EMPLOYER SPONSORED HOUSING
What is Employer Sponsored Housing?
Employers are increasingly playing a larger role in the welfare of their employees. In addition to health care benefits, retirement plans, and wellness programs, some employers have raised the bar and created much-needed, affordable homes for their employees. MBEP applauds these creative and innovative efforts that provide benefits for the company, the employees, and the community.
Agriculture
For growers in the region, high housing costs make it hard to attract enough labor during harvest season. The housing projects that have been constructed can help the growers with this. While the housing is designed for single agricultural employee residents, mostly H2A employees, it can help to alleviate the housing pressure on existing stock where growers would need to go in order to provide housing for their harvest employees.
Spreckles Crossing
Location: Spreckles, CA
Number of Units: 100
Company Name: Tanimura & Antle
Year Started: 2015
Year Complete: 2016
Architect: The Paul Davis Partnership.
Engineer: Whitson Engineers.
Developer/Contractor: Avila Construction
Landscaping: BFS Landscape Architecture
Uniqueness: Seasonal, agricultural employee only
Project Timeline: Click here.
Casa Boronda
Location: Monterey County
Number of Units: 75 units, 600 beds
Year Complete: 2018
Owner: Nunes Company, Inc.
Casa Boronda is located on Madison Lane in Monterey County, just outside the Salinas city limits. This was the second major farmworker housing project in Salinas Valley and followed in the footsteps of Tanimura & Antle farmworker housing, Spreckels Crossing, which is widely regarded as the model for the industry. Both projects used the same Monterey architect, Paul Davis Partnership. This $17 million housing project includes a community room, soccer field and convenience store with free coffee and WiFi.
Walnut & Third Apartments
Location: Monterey County
Number of Units: 100 units, 800 beds
Year Complete: Phase 1 2021
Owner: Avila Construction
Located in Greenfield, this housing project by Avila Construction will provide dorm-style apartments for as many as 800 seasonal agricultural workers. Occupancy began in April of 2021, and currently consists of 30 units, 1 manager unit/ office, and 1 laundromat.
Harvest Moon
Number of Units: 150 units, 1200 beds
Year Complete: 2021
Owner: Avila Construction
Off North Davis Road in unincorporated land just outside of Salinas, this complex consists of 10 two-story buildings designed to house up to 1,200 workers. This is the largest development of its kind in the region. It is designed for single agricultural employee residents, mostly H2A.
Education
Students and educators are vital members of our local communities. Providing affordable housing options for both of these groups has emerged as a leading strategy for attracting and retaining teachers, staff, and students to our public schools and higher education institutions in the Monterey Region and across the State of California. (Read an article from MC Weekly on this subject.)
School district-sponsored housing projects in the Bay Area and elsewhere serve as models for how cities and school districts can work together to attract and retain qualified teachers and maintain a workforce that prepares our youth for the future. This strategy has been or is currently being pursued by two school districts in our region, Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) and Soledad Unified School District (SUSD). Rental and Homeownership programs for educators strengthen our ability to retain these educators as members of our local workforce.
Housing for undergraduate and graduate students is also a critical component of investment by our region’s leading institutions of higher learning. The University of California of Santa Cruz and California State University Monterey Bay host thousands of students each year who will one day serve as members of our workforce locally and beyond. Students and educators at community colleges and universities like Monterey Peninsula College, Cabrillo Community College, and Hartnell College provide vocational training and important stepping stones to 4-year universities. All of these institutions are continuously evaluating their opportunities to create on-campus or off-campus housing opportunities and MBEP is here to assist with making these developments come to fruition by sharing successful models and providing advocacy support as needed.
Though there is still much work to be done, significant progress has been made in the development of housing for both K-12 students and educators and for affiliates of our higher education institutions (see below). Here are a few examples of work we’ve supported since the founding of the MBEP Housing:
UCSC Student Housing West
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
Number of Units: 3,000+ beds
Company Name: University of California, Santa Cruz
Year Started: TBD
Year Complete: TBD
Architect: HED
Engineer: Forell/Elsesser Structural Engineers & Interface Engineering
Developer/Contractor: Capstone
Landscaping: Walker I Macy
Uniqueness: Quality higher education facilitates that provide students a place to live, learn, and play
Project Timeline: Click here
Student Housing West will provide 3,072 on-campus beds for UCSC’s undergraduate, graduate and student-family communities. It will also provide a childcare facility, which is an excellent use of mixed-use housing. In addition to housing and connecting students to the university’s facilities and resources, the project will alleviate pressure from the off-campus housing market. We have no doubt that Student Housing West will benefit both students and members of the Santa Cruz community at large.
Landed Homeowner Program
Number of Units: 37 purchased homes
Year Complete: Founded in 2015
Organization: Landed
Uniqueness: Homeownership program for educators and health care workers in Santa Cruz County
Project Timeline: Ongoing, learn more about Landed
MBEP has supported Landed’s efforts since they first created their shared equity down payment program to help more educators to become homeowners in 2015. We are thrilled to see how far they’ve come in supporting not only educators but also healthcare workers and first responders in Santa Cruz, the San Francisco Bay Area and in a growing number of cities across the country.