9 Groups Win Grants to Help Develop Low-Income Housing

More than $200,000 in grant money has been given to nine San Diego County groups to help them build housing for low-income residents.

The awards from the San Diego Community Foundation were made possible largely through a $250,000 grant from the Ford Foundation, according to Clarence Elliott, spokesman for the San Diego Community Foundation, a 15-year-old nonprofit group.

The grants are intended to help private housing groups get as well established in San Diego as they are in San Francisco and Los Angeles, Elliott said. “In San Diego, the private housing effort is just evolving,” he said.

By contributing money to the organizations to bolster their staffs, the groups will better be able to search for public and private monies they need to rehabilitate existing housing and build new low-cost units, Elliott said.

The grant recipients include the North County Housing Foundation, which received $40,000 to help families of migrant farm workers.

The Chicano Federation, which serves Latinos primarily in the city of San Diego, also received $40,000. The group has plans for a senior-citizen apartment complex and an 11-unit rental project, Elliott said.

The Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee, which serves the South Bay, received $40,000, and $38,500 went to Neighborhood Housing Services, which works with low- to moderate-income residents in the City Heights area.

Jim Ridley, a former carpenter and director of the Metropolitan Area Advisory Committee, has rehabilitated more than 30 properties in the City Heights area with public and private help, Elliott said.

Two groups, Casa Familiar in San Ysidro and the Sherman Heights Community Center, each received $20,000. Both groups are launching programs to alleviate housing problems in their areas, Elliott said.

The foundation also awarded smaller seed grants for start-up operations.

South Bay Community Services received $9,000 toward creating a community development group in Chula Vista. The Greater Golden Hill Community Development Corp. was awarded $5,900 for start-up costs; and Esperanza received $5,100 to help launch its work on migrant worker housing in North County.