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John Fowler, President and CEO, Peoples' Self-Help Housing
Challenge: To rehabilitate a dilapidated former camper park in the California beach town of Carpinteria, which became housing of last resort for low-income households living under conditions of extreme poverty.
Carpinteria Camper Park started out as a cool camper park for vacationing families in the 1960s. However, under management of an absentee slumlord who allowed the site to become overpopulated, the facility developed into permanent housing of last resort for about 80 low-income households, many of them farm laborers in the area.
By the time Peoples' Self-Help Housing became involved in 2004, the situation had become desperate. Many trailers were beyond repair and improper sewer connections caused unhealthy living conditions. The single common restroom and shower facility was the only plumbing available for a majority of the households, many with large multigenerational families. Criminal activity, gangs and violence had become commonplace.
The site was a code compliance nightmare for overwhelmed city officials who were at a loss for a solution. As deplorable as it was, it was also the only affordable housing available for the occupants working in nearby agricultural and tourist industries. The City of Carpinteria asked Peoples' Self-Help Housing for help.
Peoples' Self-Help Housing is a community-based nonprofit that facilitates affordable housing and other programs that lead to self-sufficiency for low-income families, seniors and other special needs groups on California's Central Coast.
Our first step at the Carpinteria camper park was to contact community stakeholders, including government officials, community members, health care providers, law enforcement and local clergy, to learn about the community's needs. Crime and gangs were among the biggest immediate concerns.
We coordinated a system of community policing and installed security fencing with automated entry and exit gates. Not only did this reduce crime, it began to build trust between our organization, the residents and the community.
Next, we purchased more than 50 newer trailers to replace a majority of the existing trailers which were in disrepair or too small to accommodate overcrowded living spaces.
We helped facilitate communication between residents and property management and started to support families through family counseling, crisis intervention and community engagement with three programs: Supportive Housing, Community Building and Engagement and Youth Education Enhancement.
Supportive Housing is a clinically-based case management and social services program that provides no-cost, voluntary and confidential services to residents with basic, chronic and emergency needs, including anything from food to domestic violence intervention.
As Supportive Housing social workers integrated into the neighborhood, they introduced Community Building and Engagement, which encourages residents to participate in their community. They helped organize cleaning parties, religious celebrations and impromptu potlucks. Yeret, an 8-year-old resident, said, "We didn't like it when it was dirty. We helped people clean up. It was like a big family."
Many residents were concerned about how to help their children with homework, so the Youth Education Enhancement responded with an afterschool program. First, we had to find a location, which was difficult with no common area protected from the elements. We started with an outdoor classroom covered by a tarp and soon replaced it with a large air-conditioned portable classroom filled with books, desks and a credentialed teacher.
The program was so successful that we eventually expanded to nine other properties. Outside of the needed structure and homework help, the children went on summer field trips and learned to paint murals from visiting artists of the local Bellas Artes program. The onsite teacher often accompanied parents to teacher-parent conferences at their schools. In many cases, it was the first time the parent had entered their child's school.
"When the trailer — the escuelita [school] — arrived, it showed the children that they could realize their dreams," said Liz, a resident whose son attended the program and now attends Cal State Los Angeles.
Our organization negotiated an adjacent land purchase, a land donation and approximately $12 million in financing to construct 33 units within a mile of the camper site, which were completed in the summer of 2013. We then raised approximately $15 million in financing to construct new affordable apartments on the camper park site. Before construction began, we relocated all remaining tenants to other housing in the community.
On April 10, 2014, we broke ground on the long-awaited Casa de Las Flores at the former camper park site. The grand opening was held October 15, 2015. There are 43 spacious apartments and approximately 3,500 square feet of community space including a classroom with a computer room. We replaced the original housing on wheels with high quality affordable apartments on new permanent foundations.
There were mistakes and missteps, but we learned several lessons, including:
- Take a long-term view.
- Plan carefully.
- Make sure you are on the same page as your collaborators.
- Be flexible; things change and it is sometimes necessary to adapt to new circumstances.
- Plan for the worst.
