The Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation is a leading developer and manager of affordable home communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Affordable homes, which used to be referred to as affordable housing, is defined today more by its cost rather than by its design or ownership status. Affordable homes today are defined as affordable when an individual or family pays no more than 30 percent of its total income on housing costs, including rent or mortgage, and utilities. This definition of affordable is a holistic way of looking at the economic picture of an individual or family because it takes into consideration that people have other essential expenses including food, clothing, healthcare, education, transportation and other costs of living.

Affordable home communities also refer to housing developments that are affordable to people who have very low, low or moderate incomes. The definition of these income levels is set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as a percent of the Area Median Income and varies from region to region by household size. You can find a description of HUD’s income levels and corresponding household sizes on the California Department of Housing and Community Development website.

Through the development of affordable homes, both ownership and rental, Cabrillo fulfills a tremendous housing need throughout Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

Generally speaking, CEDC’s homes are available to those earning from 20 to 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI). Not sure what the AMI is where you live? Check out: http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/ctcac/2016/supplemental.asp. Additionally, CEDC often accepts housing vouchers such as Section 8 and Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH). The Property Management and Community Building Departments at CEDC can help you figure out the eligibility requirements for all new and existing properties.

To find a rental application for any of our rental properties, click here. Please submit the rental application to the property manager at the property or properties of your choice in person or by mail. You will be placed on a waiting list and contacted by the property manager when a rental apartment becomes available at that site.

Cabrillo offers a variety of rental apartment communities in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. Please click on the “Rental Housing” tab to see a list of our rental homes or click here.

Each of the communities in Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation’s (CEDC) rental portfolio has its own established requisites based on the affordability requirements for that particular property.

The same rental policy applies at all rental communities. For a copy of the rental policy in English, click here. To see the rental policy in Spanish, click here. If you are interested in submitting an application for any of the properties, applications must be submitted directly to the property(ies) of interest.

CEDC is an equal housing opportunity provider and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, familial status, handicap, mental status, sexual orientation, ancestry, source of income and other protected classes under state and local laws.

There are many factors to consider before deciding whether a reverse mortgage is right for you.

To be considered for a reverse mortgage, HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requires that you participate in a counseling session with an approved nonprofit housing counseling agency. Upon completion of the session, the counselor will issue you a certificate that must be provided to the lender you choose to work with. At Cabrillo, we have counselors certified by HUD who specialize in helping consumers, 62 years of age or older, explore and evaluate this financial tool.

During your reverse mortgage counseling session, your counselor will work with you to help explain how reverse mortgages work, the financial and tax implications of taking out a reverse mortgage, payment options, and costs associated with a reverse mortgage. Your counselor will also highlight available resources that you may find useful in meeting your financial needs.

CEDC currently has no ownership homes under construction. However, CEDC’s NeighborWorks^® HomeOwnership Center may be able to assist you in preparing to buy a home with pre-purchase education and counseling and may be able to refer you to affordable for-sale homes available for purchase in your community. Please click on this link to get contact information about our NeighborWorks^® HomeOwnership Center.

Unexpected emergencies such as temporary job loss, illness, or a death in the family can lead to a loss of income. This can result in the inability to make the mortgage payment causing a possible foreclosure. To preserve families in the community and stabilize neighborhoods, a foreclosure counseling program has been established to help families get through this difficult transition period.

The Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation’s NeighborWorks^® HomeOwnership Center offers free services to assist homeowners in preserving homeownership and preventing foreclosure. Individuals are also urged to attend the Financial Empowerment Program classes. Counselors are certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). To schedule an appointment, please call (805) 659-6868.

The Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation’s Real Estate and Development Department (REDD) analyzes the feasibility of potential sites for affordable homes on an ongoing basis. The department currently has one project in construction, and five projects in various stages of predevelopment.

Camino Esperanza in Simi Valley (currently in construction) is slated for completion in early 2017, and will provide 31 affordable units for low-income seniors. Additionally, REDD is working on securing funding and planning approvals for 38 units in Guadalupe, (Santa Barbara County), 50 units in Buellton, (Santa Barbara County), 42 units in Oxnard, 22 units in Ventura, and 24 units in Piru, (Ventura County).

Like other nonprofit developers, Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation secures funding for land acquisition, predevelopment and development/construction through a variety of public and private sources. The California Tax Credit Allocation Committee provides tax credit equity and is our most common, albeit, competitive source of funds. The California Department of Housing & Community Development administers numerous grant and loan programs applicable to nonprofit developers of low-income, affordable and special needs housing. As funding sources differ from year to year, each project requires a unique mix of public and private funding sources to get the project off the ground and ensure it is affordable to the area’s most vulnerable populations.

Usually a dishonest building contractor does the following:

• Solicits business door to door.
• Prefers that you pay in cash.
• Uses high pressure sales tactics to convince you to make a quick decision.
• Requests that you pay for the entire job upfront.
• Has the perfect lender for you.
• Is unlicensed and does not have insurance.

Erosion control on a construction site eliminates or reduces the amount of soil and debris that could get into our streams, rivers and oceans. During construction the land is cleared of plant growth and is susceptible to erosion during a major rain event. Reputable construction companies and general contractors take special precaution to prevent erosion from leaving the construction site.

They include:

• Sand and gravel bag placement at potential rainfall collection areas.
• Silt fence at tops of slopes.
• Desilting basins to help clarify rainfall runoff prior to leaving the site.
• Hydro mulching and other soil stabilizing treatment.

Trusses are prefabricated, triangulated wooden structures used to support the roof. Trusses are quite common these days because they have five big advantages from the builder’s standpoint:

• Trusses are incredibly strong.
• Because they are built strictly from shorter lengths of 2×4 lumber, they are generally less expensive than the alternative.
• You can have just about any shape custom built, which allows interesting features like cathedral ceilings at a lower cost.
• You can span a large distance with a truss, and the truss transmits all of the weight to the exterior walls. Therefore, none of the interior walls are “load-bearing,” so they can go anywhere and are easily moved later.
• Trusses go up quickly!

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally recognized green building certification system. This process offers third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at reducing energy and water usage, promoting better indoor air quality and improving quality of life.

Under LEED, buildings accumulate points for things such as saving energy, having accessible mass transit and mitigating storm water runoff. Once the points are tallied, the building earns a LEED rating. The higher the tally, the more sustainable a building is.

The benefits of LEED Certification include:

• Reduced energy and water usage
• Reduced maintenance and operation costs
• Reduced construction waste during the building process
• Reduced liability
• Increased indoor air quality
• Promotes usage of recycled material

The LEED rating systems, created by the U.S. Green Building Council, are internationally accepted benchmarks for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings

The Cabrillo Economic Development Corporation is proud to be named the “2012 Affordable Housing Green Builder of the Year” and received LEED Platinum for Homes Certification for its Azahar Place Apartments.