The Cambria Community Services District board of directors approved a seventh extension for Cambria Pines Apartments, a new affordable housing complex, as People’s Self-Help Housing has struggled to find the required funding since the project started in 2012.
Through surviving a California Coastal Commission appeal review in 2020, to obtaining funding for construction, the Cambria Pines project has been one of People’s Self-Help Housing’s (PSHH) longest endeavors and is at a current standstill due to multiple rejected funding applications since 2023.
However, PSHH is hopeful its most recent application to the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, which denied its previous application, will be a winner and will provide the funds to finally start construction.
PSHH CEO and President Ken Trigueiro spoke at the Cambria Community Services District meeting on July 11 and said PSHH has around $5 million for the project, but construction is anticipated to cost $18 million.
“We have to win that award,” he said. “As soon as we get that, we are ready to go.”
According to Trigueiro, the application process for affordable housing is “an art,” and PSHH has learned what an awardable application looks like throughout application cycles. He described it as a “point system” based on geography, such as the site’s proximity to grocery stores or libraries, and the amount of public support for the project—two things he felt the original application didn’t score high in previously.
Since the initial rejection of funds from the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, PSHH has secured the $5 million in funding through various organizations within the county to show public support and investment.
Through the trials and errors over the past couple of years, Trigueiro said they feel more confident now in meeting the application’s requirements, and they anticipate being awarded this coming October.
Despite this being the seventh extension of PSHH’s Intent to Serve letter, a statement proclaiming its intent to build affordable housing, the Community Services District board expressed Cambria’s need for these affordable units—due to the ongoing issue of those employed in Cambria not being able to afford to live there, which forces them out to live in surrounding towns and cities.
Board Director Michael Thomas said he cannot underscore the importance of the project enough.
“This achievement would be hugely beneficial for the community and creates more of a family community,” he said.
Director Karen Dean said this is a project Cambria really needs, and anything the board can do to help, “I am all for.”
Resident Christina Galloway said she is eager to see the Cambria Pines Apartments built, but requested PSHH to communicate better with updates for the community so it can be more involved.
“It’s insane it has taken this long,” Galloway said at the July 11 meeting. “We have to do better, and whether that means we come together as a community and lobby the state and say this is something we need—whatever we can do to support this, we have to do.”
According to PSHH President Trigueiro, the organization purchased the land for the apartments back in 2005 and accumulated enough water units by 2012 to build. After the county Planning Commission approved the project, two Cambria residents appealed its decision resulting in reviews from both the county Board of Supervisors and the California Coastal Commission—those appeals were denied, but they added time and expense, Trigueiro told New Times.
Currently, Cambria has one complex of affordable housing, Schoolhouse Lane Apartments, which were also created by PSHH. With 24 units, there’s a current waitlist of 169 applications representing 369 interested persons.
The Cambria Pines Apartments are planned to be located next to the Schoolhouse Lane Apartments and will provide an additional 33 units on 2 acres. All units will be affordable.
If awarded the tax credit allocation, construction is anticipated to start in 2025 and be completed in 2027.
The tax credit is not explicit funding, but an allocation between the public and private sectors, Trigueiro clarified. PSHH would receive a tax credit then sell to local investors, which Trigueiro said are in high supply. ∆
This article appears in Jul 18-28, 2024.