State funding will pay for affordable apartments in Riverside

Riverside has received $27.9 million in state funds that it will use to build a 150-unit affordable apartment complex.

The Mulberry Gardens Family Apartments was the only project of its kind in the Inland Empire to receive funding from the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program, according to a statement on the city’s website.

“Our state is in great need of affordable housing, so it is a testament to our staff’s efforts that this project was the only one in the Inland region to receive funding,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson said in the statement.

The nearly $28 million given to Riverside will pay for the project at 2524 Mulberry St., which is immediately west of the 91 Freeway. The site was once home to a CalFire station.

More than $757 million in AHSC funds will pay for 2,552 homes in 16 jurisdictions statewide. It will also pay for walkways, bikeways, crosswalks, streetlights, trees, and bus stops, according to the statement.