VCHTF receives $50K from VCCF Farm Worker Housing Fund
In March, 2014 Ventura County Housing Trust Fund received $50,000 from the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Farm Worker Housing Fund in order to help develop additional affordable housing earmarked for farm workers. Presenting the check on behalf of VCCF is Dena Jenson, Vice President and Director of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership (right). Receiving the check for VCHTF is Fred Ferro, Board Chair, and Linda Braunschweiger, CEO (center).
More on the Farmworker Housing Fund partnership between VCCF and VCHTF
(from the VCCF website) Ventura County is home to some of the richest farmland on Earth; the estimated gross value of crops grown here in 2012 was $2 billion. According to the Farm Bureau of Ventura County, farming and farm-dependent businesses provide an estimated 31,000 jobs in Ventura County, second only to the service sector in workforce. Local agriculture is more than just a business. It is part of our heritage and of who we are, what we eat, where we live, and how we survive. With an estimated average of 20,000 workers employed on Ventura County farms, their livelihood is inextricably tied to the history, health and prosperity of the larger community.
VCCF established the Ventura County Fund for Farmworker Housing in 2003 with the mission of increasing the supply of safe, affordable housing for Ventura County farmworkers. In 2013, we have a unique opportunity to create a renewable way to fund projects that fill this critical need. In the 10 years since its founding, the Fund for Farmworker Housing has granted $465,500 to build new homes for local agricultural employees. Grants also developed new leaders to advocate for more farmworker housing and to educate the community about the importance of quality living places for this sector of our workforce. Leadership and education have flourished, but the need for farmworker housing remains.
VCCF is partnering with the Ventura County Housing Trust Fund (VCHTF) to establish a permanent revolving fund dedicated to farmworker housing. A key convener in funding the development of affordable housing in our community, the Housing Trust Fund’s mission is to support more housing choices by generating and leveraging financial resources, working in partnership with the public, private and nonprofit sectors throughout Ventura County. VCHTF has designated farmworker projects a funding priority.
VCCF has dedicated $25,000 to this effort. Gifts totaling $25,000 from generous donors will double this amount. The Housing Trust Fund then will match that $50,000 dollar for dollar to create a $100,000 fund, a permanent source of funding. VCHTF can make this match due to California voter approval in 2006 of Proposition 1C to build new affordable housing across the state. VCHTF issued a $1 million Notice of Funding Availability on Nov. 1, 2013, allowing for-profit and nonprofit developers to apply for predevelopment, acquisition/rehabilitation or construction loan funds for projects in Ventura County.
As housing projects funded by VCHTF get repaid, funds are cycled back into future project loans. The full $100,000 will be leveraged many times over, producing new projects for years to come. This $100,000 will serve as a source of revolving capital to meet the housing needs of our region’s agricultural employees.
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