Self-Build Housing Initiative Comes to a Boil
And CVHC responds — the final installment of our April 22, 2025, Twentynine Palms City Council meeting recap
It’s not often that a Twentynine Palms City Council meeting requires three articles to cover the action! In Part One we covered the bulk of the meeting, including annual housing element and general plan reports andthe tabling of a development code amendment covering RV parks and camping in RL-zoned areas among other items.
Part Two addressed public comments complaining about an incident at Luckie Park involving an autistic youth and the Sheriff’s response, and our investigation of body cam footage of this incident.
In this final installment, we recount the 45-minute, sometimes heated, discussion on self-build housing and the City’s potential partner, the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC). After hearing passionate opinions from residents in favor of the concept, the conversation evolved into a vexatious debate between Councilmembers and an aggrieved outburst. Eventually, with Mayor Steven Bilderain interceding, Council in effect agreed to table this item by replacing a decision with a workshop intended to gauge resident interest and ability to qualify for self-build homes.
In writing up Council’s consideration of Item 20: Update on the Self-Build Housing Project for our initial article, we realized it was necessary to reach out to CVHC and offer them an opportunity to respond. Their reply follows our report on the discussion.
Our agenda preview for this meeting can be found here and the meeting video is below — the self-build discussion starts at 38:00 and ends at 1:24:00:
A Brief History
City Manager Stone James recounted the history of this initiative by relaying that the City has been working primarily with the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition (CVHC), who advised the City to purchase at least 10 parcels so the City acting in partnership with CVHC could kick off this effort.
In actuality the history is more convoluted. The idea was first raised by then Candidate Octavious Scott in an interview with the Desert Trumpet in October 2022 where he mentioned the successful track record of CVHC in managing self-build housing. Since he’s been seated on Council the concept has proceeded in fits and starts through three City Managers and the turnover of a Council seat, which in part accounts for some of the delays in implementation. Here’s a timeline:
May 9, 2023: “Identify ten (10) lots to start a self-help construction program” added to future agenda items.
June 27, 2023: CVHC presents to Council, represented by Executive Director Pedro Rodriguez, Single Family director Emilia Mojica, and Senior Construction Manager Slawomir Rutkowski — this taking place when Frank Luckino was City Manager. The item was voted forward for exploration and potential signing of a contract. Video of the presentation is online and their talk starts at 13:30.
September 12, 2023: Per response from CVHC below, an agreement is signed.
October 3, 2023: City Manager Luckino resigns.
November 14, 2023: Interim City Manager Larry Bowden’s first meeting as City Manager.
January 23, 2024: Council votes to move forward on finding lots or purchasing an existing subdivision for the self-build initiative.
March 12, 2024: Update to Council indicates that potential parcels are forwarded to CVHC for review.
March 19, 2024: Community Development Director Keith Gardner announces at a meeting of the Housing and Homelessness Committee that CVHC has looked at three sites proposed for self-build housing and decided on a preferred location.
March 26, 2024: Stone James is proposed for the City Manager position, start date is April 29, 2024.
September 10, 2024: City Council hears a decidedly more skeptical update of the project from City Manager James. The update focuses on hurdles, and indicates that the City has not voted to green light the project and is not committed to construction.
Twentynine Palms City Council during a contentious discussion on April 22, 2025. (Photo: Jonathan Hume)
The City Attorney Chimes In and Initial Discussion
After a brief introduction, City Manager Stone James tossed the item to City Attorney Patrick Muñoz who expressed surprise, “I really was just prepared to answer questions. I didn't realize you were expecting a formal presentation.” Indeed, unusually, no staff report was attached to this agenda item, which indicates a last-minute addition to the docket.
Muñoz outlined two hurdles the City faces in moving forward on this project. Hurdle number one is deciding between the two ways the City could go about purchasing an initial set of parcels: It could either use designated affordable housing funds, "restricted funds,” which on the one hand would cost the City less, but on the other, the City would need to plan for a variety of complications and challenges. Or alternately, the City could purchase the parcels out of its general fund, at likely a greater direct cost, but gain the benefit of far fewer encumbrances.
The second hurdle according to Muñoz is that CVHC has simply been nonresponsive. Per Muñoz, "we've reached out to CVHC asking for background and materials, and we just haven't received it. So our due diligence was stalled out a couple of months ago and we just haven't received any additional information from them."
Hearing this, Councilmember Scott asked, "Now we've come to the point of, whether or not the City is willing to invest in their community, right? And I think that's the question: Is the City ready to invest in home ownership? Because that's going to add to the quality of life of our city." Scott then made a motion that the Council direct staff to "move forward with purchasing 10 lots to do a self-help construction program." No other Councilmembers seconded his motion.
James and Muñoz then outlined various risks the City might face with CVHC's recommended plan, which entails that the City first purchase the parcels: liability, how to dispose of the parcels if they're purchased with restricted funds, and the risk that CVHC is unable to find 10 qualified grantee-builders. Scott countered that these risks could be mitigated and that CVHC has "got this track record going back all the way to the early 90s, where they've been successful doing this program. They've built 70 homes in Imperial!"
Councilmember Ramirez chimed in, arguing that locating 10 qualified grantees constituted a significant risk, and that only Twentynine Palms residents should be allowed to apply for these builder/grantee slots. Councilmember Daniel Mintz weighed in with worries about the initiative's monitoring requirement, fretting that the City would have to keep tabs on these deed-restricted homes for 55 years. Muñoz reiterated his hesitation about the reliability of CVHC as a partner for the City, saying "I don't mean to come across negative, but [our agreement with CVHC] expired because we never got from them what we needed back, in terms of our due diligence. And even after it expired, we continue to reach out to them and ask for information, which we just haven't received."
With this, Bilderain opened comments.
Public Comment
First up was Realtor Scott Curry, who argued that "we definitely need construction happening in Twentynine Palms," favoring moving forward, but going on to warn the Council that qualified low-income buyers weren't always easy to find: "I would encourage you to buy the 10 lots. I represented a nonprofit for 19 years. We purchased HUD properties. It's tricky... the qualifications are tough... if they do a limited qualification like I did on the HUD program, it was very difficult to get the buyer. They had to have $100,000 of cash in order to qualify for the limited income program."
Next Cindy Bernard1 spoke in favor of the initiative, arguing that "there's some things that the City does just because it's the right thing to do, and this is the right thing to do." She added, to applause from the seats, "You guys talk as though this is some new idea falling from the sky, [but] Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1976."
Thelma Wingate spoke, saying "I believe this housing thing would be great for our community. There's a lot of people that are that work very hard and they can't get nowhere because they don't have proper housing. I am one of those people."
Shane DeFalco opined in favor, arguing "I believe a program like this can help serve our community in a positive way, and it would create a positive dynamic for individuals or families, which would lead to stability that most of us are in need of. It would give individuals and families a chance to own their home and to never have to face homelessness because an owner wants to sell or increase the cost of rent every year."
Jen DeFalco also expressed support, "This program is amazing opportunity to help those in need obtain permanent housing," adding, "Don't worry about how many families you will find, because I know all of you up there know we have plenty of families."
Karen Harper spoke in favor, but asked whether the City had researched what kind of credit score would be needed to qualify as a grantee. She described a community outreach meeting for affordable housing that was held a couple years ago at Patriotic Hall, which had a great turnout, but in the end there were too few affordable homes available.
Carlos Blandon suggested the City develop blighted and abandoned properties, and warned that CVHC might not be trustworthy.
The final commenter, Steven Friendly, advised the Council to proceed: "I think the City Council needs to start thinking outside the box a little bit. You just had a report that we had 989 more homes that have to be built in Twentynine Palms. This is 2025 -- you got four years to get it done. There's no way you're going to even get a 10th of those homes built."
Ramirez vs Scott
Council opened discussion. Ramirez, Mintz and Councilmember McArthur Wright and City Attorney Muñoz reiterated their initial reservations about proceeding.
Ramirez, voicing concern that CVHC might previously have run afoul of HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development) or Fair Housing Act regulations, said "Can I add a little bit more to the litigation part of it? So like Miss Cindy Bernard said, she was asking if any of us called our surrounding neighborhoods2. And so I did, and I did speak to some people from the city of Moreno Valley. There was a lawsuit on that. I wasn't able to pull up much information," adding that, "while I personally feel that there is a housing shortage [and] we need to do something for our community, I also would never want to put my community in a position to be exploited."
Scott again made his motion for the City to purchase 10 parcels — but again failed to receive a second.
Scott, now angry after further back and forth, accused the Council of supporting other Councilmembers’ initiatives above his: "When it's a program that one of the other Councilmembers wants to push through, all of a sudden, it gets pushed through immediately. Yes, it definitely does. I will say it. I'm going to say it tonight, actually. With certain nonprofit organizations that have been rushed through in the middle of the night. But I've been working on this for two years, and it's because you guys don't want to give me a win."
At that, with rising tension in the chamber now palpable, Mayor Bilderain jumped in with, "We're done here." Bilderain proposed inviting the CVHC back to the City to take applications from interested members of the public at an organized event, similar to what Karen Harper just described, as a means for the City to perform due diligence and gauge demand. James agreed to arrange it, albeit while also expressing some disdain:
I'm happy to reach out to CVHC and have them come up here, have them do a workshop, so they can sit down and they can explain, “Hey, here are the qualifications. You have to have a job. You have to have these things. Can you have a job and also dedicate 40 hours a week to actually building your home.” And so that is… I'm happy to put that together.
Aside from a few other stray grumbles, that was that.
Promotional video for The Coachella Housing Coalition, 2024
The Coachella Valley Housing Coalition Responds
Desert Trumpet first emailed the general email address of the CVHC on Friday, April 25, and connected with CEO Pedro Rodriguez on Monday, April 28.
We asked three questions and one follow-up question:
Is the City Attorney's characterization of interactions between the City and CVHC accurate? Would you like to respond?
Also can you respond or provide details regarding the lawsuits mentioned by the City Attorney and Councilwoman April Ramirez?
Since 1995 how many homes have been built and people served relative to the number of legal actions that have been filed by CVHC or its clients?
This is their response:
Thank you for giving us an opportunity to respond to the comments made at the city of 29 Palms council meeting on Tuesday, April 22, 2025.
It is unfortunate that we were not given an opportunity to be present at the meeting to address some of their concerns in person. As mentioned at the meeting CVHC signed an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement on September 12, 2023 with the city to build an affordable housing development consisting of ten single family homes in the city of 29 Palms utilizing the Mutual Self Help method of Construction.
The general intent of the agreement was that the city is to buy 10 lots within their city limits and CVHC would be responsible for recruiting, qualifying, and building the homes with the participation of the families. The city’s attorney used an outside legal counsel to reach out to us with questions regarding the structure of the program, which we referred to our legal counsel. It appeared that the city’s outside legal counsel did not have experience on these types of programs and were trying to produce a structure for the lot acquisition that was best for the city. They requested information from CVHC which was provided to them in January 2025.
CVHC has developed over 5,000 units of affordable housing which includes 3,050 units of multifamily affordable housing for people of all walks of life, farmworkers, migrant farmworkers, families, seniors, people with special needs, homeless veterans throughout the Coachella Valley and Riverside county. We have a third party property management company that manages all our developments. The potential for tenant complaints and lawsuits is part of the risk of providing affordable housing to over 7,000 people. In the last 43 years we have had two tenant complaints, which were managed by our property management, and we are pleased to say that all claims have been successfully cleared on behalf of CVHC.
CVHC is willing to continue working with the City of 29 Palms to bring the Mutual Self Help Home Ownership Program to qualifying residents.
Desert Trumpet followed up with, “Is CVHC is open to participating in a workshop for residents to see if they would qualify for the CVHC housing?” They replied, “CVHC will meet with the City Manager to discuss ways to perform outreach activities to the community to inform them about the requirements to participate in Self Help program.”
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Desert Trumpet does not allow staff to comment on items on which they are reporting. The original writer on this piece was Jonathan Hume. Due to time constraints, Cindy Bernard stepped in to contact CVHC and help complete the article after she’d already spoken at Council.
The relevant quote from Cindy Bernard was, “So I would really encourage you, if you have qualms about it, to take the time to talk to other communities that have done this. What have been the pratfalls? What have been the challenges of finding people for the homes? What are the things that have worked? What are the things that haven't worked? Has anybody done that research?”
I guess the real issue isn’t whether the process is complicated, but whether the city genuinely wants ordinary people to have access to housing
why buy 10 lots to begin with ? the city seems to reach too far when it proposes things. 29 is poor.
why not start with ONE building lot and see how things progress there.
I don't think the city should become a landlord to housing.
If the city would make it easier for prospective home owners to actually build a house, perhaps more residential buildings would show up. lessen fees, regulation, etc that make people actually wanting to build their residence here more builder freindly.
it takes literally years to build a home from scratch in this city. too many fees and regulations that frustrate potential new home buyers.