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July Newsletter - In This Issue
 
Self-Help Enterprises works with community partners to provide free resident services such as job training, health services, and financial training. At our Vera Cruz Village apartments in Richgrove, residents participated in a diabetes education and prevention workshop offered by the Central Valley Farmworker Foundation and Family HealthCare Network. 
JOIN OUR TEAM
Self-Help Enterprises offers an exciting work environment where you can bring your high caliber skills to a true career opportunity and impact the world around you.

We have an opening for a Community Development Specialist responsible for assisting rural, low-income communities in obtaining safe drinking water and sanitary disposal systems. We also have an open position for a Construction Superintendent responsible for the training and supervision of mutual self-help housing participants in the construction of their new homes. 
WATER TANKS GET NEW LIFE
The unprecedented drought impacted many families throughout the San Joaquin Valley who rely on ground water for their daily lives. 

As the drought unfolded, Self-Help Enterprises took an active role in providing emergency drought relief by developing a temporary water tank prototype that supplied a limited amount of water to homes with dry wells. The water tank system puts onsite a 2,600-gallon tank with a small pump that is connected directly into a house's plumbing. Water is delivered by a water hauler and the system restores water for sanitation purposes. 

In Tulare County, the Tulare County Office of Emergency Services implemented this interim solution, which helped keep families in their homes while working toward a long-term solution, through a partnership with Self-Help Enterprises, Community Services Employment Training (CSET), and United Way.

In communities like East Porterville where homes have been connected to the City of Porterville's water system, the water tanks are being removed as the homes are connected. Rather than dispose of the tanks and add to local landfills, Self-Help Enterprises, in partnership with the Tulare County Resource Conservation District (RCD), helped to distribute over 300 water tanks to areas across Tulare County including rural communities, small ranches and farms.

The Tule River Indian Reservation received 58 tanks allowing them access to over 145,000 gallons of residential, livestock and fire suppression water capabilities. The rural communities of Allensworth, Terra Bella and Sultana also received water storage equipment. In addition, water tanks were distributed to many different foothill ranchers to allow for fire suppression and livestock water, which will benefit both water and air quality for the San Joaquin Valley.

Self-Help Enterprises is seeking to distribute water tanks in other counties as families connect to a permanent water source.
A recycled water tank sits in the foothills for fire suppression. 
TOM'S TAKE ON CALIFORNIA'S HOUSING MOMENT
By Tom Collishaw, CEO of Self-Help Enterprises
If you follow California politics, you may have noticed that affordable housing - that's right - became front and center in the latest legislative maneuverings. The governor's goal to extend the Cap-and-Trade program, the world-leading effort to combat climate change, was briefly held hostage by key legislators insisting on a deal to increase the supply of affordable and market rate housing.

While it is a bit intoxicating to be in play in this high stakes political game, it is still quite possible that, like in each of the last several legislative sessions, we will come away with nothing. That is, if legislators fail to seize this moment.

Cap-and-Trade was extended with a rare bipartisan super-majority (including a meaningful and gutsy aye vote from local Assemblymember Devon Mathis) with action on housing delayed for another month. At this point, all we have is a joint promise from the governor and leaders of both legislative houses to pursue both money and permit streamlining to increase affordability and housing supply in California.

But the road to get there is still decidedly tricky. The two most important money bills are SB 2 (which would create a new fee on recorded documents) and SB 3 (which would put a bond initiative on the 2018 ballot) are far from a "done" deal, and require a two-thirds supermajority vote.

The fact remains that California is the least affordable housing market in the nation, and we have not made a meaningful investment in housing since the last bond over 10 years ago. The only thing that will distinguish this moment is for our elected representatives to do the right thing and get this thing done. 
CUTTING-EDGE ENERGY-EFFICIENT 
HOUSING FOR FARMWORKERS
Agriculture is a huge part of the economy in California's San Joaquin Valley. Yet the rural Madera County community of La Vina has a greatly underserved farmworker community with historic levels of overcrowded, cost-burdened, and substandard housing. Like rural agricultural based economies across the nation, most farmworkers in La Vina are some of the lowest income earners in California and struggle to access decent, affordable housing for their families.
 
To help meet the housing need of the community, Self-Help Enterprises developed the Casas de la Vina apartment rental community in two phases beginning in 1992. The 56-unit affordable housing property not only provides a safe and permanent place to call home, it also now includes energy-efficient features that ensure a sustainable future for the residents. This year, Self-Help Enterprises received funding from the Low-Income Weatherization Program (LIWP) to install solar PV and other energy conservation measures at Casas de la Vina. Improvements included upgraded hot water systems for more efficient hot water distribution, replacement of all older windows with new energy efficient dual pane windows, replacement of older air-conditioning/heating units with new air-conditioning/heating units, new interior and exterior LED lighting, new faucet aerators and shower heads, attic insulation and duct sealing, and replacement of older refrigerators. The solar PV was sized to offset all of the common area and residential electrical loads.

These improvements have resulted in Casas de la Vina being the first known farmworker housing retrofit to achieve zero net energy . This means the total amount of energy used by the buildings on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site. This reduces utility bills for residents and the property while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.
 
All 56 energy-efficient units are exclusively limited to low-income farmworker families. All of the residents are entitled to means-tested rental assistance, and as a result, no Casas de la Vina resident pays more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.
Beyond providing decent, affordable housing, Self-Help Enterprises offers quality resident opportunity programs held at the Casas de la Vina community center. These programs are designed to enhance the everyday lives and futures of the residents and include an after-school program for children, financial fitness classes, computer literacy lessons, a free lunch program, nutrition classes, and English as a Second Language (ESL) courses.

The combination of affordable housing, energy-efficient features, and educational services contributes to the growth and sustainability of the Casas de la Vina community.
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8445 W. Elowin Court, Visalia, CA 93291		 All Rights Reserved.
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