Despite the high cost of housing throughout the Coachella Valley, first-time home buyers may find hope in the Indio City Council, which is studying what needs to be done to fill this void.
Prior to its Wednesday's meeting, the council held an hour-long study session on its housing inventory and focused on shortcomings in the area of middle-cost housing, Councilman Glenn Miller said in an interview with Coachella Valley Times.
Amidst the concern about homelessness, the need for affordable housing often stands out, but that's not where Indio is lacking, he said based on feedback from the city’s consultant group. “We have a little over 700 affordable housing apartments and housing going in right now that we've already approved. They're either in construction or starting construction very shortly,”
He said that single-family homes are also not in short supply, getting back to middle-cost housing as the priority.
“Manufactured homes, condominiums and first-time starter homes, we didn't have a good inventory of those,” he said. “And that's where we need to be able to focus on to get grants and opportunity to start building those starter homes, and so we had our staff start drafting up how we could make that happen.”
These study sessions also involve the public and focus on plotting the direction for the city to get the desired mid-priced housing. Since cities don’t typically build housing, it often means attracting a housing coalition or another group to take on the endeavor, he said.
“It's important because housing is a major issue for everyone around here. You know, not only do we have homeless issues but we also have issues of housing being so expensive throughout the Coachella Valley and in California,” Miller said. With homes starting in price at $500,000 or $600,000, he said, they fall out of the range of the average city employee or resident.
During the Feb. 15 council meeting itself, Miller said, there was a favorable report on the mid-year budget for 2022-23, which left the city with rainy day funds.
“We had a little over $5.5 million more than we expected out of our first six months, and what we did was give the staff direction on how to utilize it,” Miller said. Besides addressing the city's paving and resurfacing needs, Indio boosted the emergency fund and paid a few outstanding matters.
In other matters, Miller talked about Indio’s focus on adding murals in strategic locations including entry points.
“That’s exciting,” he said about the mural initiative which involves the Arts Commission and highlights the work of many local artists. “We're getting our community involved and putting art pieces throughout the city and then we hope to do a map,” he said. Those interested would be able to follow a trail not only to view but also to learn about the art as all the features will be tagged.
For more community spirit, Miller once again invited residents to enjoy the Riverside County Fair & National Date Festival which runs through Saturday, Feb. 26, with music, attractions and food. "It's a great opportunity to bring residents of the Coachella Valley out to enjoy some family time," he said.
With two more big festivals—Coachella Music and Stagecoach—less than two months away, Miller also brought out that the city is looking to remedy traffic problems from years past. “You gotta try and get people in and out of there,” he said while showing consideration for year-round residents as well as safety.
The most recent Indio City Council meeting took place at 5 p.m. on Feb. 15 at Council Chamber, 150 Civic Center Mall. Meetings are open to the public and held twice a month on the first and third Wednesdays. There are many ways to participate besides attending in person, and they include Livestream on the city’s website, Facebook Live, YouTube or Zoom.
Miller is an Indio City council member with more than 30 years of residency in the desert, which has gained him recognition as both a community leader and businessman. He served as the district director for Republican State Senator Melissa Melendez, now retired from the 28th Senate District.