March 14, 2022 -OAKLAND, CA
Congratulations to Self-Help Enterprises on the financing closing for Santa Fe Commons I, a new construction development in the City of Tulare. The project will contain 80 affordable apartments ranging in size from 1 to 3 bedrooms, with set asides for farmworker, special needs, and homeless households.
Santa Fe Commons I is the first phase of a two-phase affordable housing community in Tulare, in California’s Central Valley, and will include wrap-around on-site supportive services provided by Self-Help Enterprises and Tulare County Health and Human Services for its tenants. Self-Help secured funds from the state’s Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant program to assist with project construction and will include 35 units dedicated to families working in California’s agriculture industry. The project also uses funding from the state’s No Place Like Home program, which was approved as statewide Proposition 2 in 2018 to fund permanent housing for individuals with mental illness who are homeless or at-risk.
Santa Fe Commons I will all be completely run on electric energy, which is a first for Self-Help Enterprises. This decision moves in the direction of the state of California’s goals of decarbonization. There will also be solar units to offset 100% of residential electricity usage.
“Self-Help Enterprises is proud to provide an answer to the critical shortage of affordable housing opportunities for individuals and households in Tulare,” said Tom Collishaw, President and CEO of Self-Help Enterprises, “including essential workers in our agricultural industry. Santa Fe Commons will be a great neighbor and critical community asset for decades to come.”
Merritt Community Capital Corporation is proud to provide $17.5 million in 4% federal and California state tax credit equity capital for this project. Thank you as well to our financing partners at Pacific Western Bank, the City of Tulare, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The project is expected to complete construction in mid-2023.
As California’s nonprofit housing tax credit syndicator, Merritt is dedicated to working with like-minded developers to provide housing to households in-need across the state, particularly in agricultural and rural communities like Tulare County where housing supply can be limited.
Contact David Dologite – Director of Acquisitions to learn about Merritt’s equity solutions for your project.
About Merritt Community Capital Corporation
Merritt Community Capital Corporation is a nonprofit dedicated to our mission to provide equity capital for affordable housing exclusively to California. We do this by partnering with mission-aligned affordable housing developers throughout the state to ensure the most critical communities are developed and maintained for low-income residents. Since 1989, Merritt has created and/or preserved more than 9,000 affordable homes, through investing $1 billion in 23 separate funds, providing housing for nearly 25,000 people.