Wine Country Times

The City of Santa Rosa is now disbursing approximately $38.5 million it received from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) for the construction of affordable, multi-family housing to help offset losses from the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

During the Tubbs Fire, approximately 3,000 residential units were destroyed in Santa Rosa, according to a press release about the funding on the city’s website. The loss amounted to 5% of the housing available in the city at the time.

Following the 2017 wildfires, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided relief to the state in the form of a Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR), the source of the funds that HCD allotted to the city, according to the release.

When the application process was opened for proposals to create the housing the funds are intended for, the city received applications for creating a total of 1,283 housing units, amounting in total to $149 million in requests for funding, according to the release. The Santa Rosa Housing Authority ultimately chose to fund five projects.

The largest award from the Housing Authority went to a 94-apartment development at the site of the former Journey’s End Mobile Home Park on Mendocino Avenue, which was allotted approximately $11.9 million, according to the release. 

Approximately $8.9 million was allotted for a 64-unit downtown development by Caritas Homes, $10.3 million went to the Cannery at Railroad Square for a 129-unit development, $5 million was awarded for the 64-unit Burbank Avenue Apartments in Roseland, and approximately $2.2 million will go to the 26-unit Linda Tunis Senior Apartments at the site of the former Scottish Rite Temple on Acacia Lane in Rincon Valley, according to the release.

In total, the approved projects are expected to add 317 housing units to the community, according to the release.