Lottery to be held May 4 for two projects
By the April 18 deadline, 155 people had applied to buy one of 23 new homes in Morgan Hill at lower than the going rate. There are two projects soon to get under way.
Viale, on Watsonville Road and west of Monterey Road, is specifically intended to allow teachers in the Morgan Hill School District to buy a home in the community where they teach.
The 10-unit project is a joint effort between the Morgan Hill Redevelopment Agency and South County Housing, with financial help from Santa Clara County HOME funds.
Of 33 teachers who applied, 28 were from local or county public schools and five from local private schools. Three applicants were Morgan Hill police officers, eight were city employees, seven were other MHSD employees and four were residents who teach outside the district.
Morgan Station, which South County Housing is building without city help, is located on East Central, just west of the railroad tracks and across from Britton Middle School.
It will have four duplexes, two triplexes and three single-family 3,189-square-foot homes with cottage units above detached garages.
The BMR units include a three-bedroom 1,632-square-foot, and two four-bedroom units, one at 1,738-square-feet and a second at 1,968-square-feet.
Eligible candidates for both projects will be entered in a lottery to be held at the community center, Wednesday, May 4, at noon. Prospective buyers do not need to be present.
Lottery winners will be screened further for financial qualifications. Those who are pre-approved will enter into a purchase contract and wait for final loan approval.
Below market rate units cannot be sold at market rate for 45 years to keep the housing stock available for other lower income families. The original owner gets to keep about 10 percent of the equity if the home is sold.
The $4.5-million Viale project includes 10, detached, single-family homes ranging in size from 1,483 square-feet for eight three-bedroom models, to 1,542 square-feet in the two four-bedroom models.
The RDA is contributing $855,000, including $400,00 in land costs. The city already owns the property.
Morgan Station’s BMR units are open to everyone who meets the financial requirements of low to moderate income or above, which is within 80, 100 and 120 percent of the Santa Clara County median income. As such, a family of four would qualify with an income of $105,500 a year, according to Suzanne Tobin, SCH’s home buyer program manager.
Sales prices at the two developments are expected to range from $250,000 to $565,000 with mortgages from $136,000 to $500,000 depending on the buyer’s income, down payment and ability to qualify for subsidy financing.
South County Housing is a non-profit agency that has built affordable housing for 26 years and has worked with the city in the past, including Terracina at Dunne and Butterfield, Villa Ciolino, a rental project behind Albertson’s that earned nationwide praise for design and livability and, most recently, Jasmine Square, next to the post office.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
