August 30, 2023-Oakland, CA
Congratulations to Self-Help Enterprises on the financing closing for Santa Fe Commons II, a new construction development in the City of Tulare. The project will contain 56 affordable apartments ranging in size from 1 to 3 bedrooms, with set asides for farmworkers and homeless households.
Combined with Santa Fe Commons I, the project’s first phase which started construction in 2022 and is scheduled to be completed this year, the total Santa Fe Commons site will house over 135 low-income households. Merritt is proud to have invested in both phases of the project, for a total equity investment of over $40 million in aggregate.
Like Phase I, Santa Fe Commons II includes 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 14 units dedicated to families in California’s agriculture industry.
Self-Help Enterprises is also working on the cutting edge of sustainability efforts with its design for the development, leveraging its solar array with several new state energy incentives and financing tools to help construct this all-electric project. Self-Help and Merritt are presenting on the project at the 2023 San Joaquin Valley Housing Collaborative annual housing summit in September for its sustainable financing efforts.
“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 $23.1 million in 9% federal and California state tax credit capital for Santa Fe Commons II. Mission-driven partners like Self-Help Enterprises, which was named one of the country’s Top 50 affordable housing developers in 2022, are vital to achieving our goals of creating affordable housing for Californians throughout the state. Thank you as well to our financing partners at Banner Bank, US Bank, and the California Department of Housing and Community Development. The project is expected to complete construction in mid-2024.
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 11,000 affordable homes, through investing over $1.2 billion in 26 separate funds, providing housing for over 29,700 people.