People's Self-Help Housing officially started accepting applications for its affordable housing self-build project in San Miguel on Monday, Dec. 2.
Applications close on Dec. 16, at 5 p.m. The organization already has over 40 family applications.
The 14-home project is located off of N Street at the south end of 11th Street. It's estimated to take 18 months to complete the build.
Each house is estimated to cost $500,000. Each single-story home will have 3 or 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a two-car garage.
Applicants must meet certain eligibility requirements. Once confirmed that families have met those requirements, a lottery draft will take place and families will be notified starting Dec. 23.
“We have an in-house housing specialist who will go through all the applications and see who qualifies or who does it for the program, and then we'll, shortly thereafter, we'll have a computerized lottery that will select for the 14 homes," explained Jimmy Summer, People's Self-Help Housing Director of Home Ownership.
The organization has helped build more than 1,200 homes since the 1970s throughout the counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Monterey and Ventura. The 14 homes in San Miguel are part of 200 more in the works throughout those counties.
Each applicant must have an annual household income of at least $55,000, good credit and rental history, a commitment to work 40 hours per week (mostly on weekends) to build the homes, and be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident as required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture; however citizenship is not a requirement for all members of the household.
“You work Monday through Friday, and then you come out here and you put in ten hours on Saturday, ten hours on Sunday," said Christina Sanchez, a People's Self-Help Housing homeowner. "So it's a lot, [but] it's definitely worth it.”
Sanchez says she's lived in her San Miguel home for eight years and the other families that moved into the neighborhood at the same time have grown up together.
"It was just really nice to come together as a community and have something that you're really proud of," she said.
The deadline for submitting your application is Dec. 16, at 5 p.m. The link to apply can be found here on the PSHH website.
