When it is completed in spring 2004, the Torres Martinez Farmworker Village will provide new manufactured housing in an area where there is very little housing, especially affordable housing. The community will serve farm workers — who may or may not be tribal members — whose incomes are at or below 35% of AMI. Owners will determine the size of the manufactured homes, but typically the units will run between 1,500 and 1,800 square feet and have three or four bedrooms.

LINC will help with the development and management of the new mobile home park, but will train the tribe members so they can eventually take over. The park will provide Torres Martinez tribe with its own income-producing asset, which is expected to generate approximately $100,000 a year.

For its efforts in working with tribe in what is considered an innovative partnership, LINC received a “Best Practices” award from HUD.

Looking ahead, LINC’s Johnson sees the $2.1 billion housing bond money from last year’s Proposition 46 as generating extra private and federal investment, but thinks that the state’s budget crisis could pose serious problems for affordable housing.

“Being an affordable housing developer is challenging work, even in the best of times,” Johnson mused. “You learn to deal with adversity, roadblocks and jumping through hoops. We have thick skin and strong support behind us. This state needs more affordable housing, and we're going to provide it, the current situation notwithstanding.”

Author Christine Rombouts is a free-lance writer specializing in the building industry.

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