PICO California creates innovative solutions to pressing community issues; translates faith into action; ' builds a legacy of leadership; and raises a new vision for California.

Across our state dysfunctional communities are being created where those who labor in a city are not able to live where they work. Long commutes to overcrowded and substandard housing place great stress on the family unit. PICO California and its affiliates are working to create decent affordable housing that allow working families to live in dignity.

Here are some examples of what leaders in PICO California have done to rebuild neighborhoods and create new housing opportunities:

Affordable Housing Trust Fund

PICO California supported Proposition 1C in the Nov. 2006 election in order to provide California families with more options for safe and quality housing. This measure passed with 57.5% of the vote and will generate $2.8 billion in funding for emergency and afforadble housing programs. While this was a great victory for our state, money from this proposition is not sustainable, and before long the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund will run out of funds again. PICO California leaders are exploring the options the state has to continue this important program and have been working with elected officials and housing experts to create long lasting solutions.

Inclusionary Zoning

Contra Costa Interfaith Supporting Community Organization (CCISCO) won passage of an Inclusionary Zoning ordinance in Brentwood, California in 2003. The law requires developers to create affordable housing units as part of new developments. As a result there are projected to be 675 low and very low income homes built in the city over the next five years, a benefit of over $200 million. PICO federations in Denver, San Francisco, San Diego and Freemont have created thousands of affordable housing units through similar laws.

Farm Worker Housing

Inland Congregations United for Change (ICUC) has worked with farm worker families in Coachella Valley, California since 1999 to address some of the most critical housing conditions in the United States. As a result of new forgivable loan products for both tenants and property owners, hundreds of tenant families have been able to buy new homes and seventeen mobile home parks in the area have been renovated.

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