HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 3D73-710 Fred Waring Drive, Suite 100, Palm Desert, CA 92260 | lifttorise.org
Re: Item 3D - Discussion on the disposition of Desert Highland Gateway Estates Single-Family
Residential Lots
Dear Palm Springs City Council,
Lift to Rise is writing to express our support for the staff recommendation to issue an RFP for
the disposal of the parcels in question. Additionally, we express deep support for the Home
Ownership Sweat Equity (also known as Self-Help) model and encourage the city to make the
RFP available only to qualified non-profit affordable housing developers with a track record of
building “Self-Help” homes using the Sweat Equity model. One such developer is the Coachella
Valley Housing Coalition which has built dozens of Self-Help homes across the Coachella Valley.
Self-help housing is a method by which participants can achieve home ownership through their
own labor, also known as sweat equity. This means that participants work approximately 40
hours of labor a week toward the construction of their homes with technical assistance provided
by a competent construction supervisor. In turn, the participant can use the sweat equity as the
down payment on the home. In sum, self-help creates a better sense of community and
stronger ties with homeowners, and substantially reduces the monetary cost of the home for
the buyer, which is why we strongly suggest this method.
Through our resident engagement work with various community-based organizations, we have
heard from families in Palm Springs that want more opportunities to own their homes. Palm
Springs is becoming increasingly unaffordable, further obstructing the possibilities for renters to
build generational wealth through homeownership.
Desert Highland Gateway Estates is a predominantly Black, working-class neighborhood that
represents a hard-working and resilient community, yet they have not received the proper
resources to advance socioeconomically. One solution is to use these Desert Highland Gateway
Estates Single-Family Residential Lots to build “Self-Help” homes.
In Palm Springs today, 41% of Black households own their homes, compared to 71% of non-
Hispanic white households, and census data reveals that homeowners in Palm Springs earn
double what renters earn. In terms of income, the Census data reveals that the median income
among Black households in Palm Springs is $43,125 compared to $104,049 among non-
Hispanic white households. Homeowners regardless of race earn more than double what renters
do.
According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Trymaine Lee, in his article on Black inheritance in
the New York Times Magazine, Black people are 13% of the United States population but hold
less than three percent of the nation’s total wealth. In terms of net worth, 19% of Black
households have zero or negative net worth, while just nine percent of white families are that
poor.
With these lots initially acquired with low-moderate housing funds set aside from the Palm
Springs Redevelopment Agency, Lift to Rise urges you, the Palm Springs City Council, to
meaningfully consider the disposition of Desert Highland Gateway Estates Single Family
01/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3D
73-710 Fred Waring Drive, Suite 100, Palm Desert, CA 92260 | lifttorise.org
residential lots and create Self-Help homes as it would create more ownership opportunities for
communities of color in Palm Springs.
Lift to Rise was formed to transform the systems that generate the supply of affordable
housing, recognizing that the combination of low wages and high housing costs are the root
causes of financial precarity among Coachella Valley residents.
That is why Lift to Rise and over 60 cross-sector partners, including the City of Palm Springs,
have coordinated around a shared goal of reducing the regional housing cost burden at a
population level through the production of 10,000 units of affordable housing in the Coachella
Valley by 2028.
Together, we are operating off a shared Action Plan which spans 5 key strategy areas:
1. aggregating a pipeline of community-prioritized projects across the valley,
2. growing a regional Housing Catalyst fund to spur production,
3. advocating at the local, state, and federal level for policies and regulatory changes that
support housing production in our region,
4. engaging and mobilizing residents and elected officials in support of affordable housing,
and
5. keeping residents housed through a coordinated eviction prevention strategy.
We stand ready to support more affordable homeownership opportunities in Palm Springs and
encourage the city to make the RFP for these lots available only to a qualified non-profit
affordable housing developer, like the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, with a successful
track record of developing Self Help housing. We thank the city of Palm Springs for joining us in
this work thus far and urge the city council to continue to prioritize the production of affordable
housing to ensure that all residents are healthy, stable, and thriving and urge you again to
prioritize affordability in this development.
Thank you for your time.
Lift to Rise
01/26/2023
Public Comment
Item 3D