200 Veterans and Their Families Are One Step Closer to Decent, Safe and Supportive Housing as a Consortium of Veterans Advocates Break Ground Nov. 9, 2015 on March Veterans Village on the Former March Air Reserve Base in the March JPA in Riverside County
March Veterans Village Groundbreaking
When: Monday,
November 9, 2015
Time: 10 AM
Where: 5th
and N Street, Riverside, CA 92518
RIVERSIDE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Rep. Ken Calvert and representatives of the Coachella Valley Housing
Coalition, U.S.VETS and the March Joint Powers Authority will celebrate
the groundbreaking of 138 units of housing for Veterans Monday, November
9th at 10 am on March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County.
Known as March Veterans Village, the first 138 units will provide
decent, safe, permanent affordable housing for previously homeless
veterans, and veterans and their families. When fully built out, the
Village will also house 60 veterans in transitional housing.
With building costs totaling more than $45 million, March Veterans
Village is a labor of love for CVHC, U.S.VETS and the March JPA, who
have been working toward this effort to build veterans housing where it
is needed most. Riverside County ranks in the top 10 nationally for its
homeless veteran population and has 15,000 veterans currently at risk of
homelessness, according to studies conduction by the Riverside County
Housing Authority.
March Joint Powers Authority, the entity entrusted in 1993 to develop
new uses for the closed March Air Force Base, took on the mantle of
developing much-needed veterans housing on approximately 4 acres of JPA
land and committed up to $11 million to that end.
U.S.VETS, a non-profit veteran services provider, has been a vital
partner is this effort. U.S.VETS is a nationally recognized leader in
veterans programs and provides housing for 3,300 formerly homeless
veterans each night at 12 locations across the country. U.S.VETS opened
its current program at March Air Base in 2003, where it provides case
management, transitional housing and permanent housing for more than 125
veterans a day. Once completed, March Veterans Village will nearly
double U.S.VETS’ capacity to provide permanent supportive housing to
veterans in the Inland Empire.
The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) is an award-winning
non-profit housing development corporation dedicated to helping low- and
very-low-income families improve their living conditions through
advocacy, research, construction, and operation of housing and community
development projects. CVHC has constructed more than 4,500 homes and
apartments for low-income households in Riverside and Imperial Counties.
In addition, CVHC has developed childcare centers, after-school programs
and computer technology centers.
The development is made possible through a collection of public funding
from the federal, state and local level including a Veterans Affairs
Supportive Housing (VASH) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development Office of Public and Indian Housing that will provide
75 rental assistance vouchers to ensure Veteran households pay no more
than 30 percent of their income for their rent, securing deep
affordability for themselves and their families. The VASH grant was
secured with assistance from the Riverside County Housing Authority.
Construction of the first 138 units of permanent housing began October
1, 2015. In December 2015, a $27 million construction loan from Bank of
America and a $14 million equity investment from Bank of America,
delivered through their syndication partner, National Equity Fund, will
further sustain the construction of the development, to be complete by
summer 2017.
The permanent housing piece is designed to ensure veterans, including
those with families, avoid and recover from homelessness. The unit mix
consists of 116 efficiency units, 6 one-bedroom units and 16 two-bedroom
units. The property also will feature a 13,000-square-foot Community
Center complete with a large community room, case managers’ offices and
the property manager’s office. The property design is California
mid-century modern with a nod to the site’s aviation past. The 138 units
are built into one four-story building and one three-story building.
The development is funded through a collaboration of local, state,
national and private partners including the March JPA, U.S.VETS, CVHC,
Bank of America, National Equity Fund, the Federal Home Loan Bank of San
Francisco Affordable Housing Program (FHLBSF-AHP), the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development Office of Public and Indian Housing
Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (VASH), the California Tax
Credit Allocation Committee (CTCAC), the California Department of
Housing and Community Development Multi-Family Housing Program (HCD-MHP)
and Veterans Homeless Housing Prevention Program (HCD-VHHP), the
California Municipal Finance Authority (Cal MFA), the California
Strategic Growth Council Affordable Housing Sustainable Communities
Program (CSGC-AHSC), the Riverside County Economic Development Agency
and Home Depot Foundation.
Contacts
CVHC:
John F. Mealey, Executive Director
760-347-3157
or
U.S.VETS:
Steve
Peck, President and CEO
213-542-2600
or
March
JPA:
Lori Stone, Executive Director
951-656-7000
