$5 million fast tracks plans for coastal homes in Half Moon Bay

Newsom on Thursday announced Half Moon Bay, Fresno County, Santa Maria and Kern, Madera and Merced counties were awarded $16 million through the Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program, a funding opportunity from the California Department of Housing and Community Development named after the late mayor of Sacramento who grew up as a farmworker.

In late April, San Mateo County supervisors gave staff the green light to submit the $5 million grant application, drafted in partnership with Half Moon Bay staff, to the state. With the money, the county and city will construct 18 to 28 homes that will be sold to low-income farmworkers, a key objective of the grant program that aims to “assist lower-income agricultural employees and their families to become or remain homeowners.”

“Our farm and ranch workers play an essential role in San Mateo County’s community and economy,” said Iliana Rodriguez, the assistant county executive who led the grant effort, in a county press release. “We are happy that the work we have been doing to provide housing stability to farmworkers in our county is being bolstered by the state and the governor.”

Mueller said plans are already in the works to continue developing additional affordable farmworker housing on the coast. Supervisors recently allocated $1 million toward the planning effort.

The push for more housing in the area comes just months after a gunman entered two farms in Half Moon Bay — California Terra Garden and Concord Farms — and killed seven co-workers. The incident shook the Peninsula and revealed that dozens of families had been living in substandard conditions.

Ten units of the new site will be prioritized for those displaced by the shooting. A total of 18 families needed emergency housing support from the county and local philanthropic efforts.

“I am so grateful to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state for this vital influx of resources that support our efforts to ensure that every farm-working family in Half Moon Bay and San Mateo County is living with dignity in safe, healthy and affordable housing. This significant step towards more farmworker housing would also not have been possible without the advocacy from state Sen. Josh Becker and Assemblymember Marc Berman and the commitment of the city of Half Moon Bay, its city council and City Manager Matthew Chidester who have supported this work from the very beginning and I thank them,” Mueller said. “We are just getting started.”

The $35 million Joe Serna Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program is part of the state’s Super Notice of Funding Availability program, which includes the Multifamily Housing Program, Infill Infrastructure Grant Program and Veterans Housing and Homelessness Prevention Program.

About $71 million has already been granted to four projects in the county through those various programs. South San Francisco received $28.8 million through IIG to help cover the cost of building 158 affordable new homes proposed as part of an upcoming 800-unit community in the Sunshine Gardens district.

The 71-unit Cypress Point development in Moss Beach received $17.8 million, a 72-unit apartment proposal in Daly City was awarded $3 million and the 69-unit Eucalyptus Grove proposal in Burlingame was awarded $22 million through the Multifamily Housing Program fund.