Santa Cruz and Greenfield to receive nearly $35 million of $825 million for affordable housing

GREENFIELD, Calif. (KION-TV)- Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that more than $825.5 million would be given to around 58 communities in California for affordable housing in California through an accelerated approval process.

An estimated 9,550 homes are expected to be built with this money statewide. This new application process is aimed at speeding up the development of new projects while saving time and money locally.

The Greenfield Commons II project was awarded $9,181,000 to build 110 multifamily units.

The Harvey West Studious project in Santa Cruz was awarded $25,291,951 to build 121 multifamily units.

“As we demand more housing to be built at the local level, it is incumbent upon the state to reimagine and modernize our own approval process,” said Governor Newsom. “State applications that were once redundant, and overly bureaucratic, are now streamlined to ensure projects are not stalled in an endless bureaucracy that favored process over production.”

This new process was made when Newsom signed Assembly Bill 434 into law. This allowed multiple housing applications to be narrowed down into one award process.

“The California Multifamily Super NOFA transformed a once burdensome and lengthy funding application process into an accessible and smart one-stop shop that will get more housing built faster,” said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez. “This results in new homes for struggling working families, veterans, farmworkers, and people exiting homelessness. California will continue to act with urgency to find new, innovative solutions to fast track housing development.”

To see the full list of teh first round of awards, click here.