Ground breaking on “desperately needed” affordable housing in Castroville

UPDATE 11/29/2017 5:50 p.m.:

Castroville is a small community with a large farm worker population in North Monterey County and there’s a desperate need for quality affordable housing.

“For 6-7 years, I lived in a garage. It was five of us, my wife, me and my three kids,” said Martin Salazar.

Salazar and his wife pick strawberries to support their families. They don’t make a lot of money and times have been tough for them.

“I would stress out because there were months where I couldn’t make ends meet,” Salazar said.

He’s in a better place now, but for folks like him still struggling, a new project will open doors for them.

48 old, rundown units will make way for a new Monterey County Housing Authority Development Corporation Project. 54 units, just for farm workers and their families, are going up at two sites on Seymour and Speegle Streets. The townhouses range from one to four bedrooms and will have a community feel with playgrounds, computer rooms and laundry rooms.

The units are pre-fabricated elsewhere and brought to the site where they’re built up like blocks. It’s very similar to another HDC project in Salinas, which is making progress fast.

HDC said while construction costs have gone up, the need for affordable housing has also. It’s folks like Martin Salazar who need a lot of help.

“Those are the families that we need to help and those are the families we do help,” said Starla Warren, president of HDC. “We only do affordable housing, so families that are low to medium income that need housing assistance the most, they are the backbone to our community.”

The units will be ready for move-in early next year.

ORIGINAL POST:

Ground has been broken on “desperately needed” affordable housing for farm laborers and their families in Castroville.

As a rural community known as the “Artichoke Capital of the World,” Castroville is home to many who work in the fields to provide for their families.

The Monterey County Housing Authority Development Corporation (HDC) says quality affordable housing near their place of employment has been and continues to be a critical need.

This project will redevelop older, run-down units with a 54-unit, newly constructed, multi-family project located on two sites less than one mile apart in Castroville, CA. This affordable farm labor housing development will consist of 1-4-bedroom dwellings including a total of four fully handicap-accessible units. Both sites will include a community room, playground, computer rooms and laundry rooms.

KION’s Mariana Hicks will have more at 5 and 6.