing is in Coachella and Mecca which can be a hike for workers in Palm Springs.

“We’ve produced 1,283 units within our city,” La Quinta’s City Manager, Jon McMillen, said about affordable housing in the city.

McMillen said La Quinta has more than enough housing for the 500 to 1,000 workers it will employ permanently at the multi-million-dollar Silverrock development. The development is in phase one of construction right now.

Silverrock will become home to two luxury hotels in which, McMillen said, workers will get paid 30 to 50 percent higher than an average hotel worker. Thus, those workers likely won’t qualify for or need affordable housing.

The city of Palm Desert’s Public Information Officer David Hermann said the new “DSRT Surf” park at Desert Willow Resort will employ a couple hundred employees. Palm Desert currently has 1,000 affordable rental units and 250 homes.

“We need more players in the arena to really help us develop more housing,” Lopez said.

Develop more housing for the wave of workers that’s headed to the desert soon.

CVHC affordable housing: http://www.cvhc.org/

CVAG affordable housing: https://www.cvag.org/library/pdf_files/comres/AHD.pdf

Palm Springs Affordable Housing: https://www.palmspringsca.gov/home/showdocument?id=55669

Affordable Housing Demand to Rise with New Developments, ‘We just can’t develop fast enough’