Arcata city officials give update on housing issues

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For years, the city of Arcata has been experiencing a housing crisis, which has caused a lack of housing in the surrounding area.

City officials for community development say they have been working to lessen the number of people on the street.

“We have over the decades created well over 600 units of affordable housing restricted to families earning less than 80% area median income; the city has been very over proactive in securing grant funds in working with its private partners to produce that kind of housing,” said Director of Community Development David Loya.

One of those grants is the Manufactured Housing Opportunity and Revitalization program grant, which provides money for renovations.

“Particularly if there’s health and safety issues, if there’s wiring that needs to be done or if they got a little mold or something like that, and so basically they can basically get home renovations done for free,” said Loya.

Owning or renting may not be an option for low-income families and the homeless. According to Loya, city leaders are working to address the needs of all residents.

“Our affordable housing partners are scattered throughout the entire city. The most recent ones are two key home projects in the Valley West area. They have about 140 units of housing that’s affordable to extreme low-income households, and those are really designed to transition people out of homelessness into stable, supportive housing,” said Loya.

City officials realize that more work still needs to be done, but they want to remind residents of the work that has already been completed.

“Trying to do homelessness prevention and rehousing rapid rehousing of people who have become homeless, you know, a great opportunity to share what the city has done,” said Loya.

For people interested in sharing their concerns with city officials, you can also attend the city council meetings in Arcata.