Coachella Valley Housing Coalition History

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Gutierrez Family

Alberto and Margarita Gutierrez
Alberto and Margarita Gutierrez, and their eight children, are proud new homeowners at the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition's Paseo de los Heroes Mobile Home Park in Mecca. A housing development designed by CVHC to serve families displaced from unpermitted mobile home parks, the community features a Migrant Head Start center, a computer lab, an After-School program, community building meetings and recreational areas.

The Gutierrez families came to the United States in 1994 from Guanajuato, Mexico, where they worked in a construction company making as little as 50.00 pesos a day ($5 U.S. Dollars). "It was just enough to eat," Mr. Gutierrez said.

The Gutierrez Family decided to come to the United States with the hope of providing a better future for their growing family. "It was very hard to find a place to stay. When we first found the trailer park (where we lived close to ten years) we thought it was going to be only temporary, but as we looked around we found out that it was very hard to find anything else," Mr. Gutierrez said.

The 400-square-foot trailer where the Gutierrez lived was not only old and crowded, but lacked basic amenities such as clean water and a steady supply of electricity. The Gutierrez would pool electricity from a neighbor, a line that also supplied four other trailers. "It was hard in the summer when all the trailers had their swap coolers on. The electricity would go out; many times leaving us with no way to keep cool in temperatures that often times can reach 117 degrees." Mr. Gutierrez said.

In early 2003 their small trailer burned to the ground due to all the exposed electrical cords. "We were left with nothing, but we needed to find a place to stay for our eight children, Luis Alberto (15 years old), Adrian (12 years old), Claudia (10 years old), Paola (7 years old), Mariana (6 years old), Melissa (3 years old), Alma (2 years old) and Flavio now 8 months."

It wasn't long until the Gutierrez family was forced to leave the apartment they had found. The $800 a month payment was too much for two farm workers and eight children to spend. They were force to move into a friend's garage. The Gutierrez family never expected to live in these extreme living conditions when they moved to the United States from Mexico.

When they heard that Paseo de los Heroes was opening and accepting applications, their prayers were answered. They quickly applied and their application was processed. The Gutierrez family was able to get a new trailer that's 100 percent financed at a zero percent interest rate. Paseo de lo Heroes has made a big difference in the life of the Gutierrez family. Their school-age children attend the computer center almost on a daily basis where they are able to do their home work. The younger children are able to attend the Migrant Head Start center at a reduced rate based on their income. And the family is now in a safe, supportive housing community that they will be able to afford for the rest of their lives.

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2012

In its 10th year, The John F. Mealey Scholarship Fund has awarded nearly $400,000 to 382 students.

Construction begins on the first 85 units of CVHC’s master planned Fred Young Farm Labor Center. When completed, the community will feature 253 new units of affordable rental housing, single family homes and a community center.

The 62-unit Brisas de Paz Apartments is completed in Desert Hot Springs.

CVHC rings in its 30th Anniversary with a year-long tribute to Building Communities. Fulfilling Dreams.

2011

The 57-unit Rosa Gardens is completed in Palm Springs.

2010

Mutual-Self-Help Valencia, a 45-home subdivision, is completed.

Families build 72 Rancho Cielo Mutual-Self-Help homes on semi-finished lots purchased by CVHC in Coachella from a for-profit developer.

Thirteen Mutual-Self-Help families begin construction in Coachella on the 205-home Los Jardines subdivision being built on semi-improved lots CVHC purchases from a for-profit developer.

Low-income farmworkers and families move into Paseo de los Heroes II Mobile Home Park. The 53-unit community has a large playground, computer center and after-school program operated by Family YMCA of the Desert.

2009

Award-winning Wolff Waters Place Apartments are completed. The architecturally-outstanding La Quinta complex offers 218 units, a community room, tot lot, computer lab, full-size kitchen, swimming pool, childcare, after-school programs and parenting skills classes.

The 204-home Self-Help project known as Huerta de Mecca/ Los Fundadores is completed.

2007

CVHC celebrates its 25th Anniversary.

Upon the urging of the US Dept. of Agriculture and the County of Riverside, CVHC assumes responsibility for the 253-unit Fred Young Farm Labor Center.

2006

Arroyo de Paz, Phase 1, is CVHC's first multi-family development built in Desert Hot Springs. It features a childcare center and community room.

Ground is broken for Huerta de Mecca/Los Fundadores. CVHC’s largest Mutual Self Help subdivision. The 204-home Mecca community is being built from the ground up.

Completed Mutual-Self-Help homes reach the 1,000 mark.

Coyote Run II apartments, Palm Springs, are completed.

2005

CVHC recognized with Bank of America's Neighborhood Builder Award, Non-Profit of the Year Award and the National Association of Realtors "Hope Award - Project of the Year."

2004

The Villas Oscar Romero. consisting of 50 units in 16 buildings, is completed. It boasts of a community room, outdoor barbecue pavilion, weekly bi-lingual computer instruction and a $15,000 grant from Microsoft for computers and software.

A milestone of 2,500 affordable housing units is reached.

2003

Giving priority acceptance to families displaced from dangerous and unpermitted trailer parks, Paseo de los Heroes 1 Mobile Home Park is completed in Mecca with its 106 spaces, Migrant Head Start program, bilingual computer center, spacious community center and recreation areas.

Mexicas Mutual Self-Help community of 67 single-family detached homes is completed in Mecca.

2002

CVHC celebrates its 20th Anniversary!

Chapultepec Apartments, Mecca, provides 31 units of quality living for farmworker families who enjoy a tot lot and large community room.

The John F. Mealey Scholarship Fund is founded in honor of the organization's longtime executive director. College-bound students who live in one of CVHC's multi-family housing or whose families have built Mutual Self Help homes are eligible.

CVHC expands its Los Mañanitas Migrant Farmworker Housing facility in Mecca to 128 beds with the completion of 40 beds in 5 new suite-style units.

2001

CVHC takes its Mutual Self-Help home building concept international in a collaboration with Tec de Monterrey University, the State of Baja California Mexico housing agency, and construction industry leaders of Mexico that explores the concept of developing Self-Help Housing in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico.

2000

The 97-unit Las Palmeras Estates, Coachella, is CVHC's first mobile-homepark development and first acquisition of existing manufactured housing. CVHC added a total of 76 new family units to the existing community.

1999

CVHC directs its services to the needs of those living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses with the opening of Casas San Miguel de Allende, a 39-unit Cathedral City complex.

CVHC’s Annual Summer Youth Tennis Camp is launched to give children new experiences, teach teamwork and inter-personal skills. The camp is supported by Rabobank, Coachella Valley Unified School District ASES, Coachella Valley Chapter of the National Junior Tennis League and Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

CVHC surpasses the milestone of1,500 affordable housing units.

Housing needs of single migrant workers and rural homeless are met when Las Mañanitas is completed in Mecca. The 88 bed development features suite-style units that accomodate 8 adults in four bedrooms, with two bathrooms, a common living area and a kitchen.

1998

The needs of retired farmworkers and their families who want to live nearby are met with the completion of 52 family and 36 senior units at Desert Gardens Apartments, Indio.

1997

Paseo de los Poetas, consisting of 21 single-family homes, is complete in Mecca.

1995

Independent living for seniors and others is added to CVHC's portfolio of services when La Hacienda, Indio, becomes CVHC's first special-needs complex.

The 32-unit Nueva Vista Apartments open in Mecca with childcare, tot lots, outdoor areas and a medical clinic that operates for 10 years before a new County clinic is opened nearby.

1994

Tlaquepaque Apartments, 76 family units in Coachella is completed. The development is the recipient of the Fannie Mae Foundation's Maxwell Award of Excellence.

Coyote Run 1 apartments are completed in Palm Springs. The 140-unit community has a 4,000 sq. ft. childcare center with programs run by the Palm Springs Unified School District and by Family YMCA of the Desert.

1993

CVHC extends its services beyond housing to critical infrastructure with the completion of a safe-water delivery system for more than 200 Indio households.

1992

Las Casas II, 78 farmworker family apartments in Coachella, is completed. Today the community features a Kids Club and computer center operated by Family YMCA of the Desert, and a childcare center managed by the Coachella Valley Unified School District.

Las Casas III, CVHC's first tax-credit development, is completed, featuring spacious family townhomes. The development includes a tot lot and community gardens.

Pie de la Cuesta Apartments, CVHC's first multi-family development in Mecca, is completed for 68 farmworker families.

1989

Families complete construction on CVHC's first 15 Mutual Self-Help homes, built in Coachella.

1988

Las Casas 1 Apartments, CVHC’s second development, also in the City of Coachella, is completed. The community is designed to serve large families, featuring up to five-bedroom units.

1987

CVHC launches its Mutual Self-Help single-family housing program.

1986

Pueblo Nuevo Apartments, Coachella, a 50-unit complex for low-income farmworkers, is CVHC's first affordable multi-family housing development.

More than 800 families apply to live at Pueblo Nuevo.

1982

Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC) is formed when community and business activists and leaders meet to help address the lack of decent housing for farmworkers and other low-income families living in the Coachella Valley.

CVHC obtains its first grant of $10,000 from Aetna Foundation.

John F. Mealey, CVHC's first employee and current executive director is hired.