Lemoore earns $160,000 grant to plan for and increase supply of affordable homes in Lemoore

By The Leader Staff
Lemoore City Hall
Lemoore City Hall

The City of Lemoore, thanks to a bit of hard work by the city’s community development department and its director Judy Holwell, managed to land a $160,000 grant to update the tools needed to develop the city’s affordable housing needs.

The grant comes courtesy of SB 2, the Building Homes and Jobs Act, recently passed by the California State Legislature, a measure designed to finance new and rehabilitated developments for low-income residents. The legislation created a modest $75 document recording fee on real estate transactions, which in turn is used to increase the state’s supply of affordable homes, create jobs, and spur economic growth without incurring additional debt.

While the $160,000 Lemoore grant is designed to help local builders ultimately build affordable homes, it initially provides city officials with the funding necessary to update the tools the city uses to plan for growth. “Part of what we’re going to do is update the zoning ordinances, general plan, and zoning map,” said Lemoore’s community development director, Judy Holwell, who applied for and won the city’s latest grant effort.

“This is all (done) to make it easier for housing developers to develop housing in Lemoore,” said Holwell. “It will make it easier to build homes in general. This will make it the process more streamlined.”

The funds will go towards streamlining the process, preparing building strategies, updating the city’s subdivision ordinance and approval process, preparing draft ordinances, and working with the city’s planning commission and the city council.

Part of the money - $20,000 – will be spent to create an easily accessible master housing database. All the city’s objectives are expected to be completed during the upcoming year.

In a letter from the Department of Housing and Community Development, Deputy Director Zachary Olmstead lauded the city’s efforts and said its application merited the grant award. “The program reflects the state’s commitment to work in partnership with local governments to address California’s critical housing needs,” stated Olmstead.

“Local governments are using the grant awards to accelerate housing production by streamlining the approval of affordable housing and promoting  development consistent with the state’s planning priorities, among other related activities.”

 

Lemoore earns $160,000 grant to plan for and increase supply of affordable homes in Lemoore

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