WATSONVILLE, CALIF. — MidPen Housing opened Cienega Heights, an 80-unit affordable housing property in Watsonville, on May 23. Watsonville is about 50 miles south of San Jose. Thirty-nine of the 80 units were designed to serve farmworkers. Watsonville is situated in the Pajaro Valley, where several farms grow crops such as fruits, vegetables and flowers.
The units are reserved for residents earning 30 to 60 percent of area median income, or approximately $38,040 to $108,660 per year, depending on household size.
Cienega Heights is the second phase of a three-phase effort to create affordable homes on nearly 15 acres of city and unincorporated county land. MidPen completed the first phase of 46 homes at Pippin Orchards Apartments in 2018.
Cienega Heights’ amenity package includes a community room, learning center, a landscaped courtyard and an outdoor amphitheater, designed for meetings, theater or music performances.
MidPen Services coordinates on-site services for residents, such as after-school programming, financial capabilities classes and health and well-being programs.
The development cost was undisclosed, but funding sources for Cienega Heights include: Santa Cruz County; the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz; the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program; the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee; Central Coast Community Energy; the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County; California Community Reinvestment Corporation; and Wells Fargo.
The architect is DAHLIN Group, Inc., and the general contractor is L&D Construction Co., Inc.