Lift to Rise’s 15 Million Dollar Housing Fund

A big celebration for Lift to Rise this week, the state will allocate 15 million dollars for future housing projects in the valley .

"We know that we’re in a housing crisis… what this funding will do is help to catalyze and spur the production of affordable housing, so that there’s more housing that our families can afford." President and CEO of Lift to Rise, Heather Vaikona states.

Vaikona says that this fund is not a form of aid, but a structured housing fund which gives low interest loans to housing developers to help build affordable housing units.

"We’re just so incredibly grateful for the more than 60 organizations who collaborate in this work who have committed to a shared goal of radically increasing the supply of affordable housing in the Coachella Valley." Vaikona shares.

Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia and the Housing Collaborative Action Network worked together to secure the million dollar funding.

Garcia says it will help achieve their plan of 10,000 affordable homes to be built right here in the Valley.

"This funding is critical to complement the other funding sources that have already been secured to build the much needed housing in our region. Anyone that is in the housing industry knows that it takes a lot of different sources of funding to be able to build in this community, particularly built for middle income and low income families of our region." Assemblyman Garcia states.

Funds will go to developers and non-profit organizations, who often struggle to find funds to help with the ongoing housing crisis.

"The Coachella Valley has had a deficit of housing. It’s been disinvested in many cases for years." Kenny Rodgers, Deputy Director of the catalyst fund.

Now officials say, these developers will still be required to meet specific qualifications.

"A developer has to have years of experience to prove that they have done affordable housing before they’ve got to have a fairly substantial balance sheet based general credit references with other lenders and prove that they can make the deal both on operational standpoint work but also as a construction deal." Rodgers states.