Coachella council approves conditional loan commitment to advance Placitas Dolores Huerta affordable housing

The Coachella City Council voted to approve a conditional loan commitment that CHOC (Community Housing Opportunities Corporation) will include with its application for 9% federal tax credits to finance phase 2 of the Placitas Dolores Huerta apartments.

Council action follows a presentation by CHOC and staff on financing and timelines. Vince Nicholas, vice president of real estate development for CHOC, told the council the developer seeks the city commitment to enable the project to compete for highly competitive TCAC 9% tax credits and said: "that's what we're here tonight for, is requesting that, to move forward and approve that." Joy Silver, CHOC's chief strategy officer, described the project as mission driven and said the first phase now houses 196 residents and that the affordability covenants would be held for 55 years.

Why it matters: City staff said the CFD commitment functions as a financing lever that helps assemble roughly $40 million in state, federal and local funding to construct the development. Staff described loan terms on the record as a 55‑year loan term, a 3% simple annual interest rate, repayment on sale or refinance, and annual payments tied to residual cash‑flow splits pro rata among governmental loans. In the transcript staff stated, "The loan amount will be in the amount of 4,000,000 $621,795," and emphasized the commitment would be enforceable for TCAC review.

Council members pressed staff on the fiscal tradeoffs of deferring future CFD receipts. Interim City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez warned the deferment shifts revenue timing and could force the city to use general‑fund resources to cover rising public‑safety costs, saying the city "experienced a $980,000 hit to your sheriff's contract" and that fire costs were "approximately $200,000," which together rose the public‑safety budget by about $1.1 million in the previous year. Manager Gonzalez described the CFD as "a loan of future money" that reduces near‑term receipts the city would otherwise collect.

CHOC and staff clarified that impact fees for the first phase were not deferred and that impact‑fee payments (CHOC said Phase 1 paid close to $800,000) remain a separate matter from the CFD request. Staff also reported the city currently has roughly $276,000,000 in deferred CFD fees from projects approved over the last decade and said some deferred amounts return to the city if projects refinance at 15–20 years, restarting the 55‑year affordability covenant.

Council took a formal motion, received a second, and approved the conditional CFD loan commitment by roll call (council members Perez, Delgado, Vivian and Mayor Pro Tem Figueroa recorded aye). The vote authorizes staff to provide the conditional commitment letter CHOC needs for its TCAC submission and to proceed with the regulatory/loan documentation necessary for the financing timeline.

Next steps: CHOC plans to submit the 9% tax credit application in early April and staff reported TCAC awards are expected in late June. If awards and financing close as projected, CHOC indicated construction could follow in subsequent years under the schedule discussed.

The council moved on after approving the item.