Peoples' Self-Help Housing

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Peoples' Self-Help Housing E-Newsletter

PSHH's First Affordable Rental Development in City of San Luis Obispo
The Face of Homelessness
Santa Maria Youth Program is Music to...their ears!
PSHH Executive Director Named One of top 50 Businesswomen

PSHH's First Affordable Rental Development in City of San Luis Obispo

Mixed use development to open at 3071-3085 South Higuera Street, San Luis Obispo.

The Villas at Higuera, the first new affordable rental housing complex in the city of San Luis Obispo built by Peoples' Self-Help Housing will be dedicated on Thursday, April17 at 11:30 a.m. at 3071 South Higuera Street (near Madonna Road). The public is invited for the grand opening, tour of units, and refreshments immediately following the ceremony.

According to Jeanette Duncan, PSHH Executive Director, "The mixed-use development provides 28 permanently affordable rental living spaces, 3,000 square feet of commercial space and nearly 3,000 square feet of community space, designed for special events, gatherings, and educational programs available to all tenants."

All 28 apartments will house low-income residents and six units have been reserved for formerly homeless households. 21 of the units will be reserved for renters with income ranges from 30%-50% of the Area Median Income (AMI, which is characterized as extremely low- and very low-income) and seven units serve persons having between 50%-60% of the AMI. The apartments consist of six studios, 6 one bedroom, 7 two bedroom, and 9 three -bedroom units.. Rents will range from approximately $300-$900 per month.

Funding partners for the Villas project include the City of San Luis Obispo, Coast National Bank FHLB Affordable Housing Program, County of San Luis Obispo, HOME Program, Enterprise Community Investment, Washington Mutual Bank and Peoples' Self-Help Housing. Construction partners include Carroll Building Company, R2L Architects, EDA, Inc. (engineer), and Firma (landscape architect).

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The Face of Homelessness

Valerie, formerly homeless, is happy to be moving into PSHH's Villas at Higuera.

She is not the face of homelessness in San Luis Obispo County that you would expect. Valerie attends church services several times a week; she is a trained medical assistant and a former U.S. Air Force administrator. Yet a series of circumstances and what she calls 'mistakes' caused her to be homeless after a divorce eight years ago. Over the past six months she has been living in her car. Before that she worked at a motel in Morro Bay in trade for a room. But now Valerie has renewed hope. She has been accepted for an affordable rental apartment at the Villas at Higuera, a project developed by Peoples' Self-Help Housing, a non-profit organization committed to providing affordable housing and self-sufficiency programs in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties. "I feel so blessed and honored to have been accepted for an apartment. I am getting help and training for my financial and physical problems. It is just overwhelming. I am so touched."

A recent four-year study of homeless people with chronic medical problems in Chicago offers the most comprehensive evidence yet that efforts to move the homeless into permanent housing quickly can improve their lives and save taxpayer and government money.

People who received housing and intensive follow-up by a case manager consumed fewer public resources than a separate group of homeless people who received the "usual care"-the piecemeal system of emergency shelters, crisis intervention, and family and recovery programs.

In dollars-and cents-terms, the average cost of $12,000 per person per year of providing housing and a case manager is far less than the much higher costs of hospitals and nursing homes when medical emergencies arise for the homeless.

For Valerie being homeless meant months and years of traumatic choices. "When you sleep in your car, it is cold every night. I had to make the choice whether to use the gas to keep the heater going in my car to stay warm or to be able to drive to get food. There are churches and food banks that have food but you have to find a way to get there." She is looking forward to living in a clean one-bedroom apartment with a kitchen to prepare meals for herself. "People have been good to me. I am so grateful," she said.

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Santa Maria Youth Program is Music to their Ears!

Teacher Jody Mulgrew and student Armando Pulido, 11, share a lesson at the Santa Maria YEEP program.

A collaboration between the Youth Education Enhancement Program (YEEP), Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo Mentored Learning through the Arts program, and the Orfalea Foundation has resulted in an innovative music program for the children at Los Adobes and River View apartment complexes in Santa Maria and Guadalupe. These partners have purchased 20 guitars that have been loaned to children of low-income families. In addition, guitar teacher Jody Mulgrew comes to the complex weekly to teach individual and group lessons.

"The students really look forward to this program. They have all learned to read music and to perform. This is an opportunity that their families could never had afforded, and music is no longer taught in the schools," said Alejandra Mahoney, YEEP Educator.

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PSHH Executive Director Named One of top 50
Businesswomen in the Tri-Counties

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