The newly proposed state budget could see $15 million being allocated to the Coachella Valley Housing Catalyst Fund, a community group that partners multiple nonprofits that works to enhance housing stability and create paths to “economic mobility for local residents,” the Desert Sun reported Monday.
The fund is a partnership among Lift to Rise, the Low-Income Investment Fund, Rural Community Assistance Corporation and Riverside County Supervisor Manuel Perez, focused on making affordable homes possible in Coachella Valley, according to the Desert Sun.
“The vast majority of people who work in the Coachella Valley, who drive this beautiful economy, cannot afford to stay housed or to feed their children because wages are not sufficient to meet the cost of housing, and that’s a structural issue,” said Heather Viakona, president, and CEO of Lift to Rise, in an interview with KESQ. “It’s solvable by thinking and working together and doing things in a different way, but there’s no other solution out of this beyond radically increasing the supply of housing,”
Viakona is optimistic that there is hope for the housing shortage.
“The catalyst fund isn’t the only thing that’s going to solve it, but it’s an absolutely phenomenal tool that’s going to change the trajectory for our region and massively increase the supply of housing,” she said.
Fueling the affordable housing crisis in California, according to KESQ, is the escalation in the average rent cost, which has risen 24% from 2020 to 2021 alone. Viakona said that unaffordable housing is defined as a rent burden when an individual is dedicating more than a third of their income to rent.
The Desert Sun reports that according to Lift to Rise, the proposed state allocation would assist in funding 2,500 affordable housing units in the area over the next two years. This would help the organization achieve its goal of increasing the affordable housing supply by 10,000 units in 10 years. Currently, more than 1,250 of the anticipated units are under development, and by 2028, Lift to Rise plans to construct an additional 7,500 units.
