Officials celebrate groundbreaking for ‘Dolores Huerta Placita,’ a new affordable housing complex in Coachella
The long-awaited reconstruction of apartments in Coachella that will be able to house dozens of low-income families got underway on Friday.
The apartment complex will be named after legendary activist Dolores Huerta, who was on hand to accompany local leaders in the traditional shoveling.
Huerta celebrated her 92nd birthday earlier this month. She is the co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association with Cesar Chavez. A long-time advocate for immigrant, female, and worker rights, she is known as one of the most influential labor activists of the 20th century.
“Si se puede, si se puede”, Huerta said during the event.
"Si Se Puede" means "Yes we can." It's a famous slogan that Huerta created in the 1970s to inspire laborers. The phrase would later inspire the campaign slogan of future President Barack Obama.
Check Out: Mural of civil rights activist Dolores Huerta unveiled in Coachella
With her well-known slogan, legendary activist Dolores Huerta, along with local and state leaders, celebrated the inauguration of the new affordable apartment project.
"We know that we have to push for more public housing. We should not have anybody in the richest country in the world, the United States of America, we should not have one single person that does not have adequate shelter," Huerta told Telemundo 15's Marco Revuelta.
The existing apartment complex on the 84900 block of Bagdad Avenue in Coachella will be demolished and 110 new low-cost units will be built. The residences will have one, two, or three bedrooms.
"They're going to do for our residents, especially residents who are from the countryside," said Coachella City Mayor Steven Hernandez.
The project will cost more than $38 million.
The nonprofit Community Housing Opportunities Corporation, known as CHOC, will allocate the $22.6 million it received from the state to help fund the project. The rest will come from local grants.
Ortencia Lopez of CHOC says the organization's goal is to support families with affordable housing.
With a large agricultural workforce in the city, Mayor Hernandez says there is no better way to honor Dolores Huerta's legacy than by naming the complex after her.
"Dolores Huerta's story here in the city of Coachella is part of the fabric, it's part of the history that not only she made but Cesar made to fight with the rights of farmworkers," Hernandez said.
The apartments are scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2022.
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If you'd like to learn more about this project, check out Marco Revuelta's report for Telemundo 15.
