Plans Unveiled for $90M Affordable Housing Project

By Anuradha Kher, Online News EditorLa Quinta, Calif.,–Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC), a housing development non-profit dedicated to helping low- and very-low income families improve their living conditions, recently broke ground on a $90 million green affordable housing development to be built on nearly 15 acres in the La Quinta community near Palm Springs, Calif. When complete, Wolff Waters Place will provide 218 affordable homes to families earning 35-50 percent of the area’s median income, or approximately $30,000 per year for a family of four.Wolff Waters Place, located on Avenue 48 and Dune Palms Rd., includes 22 buildings designed as town homes, apartments and garden apartments, each with a private outdoor patio or balcony. Half the apartments have three or four bedrooms and will be offered at rents as low as 65 percent below market-rate apartments. The project is slated for completion in 2010 and expects to obtain LEED certification for its environmentally sensitive construction and design.In addition, the project will offer art and nutrition classes, cultural programs, computer training classes, parenting skills program, cultural awareness programs, a homeownership program, an aquatics program, an after-school program and summer camp programs.The city’s Redevelopment Agency sold the project site to CVHC and made $30 million available to help fund the project. Additional funding comes from Citibank and Wells Fargo, which invested $43 million in Wolf Waters Place through National Equity Fund Inc.“Our affordable housing priorities are keenly focused on opportunities that meet pressing local needs and have a significant positive impact on residents,” says Bob Taylor, president of Wells Fargo Community Development Corp. “We think Wolff Waters Place is that kind of project and CVHC is the kind of partner that will more than deliver on both those scores.”