HCD recently joined leaders from National CORE, Mercy House, the Hope through Housing Foundation, the City of Riverside, and the County of Riverside to celebrate the grand opening of Vista de La Sierra, a new affordable housing development in the heart of Riverside’s La Sierra neighborhood.

Built on land provided by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Vista de La Sierra’s 80 new affordable homes are modern and comfortable, providing much-needed stability for households with incomes ranging from 30-60 percent of Area Median Income. Additionally, 39 of those units are reserved as permanent supportive housing for individuals and families who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness.

“Affordable housing is one of the most pressing issues in our city, region, and state,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson recently shared with National CORE. “Vista de La Sierra moves Riverside one step closer to being able to provide housing for all.”

Designed to be a net-zero energy community, National CORE developed this project with community needs and environmental issues in mind. This project was built through public-private partnerships, with the goal of providing quality affordable housing to the unhoused.

Vista de La Sierra’s permanent supportive housing units were financed in large part by HCD’s No Place Like Home program, which provides developers with the funding and tools necessary to create housing for persons with serious mental illnesses who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at-risk of becoming chronically homeless. With voter approval of Proposition 1, more communities like this should soon become a reality.

“These are the types of projects we are hungry to fund,” said HCD branch chief Patty Fado. “With strong community partnerships like this, we can make homelessness rare.”