SHE Named Among Nation’s Top 50 Affordable Housing Developers

Affordable Housing Finance has named Self-Help Enterprises (SHE) among the nation’s top 50 affordable housing developers. Ranked #45 on the list and among only eleven nonprofits, SHE started construction on 275 homes in 2019 and completed and occupied 136 homes.

The award is a combination of rental housing units, self-help homeownership units, and new housing created through acquisition and rehabilitation. Currently, SHE has six rental projects under construction for 266 units and an additional 112 units that are fully funded. SHE is also constructing 171 single-family lots for use by self-help homebuilders. This honor is a culmination of all of SHE’s housing efforts, and a tribute to everyone working to ensure low-income working families in the SJV have access to safe and decent affordable housing.

“We are proud to be recognized for our efforts to ramp up production of affordable housing to address our stubborn housing and homeless crisis in California,” said Tom Collishaw, President and CEO of Self-Help Enterprises. “Our challenge is to continue expanding our impact to keep pace in the midst of the current health crisis, which is certain to further impact the vulnerable populations we serve.”

Since 1965, Self-Help Enterprises has created rental and homeownership opportunities for families and farmworkers in eight San Joaquin Valley counties – Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Stanislaus, and Tulare – through the organization’s housing rehabilitation, self-help housing, rental housing and community development efforts.

Self-Help Enterprises’ housing efforts have increasingly focused on energy efficiency. In 2018, the organization completed its third zero-net energy housing development, Palm Terrace –a 50-unit development in Lindsay, inclusive with solar PV, water conservation features, and a grey water recycling system.

In 2019, the organization broke grown on its first senior project and first tribal collaboration project: (1) Annadale Commons is a 40-unit rental community for seniors located in Southwest Fresno, with integrated health services at the adjacent Clinica Sierra Vista, which will allow senior residents to age in place, and (2) Nupchi Xo’ Oy – a 40-unit rental housing community in Porterville in partnership with the Tule River Tribe, with 15 single-family homes and 25 townhouses and a 1,956 square foot community building fully equipped with laundry and computer lab.

This year, in addition to opening doors at Sequoia Commons – a 66-unit multifamily housing development in Goshen, Self-Help Enterprises commenced construction on 138 affordable rental units in Patterson, where across the street 41 low-income working families will construct their own home through the mutual self-help housing program. SHE has funding applications pending for nine additional rental projects totaling 568 units. SHE is also actively recruiting and building self-help housing in the following communities: Woodlake (Tulare County), Patterson and Turlock (Stanislaus County), Bakersfield and Shafter (Kern County), Fresno and Reedley (Fresno County) and Planada (Merced County.)