Cabins to be replaced with low-income apartments
It has been 22 years since the last low-income apartment complex
was built in San Benito County.
Now one non-profit group is hoping that a new 22-unit housing
project will bridge the gap between affordable but blighted
low-income housing and desirable living space.
Cabins to be replaced with low-income apartments
It has been 22 years since the last low-income apartment complex was built in San Benito County.
Now one non-profit group is hoping that a new 22-unit housing project will bridge the gap between affordable but blighted low-income housing and desirable living space.
Palm Court, located off Line Street near Fourth, has always been a home for cash-strapped families. Originally designed as rental cabins, the 11 units on the property have more recently been used as apartments.
Several years ago the city of Hollister acquired the property for the Westside Boulevard extension, the remainder of the land was purchased for a housing project. Then a few years ago the property where Palm Court is located went up for sale. The developers negotiated with the city to purchase the property.
Community Services Development Corporation, the non-profit group trying to get the 22-unit development established along the western corridor of Hollister for the past three years, but they are not strangers to this community. CSDC has been working here in the county for years. Founded in 1978, the organization came out of local county organizations to help low-income families. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for low and moderate-income individuals and families in the county by working with the community to advocate for, develop and realize opportunities for affordable housing.
Previous projects have included a number of rental houses in addition to the development that they helped finance – Riverside estates, located along Southside Road – they have also helped refurbish a number of properties used as affordable rental housing throughout the community.
“What’s different about this design from other low-income projects is the layout,” CSDC Director David Abbott said. “Because it’s a nicer design it will go beyond the two-story low-income box concept that most people envision. It will feature southwestern architecture and design. It’s meant to look like duplex homes rather than apartments and should add to the community instead of taking away from it.”
Enhancement of the community is one of the key concepts of new urbanism and low-income housing is a necessary component of any solid community, according to Tony Ruiz a local advocate for new urbanism.
“New urbanism calls for mixed-use and mixed-income,” Ruiz said. “With good projects you cannot distinguish what is and what isn’t low income. We won’t meet the housing needs by strictly building single-family homes…I think this could be a good project that will fit later with the new urbanism principles.”
David Huboi, the architect CSDC has been working with on the Palm Court development and several previous projects, is excited about the potential for lower income housing.
“We need to balance the equation,” Huboi said. “People need housing choices. Not everyone can afford to own his or her own home. A housing project like this provides a step toward a better housing situation.”
Affordable housing has previously been sequestered, according to Huboi, but that doesn’t do anyone in the community any good, since it only creates more problems. So what the developers tried to do with this new project was to provide as many pedestrian avenues as possible.
When Palm Court was originally sold sometime around 2003, the tenants there at the time were eligible for re-location money and a company was even hired to help find them new affordable housing.
Since that time other residents have moved in to the complex temporarily as replacement tenants, but they are not eligible for re-location as they signed a waiver before they moved in, according to Abbott.
The project still has to go through the site and architectural review process but the developers hope that can be done during the next two months or so. Beyond that they need to submit plans to the building department, but since the area is zoned for such a project they should have no surprises. Should everything go as planned work on the new development could start as soon as early next year.
