Peoples' Self-Help Housing

The Mission of Peoples' Self-Help Housing is to provide affordable housing and programs leading to self-sufficiency for low-income families, seniors, and other special needs groups on California's Central Coast.

Please share this April 2011 newsletter with your family, friends and business associates!

Peoples' Self-Help Housing E-Newsletter

RSVP for Ventura's El Patio Opening April 28 Grammy-Winning Mariachis in Carpinteria Big Response to Self-Help Home Opportunity Planned Giving Corner: Bypass the 2010 Estate Tax Upcoming Seminars Staff Additions Self-Help Home Building Updates

Happy Easter! Happy Spring!

RSVP for El Patio Opening Thurs. April 28
20 more Adopt-a-Room Sponsors Needed!

RSVP now for the Grand Opening of the El Patio Hotel, 167 Palm Street in downtown Ventura on Thursday, April 28 at 11 a.m. Join the tours, ribbon-cutting, celebration, and light buffet lunch.

Twenty-one sponsors have committed to Adopt-A-Room in the new hotel. We need 20 more organizations, businesses or individuals to donate, so every room is sponsored! $350 sponsorship pays for a bed, sheets, blanket, pillow, towels, dishes, and toiletries for a new resident. Your name will be proudly displayed outside your 'adopted room' at the Grand Opening. Early sponsors include Montecito Bank & Trust, Pur Water Plumbing, Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura, Donna Jordan, Patricia McAllister, and others. Donate on-line at www.pshhc.org/donate, email monicas@pshhc.org, or call (805) 962-5152 x220.

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Grammy-Winning Mariachis in Carpinteria!

Several organizations worked together to bring Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano to Santa Barbara. A wonderful outdoor concert was performed by ten outstanding musicians and singers at Chapel Court Apartments, one of Peoples' Self-Help Housing affordable complexes in Carpinteria. Free concerts were also held in Goleta, Santa Barbara, and Guadalupe. What a treat to hear this Grammy-award-winning ensemble (and two talented dancers). Under the direction of chef and property manager Betty Campaneros, a potluck lunch was enjoyed by the entertainers and residents after the performance!

The classic Mariachi concerts were arranged by Belles Artes of Carpinteria and UCSB Arts & Lectures with major funding by the James Irvine Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Santa Barbara Foundation, and many others.

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Applications Available for Self-Help Homes

Over 220 applications were handed out recently at Peoples' San Luis Obispo office for 34 self-help homes to be built in Nipomo. The three- and four-bedroom homes will have two bathrooms and two-car garages in an open floor plan and will be solar-ready. Special financing packages are available with affordable monthly payments. It is not too late to apply. Pick up an application from our SLO office, call PSHH Homeownership Department at 781-3088 x446, or downloand here.

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Bypass the 2011 Estate Tax

On December 17, 2010, the President signed into law The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. The estate tax section of the bill carries the title "Temporary Estate Tax Relief". Most gift, estate and GST tax provisions will apply during 2011 and 2012.

Because there is an estate tax with an exemption of $5 million, it will continue to be important for individuals with large estates to create "bypass trusts." The bypass trust is a trust created in the estate of the first spouse to die. It typically will benefit the surviving spouse and the trust principal may then be transferred to children without further estate taxation.

There are two general types of bypass trusts. The conventional bypass trust pays income to the surviving spouse. When he or she passes away, the trust is distributed to children. For individuals who have large IRAs, 401(k)s or other qualified and taxable pension plans, another option is a "bypass charitable remainder trust." For more information consult your tax advisor or the Planned Giving Department at (805) 962-5152 x227.  

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Upcoming Seminars

Free First Time Homebuyer Seminar
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
6:00-8:00 p.m.
PSHH Office Conference Room
3533 Empleo Street
San Luis Obispo

Free Foreclosure Prevention Seminar
Tues., April 26, 2011
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Canyon Creek Apts.
400 Oak Hill Road
Paso Robles

For more information please call (805) 781-3088 x478. 

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Staff Additions

Welcome New Staffers:

Martha Campos
Housekeeper, El Patio Hotel
Ventura

Gail Riley
Transer to Portfolio Manager
No. SB and SLO counties

Amee Beck
YEEP Substitute Educator
Carpinteria/Santa Barbara  

Amee Beck has joined PSHH YEEP program as a subsitute in Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. She earned a degree in commun-ication from Arizona State University, Tempe. She was an associate faculty member at Mohave Community College where she provided instruction to adults in the pre-college program and ESL. At Palos Verde College she prepared multi-cultural populations for GED testing.

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Self-Help Home Building Updates

Templeton

Group two is currently framing their homes.

Group three and four are working on foundations.

Check out the daily blog from one of the owner-builders in Templeton:
Blog from Templeton Self-Help Family

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