Nonprofit launches SLO County’s first affordable housing project on commercial land
Raymond Fisher recently won the lottery — but not the kind that has a multi-million-dollar jackpot.
Fisher, a substance abuse counselor at Legacy Village Wellness Centers in Nipomo, was looking to put down roots when he put his name into People’s Self-Help Housing’s lottery for applicants to its newest affordable housing project in early 2022.
A total of 10 local families won the opportunity to help build new homes at Summer Holly Lane Homes in Nipomo — including Fisher and his family.
With the foundations of those homes already in place at the corner of West Branch Street and North Thompson Road, People’s Self-Help Housing hosted a wall-raising ceremony Saturday to kick off construction.
“I’m speechless, but I’m blessed,” Fisher said. “We’re just happy to be out here, and today we get to raise the walls, so I’m really excited.”
Here’s how People’s Self-Help Housing launched the first affordable housing development on commercially zoned land in San Luis Obispo County — and what makes this project near the heart of Nipomo unique.
Families get a boost from sweat equity program
All 10 families selected to move into homes at Summer Holly Lane Homes make below 80% of the area median income for their family size — usually between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, People’s Self-Help Housing vice president of home ownership Sheryl Flores said.
The families were selected by lottery in January 2022 from a pool of 279 applicants over a three-week application period, Flores said.
“That demonstrates a tremendous need and a tremendous desire to work hard,” she said.
The selected families will do around 70% of the construction work themselves, while contractors will perform some of the more specialized or difficult tasks, Flores said.
People’s Self-Help Housing designed the project site, hired the architect and took the project through the approval process, and will provide some construction assistance to the families who will be living at Summer Holly Lane Homes, Flores said.
New housing project is first of its kind in SLO County
While the idea of a sweat equity program is nothing new to People’s Self-Help Housing, the Nipomo project marks the first time a builder has taken advantage of San Luis Obispo County’s workforce housing ordinance, Flores said.
Passed by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors in 2016, the ordinance allows for the development of residential buildings on commercially zoned lots, said Flores, served on a committee of industry leaders that oversaw the drafting of the ordinance.
To conform with the ordinance, all 10 homes in the project were designed so they could potentially be converted into offices, or could serve as hybrid homes and workspaces, Flores told The Tribune.
People’s Self-Help Housing purchased the lot in March 2020, and construction began in summer 2023, Flores said.
“To get from land purchase to building permits in three and a half years is considered pretty quick these days,” Flores said.
Flores said the cost of each home is estimated between $583,000 and $589,000, and were appraised at $700,000.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided loans between $397,000 and $489,000, depending on what each household qualified for, while People’s Self-Help Housing contributed down payment assistance loans between $100,000 and $219,500 to the homebuilders, she said.
“We make it so that the families pay no more than 35% of their income for their housing costs, including taxes and insurance,” Flores said. “We also have down payment assistance: all of the families have a down payment loan, but they don’t have to make payments on it until they sell their house.”
Nipomo man: Building own home is ‘dream come true’
People’s Self-Help Housing guided Fisher through the loan process and paperwork, which he had never dealt with as a first-time homeowner.
“I’ve always wanted to build my own home,” Fisher said. “I was a journeyman carpenter, and now I work with veterans in drug and alcohol at Legacy Village down the street, so being able to build my own home is a dream come true.”
People’s Self-Help Housing CEO Ken Triguiero said his organization has helped more than 1,200 families in San Luis Obispo County build homes in the organization’s 53-year history, including a total of 400 units in Nipomo.
Triguiero said it’s getting harder each year for families to get into homeownership, but projects such as Summer Holly Lane Homes can bridge the gap for some families.
“This is our 53rd year as a company — we just celebrated that last week,” Triguiero said during Saturday’s ceremony. ”But it never gets old. It’s just as exciting each time.”
This story was originally published August 7, 2023 at 1:43 PM.
