Affordable Supportive Housing

The La Mesita Project

Wednesday, December 5th marked La Mesita Apartment's groundbreaking. This first phase includes an 80-unit affordable housing facility with support services and community space. Thirty of these units will be set aside as permanent supportive housing. Phase 1 completion is expected at the end of 2013.

Along with co-developer Native American Connections and through community partnerships with the City of Mesa, Arizona Department of Housing, The Architectural Resource Team (ART), SDCRANE CORE, the Corporation for Supportive Housing and additional support by local cities and communities, the aging La Mesita Campus will be transformed to help address a long-term solution for homelessness. Additional funders for the project include Wells Fargo, National Equity Fund, RAZA Development Fund and Utah Community Reinvestment Corporation and the City of Mesa.

La Mesita Apartments’ new affordable housing units will serve low-income families and individuals while offering A New Leaf’s integrated services including assistance with behavioral healthcare, workforce development opportunities, on-site children's services, financial literacy and educational classes. Once families regain a new sense of stability in their housing situation, these services can be more effective for the long-term.

The 30 permanent, supportive housing units are for chronically homeless individuals who need more intensive and longer-term supportive services.

La Mesita is seeking the LEED for Homes GOLD certification, incorporating the highest levels of resource and energy use, and employing many sustainable initiatives such as shading devices, Xeriscape landscaping, dual pane low-E Energy Star rated windows and app Energy Star appliances.

Phase 2 of the La Mesita campus will build a new, family emergency shelter in 2013. Families continue to receive services and have been moved off-site into a newly refurbished apartment complex for the construction period.

Desert Leaf Apartments

Moving forward with a vision of expanding services for the homeless, A New Leaf Cottages 501(c)3 purpose is to provide affordable supportive housing solutions. Together with the wraparound services of A New Leaf’s behavioral health and community programs, the collaboration is a natural fit for the long-term success of the communities’ homeless including young people who have aged out of foster care at 18.

Desert Leaf Apartments opened December 3, 2012. In partnership with the project and property manager HOM, Inc., the revitalized Desert Leaf Apartments 18-unit, 1 and 2 bedroom complex is home to its first residents. The Mesa location is conveniently located near A New Leaf’s Pat Gilbert Center, home to both Maricopa County's WIC and immunization programs, and A New Leaf behavioral health clinic and MesaCAN's community services.