City offers money to help out poorest residents
Gilroy – City Hall is offering loans of up to $300,000 for the development or purchase and rehabilitation of housing for Gilroy’s poorest residents.
The program, which offers loans at 3 percent interest, targets projects that set aside a quarter of their units for people classified as “extremely low income.” In Santa Clara County, that means individuals earning less than $22,300 annually or a family of four living on less than $31,850 each year.
Loans for new projects can be repaid over 30 years while those for rehabilitation can be paid back over 55 years.
In the first round of the program last year, the city awarded two loans of about $75,000 each to South County Housing and EHC Lifebuilders, the area’s two major nonprofit developers of affordable housing. The agencies used the loans for an emergency housing shelter and low-income apartments in north Gilroy.
South County Housing’s Executive Director Dennis Lalor wasn’t sure if the agency would request funds this year, but said he hopes to see the program grow in the future.
“What this demonstrates is local commitment to affordable housing,” he said. “What that does is show other funders that there is local commitment and it helps leverage outside funds. Most foundations want to see local support before they get involved in a project.”
The 3 percent loans are part of a broad package of affordable housing programs financed by the city’s Housing Trust Fund. The $3.2-million pool of money also supports the first-time Homebuyers Assistance program, which provided three loans totaling $150,000 last year, and the Multifamily Home Rehabilitation Program, which provided $100,000 to one property owner last year. The city also uses federal funds to provide grants of up to $5,000 to help elderly or disabled people upgrade their homes for greater handicapped accessibility.
To learn more about the programs, contact Gilroy Housing Planner Regina Brisco at 846-0242. Applications for the 3 percent loan program are due Jan. 22 and can be obtained online at
http://www.ci.gilroy.ca.us/home/pdf/NoticeFunding.pdf.
