Los Fundadores Block Party is this Friday
The Indio-based Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) and 114 new homeowners will celebrate National Homeownership Month this Friday with a block party at the Los Fundadores Self Help Subdivision in the agricultural community of Mecca.
The festivities get under way at 5 p.m., Friday, June 13.
The 114 families to be honored represent nine Self Help groups to finish their homes in the Los Fundadores subdivision. When fully built, the Mecca subdivision will house 200 hardworking families.
The Block Party is an opportunity to showcase the hard work of the new homeowners. The subdivision is on Johnson Street between Avenue 64 and Avenue 66 in Mecca.
The proud homeowners built their homes using the Mutual Self Help program. In the program 10-15 families work together for up to twelve months to build their home and that of their neighbors. No families move in until all homes are built. The program funding is secured by the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition through the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Rural Development, which provides each family with a low-interest mortgage of 1 percent to market rate depending on family size and financial need. Families also qualify for mortgage subsidies of approximately $40,000-$50,000 from the California Housing Finance Agency Cal Home Program, the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco Affordable Housing Program. The average sales prices for the homes are $155,000-$162,000. The average mortgages are $115,000-$120,000. The act of building the homes or "sweat equity" accounts for at least 10 percent of the sales price of each family's home, covering the down payment.
"One of the highlights of what we do is watching families move into their new homes and learning through their stories about the positive impacts the Self Help Program has had on the lives of their children," said John F. Mealey, Executive Director of the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition. "We are honored to be a part of this effort to help 200 families gain the dream of homeownership."
All 200 new and future homeowners are either low or very low income as dictated by USDA. According to USDA, a Riverside County family of four earning less than $53,300 a year is low income and a family of four earning less than $33,300 a year is very low income. Families also meet strict credit and financial history requirements. All of CVHC's Self-Help program participants meet with CVHC's loan packagers to prepare themselves for homeownership, and take preconstruction classes to learn how to build their home and maintain it post construction.
The 200 families join a growing number of CVHC families that have gained the dream of homeownership. To date, CVHC has guided more than 1,300 families to homeownership, including more than 100 in Mecca alone. Cities with Self Help families now in construction or in planning include Mecca, Coachella, Brawley and Salton City.
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Located in Indio, the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) is an award-winning non-profit housing development corporation dedicated to helping low and very-low income families improve their living conditions through advocacy, research, construction, and operation of housing and community development projects. CVHC has constructed more than 3,000 homes and apartments for low-income households in Riverside County. In addition, CVHC has developed childcare centers, after-school programs, and two medical clinics. It operates various services for its tenants and others including mariachi classes, English as a Second Language and Citizenship classes, an art program, and tennis and recreational programs. For more information, visit www.cvhc.org.