CAH was formed in 2001 to help fulfill what was then seen as an urgent need for housing. At the time, we completed a description of the housing crisis titled "A Place for Everyone." It makes interesting reading today (you can download a PDF file here), especially to see how much has changed. After seven short years, housing prices in Calistoga are an estimated 70% higher, making them even further out of reach for Calistogans whose incomes haven't kept pace.

The news hasn't been all bad. Cottage Glen will be the fourth housing community in four different areas of Calistoga that CAH will have created to help meet the housing need. These communities will have added 32 rental units and 49 for-sale homes over a period of almost ten years when completed, or a little more than eight units per year:

• Saratoga Manor II, an 18-house mutual self-help community
• Lakewood Apartments, an 8-unit rental apartment renovation
• Palisades Apartments, a 24-unit workforce housing community under construction
• Cottage Glen, a 31-home mixed-income community now proposed

Calistoga has a long record of supporting housing needs, and has been proactive on several fronts the past few years:

• Major funding of $540,000 was provided to help finance Saratoga Manor II
• Financing of $80,000 was granted to assist the renovation of Lakewood Apartments
• The city's requirement for the Solage Resort to provide workforce housing will result in 24 affordable rentals in early 2009
• The city's requirement for $600,000 in lieu housing fee for Vineyard Oaks will provide funding for new housing, as will a similar requirement for the Terrano resort
• The city achieved its first state-certified Housing Element in 2005 which qualifies us for several state and federal grant opportunities
• Many other housing-related initiatives were accomplished such as revising the MHP rent control ordinance

City participation in the financing of Cottage Glen will continue this record of supporting Calistoga's housing needs.