The Governors Interagency Council on Veterans, and its member, Housing and Community Development (HCD) have joined The California Department of Veteran Affairs (CalVet) in leading the way to create more affordable housing for veterans in our State. Habitat for Humanity San Fernando/Santa Clarita Valleys CEO, Donna Deutchman, also serves as Chair for the Housing Committee of the Governors Interagency Council on Veterans. Bradley Sutton of HCD serves as Chair of the Affordable Rental Sub-Workgroup for the Housing Committee. Their efforts have assisted in HCD’s creation of 259 designated affordable rental units for Veterans in California.
The Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) received 21 applications for funding to its May 22, 2013 Multifamily Housing Program (MHP) Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA). Working in collaboration with the Governor’s Interagency Council on Veterans, Housing – Affordable Rental Subgroup, this was the first MHP NOFA, since the inception of MHP in 1999, to provide bonus points for Veterans projects. HCD submitted 13 projects to its Local Assistance Loan and Grant Committee Meeting on December 12, 2013. Four of the 13 projects were Veterans projects, with all four Veterans projects receiving a funding award, due in part to the Veterans bonus points in a very competitive MHP funding round. One project will be 100% Veteran households, with the other three projects containing units set-aside for households containing a Veteran.
The four projects together total 502 affordable housing units with 259 of the units for Veterans only households. Two of the projects are located in Los Angeles County – Inglewood and Burbank, with the other two projects in Moreno Valley, Riverside County, and Bakersfield, Kern County. The total MHP funding awarded to these four Veterans projects is $17,450,183.
About the Interagency Council on Veterans
The California Interagency Council on Veterans (ICV) was created by Governor Jerry Brown on August 23, 2011 via Executive Order B-09-11. The ordered purpose of the ICV is “to identify and prioritize the needs of California’s veterans, and to coordinate the activities at all levels of government in addressing those needs.” The Committees that fall under this Council are Housing, Education, Health and Employment.