Affordable Housing Coming to Mobile Home Park

County Commits Money to Accelerate Construction of Affordable Housing for Oasis Mobile Home Park Residents

OASIS – Some $7 million has been earmarked for Phase 1 of the Oasis Villas apartments, which will create new affordable and safe housing opportunities for families living at Oasis Mobile Home Park and in dilapidated housing in the eastern Coachella Valley.

The Riverside County Board of Supervisors this week approved the allocation.

“This is a huge positive and a significant investment to help build new housing in Oasis,” Supervisor V. Manuel Perez said in a prepared statement. “Families who have been struggling at Oasis Mobile Home Park and in other dilapidated housing want to move out and they want a better quality of life. Advancing the plans for Oasis Villas will provide new housing that will help many eastern Coachella Valley residents improve their quality of life.”

Oasis Villas is planned to be built in the community of Oasis, at Avenue 66 and Middleton Street, in three phases. Phase 1 of the community will include 80 apartment homes, followed by Phase 2 with another 80 apartments and Phase 3 that will add a 24,000-square-foot commercial space that envisions an on-site market, health clinic and child-care center.

The county’s funding commitment will help the builder, Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, develop infrastructure such as sewer lines that are needed for this housing community. It will also assist the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition in competitive applications to complete the funding to make Phase 1 a reality and more quickly construct new housing to help families relocate from substandard housing.

Other amenities that will be included at Oasis Villas are a community room, computer lab, swimming pool, tot lots and sports courts.

The $7 million is from a $30 million state grant Riverside County received to provide relocation assistance to over 200 families, nearly 1,100 individuals, from Oasis Mobile Home Park.

State Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia secured the historic $30 million allocation in last year’s state budget.

To address the need for available housing for families to move to, Riverside County is working to create new housing that can provide options for relocation.

The lack of infrastructure, such as water lines and sewer lines, in the eastern Coachella Valley has been a limit to affordable housing development in the area. In the last couple months, Supervisor Perez has dedicated $9.1 million in Fourth District American Rescue Plan Act funding to partner with the Coachella Valley Water District on two water and sewer projects that are needed for housing in Mecca. These projects will help develop more affordable housing options for families at Oasis Mobile Home Park for relocation.

Supervisor Perez and Riverside County agencies have set the date for a community meeting with the residents of Oasis Mobile Home Park for Wednesday, July 20, with more details to follow.