Applications due for new affordable housing

By early next year, low-income families in Sonoma will have the opportunity to take up residence at Valley Oak Homes, the new affordable housing development under construction at 875 Lyon Street. All 43 rentals will be available to families in Sonoma earning less than 50 percent of the area median income, and the Affordable Housing Associates (AHA) is accepting applications until October 31.

AHA, a Berkeley-based non-profit, was chosen by the city of Sonoma to build and manage the development based on its plan to provide high-quality, sustainably designed housing. The plan includes several community-centered amenities and services, including a community garden, multipurpose room with a common kitchen, laundry room, homework/computer room, and a resident property manager.

On-site resident services will be provided by AHA in partnership with La Luz Center, a local social service agency. Monthly rent for the one, two, and three-bedroom units will range from $425 to $1064.

According to AHA Executive Director Susan Friedland, funding was partially provided by Sonoma’s Community Development Agency before the agency was dissolved by the state of California earlier this year. The County of Sonoma provided additional direct financing, and Silicon Valley Bank provided low-interest loans as the construction lender. The approximate cost of developing Valley Oak Homes will be $17.5 million, according to the AHA.

Demand for the rental units at Valley Oak Homes is expected to be high, particularly among those employed in the service and agricultural sectors. “Generally we have five applicants for each home we create. We’re expecting at least 500 applicants, possibly more, but we won’t know the actual numbers until the application deadline,” said Friedland. Eligible applicants will be selected on a lottery basis.

Friedland said that including the community in the planning phase from the very beginning was key to the success of the project. “We put together an advisory group consisting of neighbors and stakeholders in the community” who then weighed in on questions of housing density and design, she said. “By the time it got to the approval process we had a lot of community support. We really worked with people who might have opposed the project to make sure we heard their concerns and that what we were building was something the community would embrace and feel proud of.”

The deadline to apply for residence at Valley Oak Homes is October 31, 2012. For more information or to apply contact 758.0426, Ahainc.org or La Luz Center, 17560 Greger St.

— Mira Bird-Dorrance