FRESNO, Calif. – Leaders broke ground on a new housing project along Highway 99 in June to increase the supply of affordable units in Fresno.
The complex is named “Davu Village,” and it’s located at the former site of the Golden State Triage Center along Parkway Drive, just west of Highway 99.
The triage center was a temporary shelter for people experiencing homelessness. It will now offer 62 permanent affordable apartment units by 2027.
"We're surrounded by poverty, and when there's poverty, there's always a demand for housing, even substandard housing, and there's always a profit to be made, even by those who put the least ability to pay," Miguel Arias, Fresno City Councilmember for District 3, said at a ground breaking ceremony on June 24.
A study published late last year by the non-profit Central Valley Community Foundation showed the rate of concentrated poverty in Fresno has dropped by 68% since 2014. And the state under Gov. Gavin Newsom has invested heavily in moving people off the street and into transitional housing.
Fresno leaders say the construction of new housing will help continue supporting those efforts.
“Davu” means “new beginning” in Somali culture.
Kristine Morgan, a communications manager for the Fresno Housing Authority, said that Davu Village is projected to be completed by the fall of 2027.
It has a price tag of over $60 million – including development and construction.
Davu Village is funded by multiple grants, including a $25 million award in federal and state tax credits, and a nearly $7 million investment from the City of Fresno.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said more than 12,500 previously unhoused people have received emergency shelter since 2021, "half of whom have successfully exited a life of homelessness,” he added.
“Housing just doesn’t happen on its own, it takes intentionality,” he said. "There must be a place for them [unhoused people] to exit to.”
Davu Village will exist along Parkway Drive, long a hotbed of homelessness and crime, but which has seen a transformation through state and local efforts.
Dyer said Davu Village is part of the area's “rebirth.”
