Home ownership is the key to achieving personal wealth and thus referred to as “the American Dream”.  For many of the residents of rural communities this is believed to be an unachievable endeavor.  Barriers to home ownership include financial incapacity, lack of affordable housing stock, and lack of understanding of the home purchasing process.

Financial incapacity is primarily related to residents having lower wage employment as most work within the agricultural industry as seasonal, migratory, or resident farm workers. Most resident’s household incomes fall below the median income for the region and the opportunities for job advancement and higher earnings substantially rely on moving out of the agricultural arena and into jobs that require skills, training, and education beyond that of the average worker.

Affordable housing stock levels have hit a critical low within the Coachella Valley due in part to a housing boom.  This was precipitated by an influx of moderate to high income wage earners seeking better housing prices than in other surrounding areas.  This has resulted in an increased need for moderate to high-end housing stock which in turn driven up the cost of construction across the board.  This supply and demand nexus further impedes the construction of housing for very-low and low income families when home sales prices are forced dangerously close to exceeding what is affordable within the given household income restraints.  Though many families may qualify for additional mortgage subsidies to attain home ownership, the number of homes being produced within an affordable price range is falling drastically behind demand.

The process of purchasing a home from selection to closing is a daunting one for even the savviest of investors.  Couple this with a lack of understanding, literacy and language barriers, and lack of having established good financial standing, and it is not difficult to understand the feeling that achieving the American dream is in fact, not possible.

To address the elimination of barriers to home ownership, DACE incorporated a subsidiary RANCHO Housing Alliance in 2001, to specifically address the affordable housing challenges facing residents of the communities we serve.

Providing a variety of services from Housing Counseling, Loan Packaging, new home construction, and housing rehabilitation and preservation within its 3 departments; RANCHO Housing Alliance is a full service Community Housing Development Organization.

These services have been designed with the very-low to moderate income family in mind by assisting them through the home purchasing process, making their existing homes more livable, or referrals for housing that improves living conditions such as mobile home parks and subsidized multifamily complexes located throughout Eastern Riverside County. 

DACE maintains its commitment to making affordable home ownership achievable through the financial and staff capacity support of RANCHO projects and programs.

(See more details on RANCHO Housing from the home page)

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