Sonora Area Foundation Awards $33,000 In Housing Grants

Sonora, CA — The Sonora Area Foundation (SAF) has awarded a total of $33,000 in grants that will provide for four new homes in Tuolumne County.

An $18,000 award went to Amador-Tuolumne Community Action Agency (A-TCAA) to fund three modular homes for transitional housing near the Columbia Post Office. The grant to A-TCAA will be matched by the S.H. Cowell Foundation of San Francisco and will allow the agency to move forward with the Columbia project as soon as revised plans gain final stae approval.

County officials have already cleared the project which calls for installing three modular homes where homeless families with youg children will be able to reside for up to nine months while they save for rental and moving expenses. While in the transitional homes parents connect with a range of community services including family healthcare, pre-school, literacy and job training and budgeting classes.

From A-TCAA Housing Resources Director Beetle Barbour, “It gives families a chance to move out of crisis, get back on their feet and in many cases even to thrive. At our transitional homes in Tuolumne we´ve seen more than 80 percent of families graduate to safe, stable housing.” Barbour is hopeful the project will be completed by next spring.

In addition to the modular homes SAF has awarded a $15,000 grant to Habitat for Humanity. Local volunteers build one new home at a time for a qualified family. The selected family helps with construction (sweat equity) and takes on interest free mortgage payments to become new home owners. This will mark the local chapter´s sixth home.

Written by Bill Johnson