KINGS BEACH, Calif. – The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) hosted their latest Lunch and Learn on affordable housing on Friday, giving Sierra Community House’s housing coordinator a platform to speak about the services they offer and their importance to the North Tahoe and Truckee community.

Denisse Vega Zarate has served as the housing coordinator for Sierra Community House for two years, helping provide much-needed services to people looking for housing in the area, especially those who are under the 80% area median income (AMI).

Recently, California’s Housing and Community Development department (HCD) released their numbers for state income limits determining who qualifies for certain housing programs. For a four-person household, the income limits for Placer County are $120,800 and for Nevada County are $124,600. TTCF program director Kristina Kind said it was the first time she’d seen that Nevada County’s limit was higher than Placer County’s.

Vega Zarate spoke about the 14 affordable housing properties in Truckee and the challenges in getting people into them—referencing the issues of long waitlists, unmet needs, relocation to Reno or Carson City, and a lack of options for disabled people and seniors.

Waitlists in the Truckee region can last anywhere from one to five years, if not longer, and based on the Mountain Housing Council’s 2023 Housing Assessment study, there are over 8,000 estimated units needed to serve North Tahoe-Truckee area, representing nearly 4,200 workforce members who are inadequately housed.

Sierra Community House offers programs to help alleviate these issues, such as one-time aid of rental assistance, utility assistance, navigating housing searches, and mobile homes. One issue Vega Zarate highlighted is that while mobile homes are generally more affordable to people, there are no rent control ordinances that protect them, and there is a higher risk of losing homes to mobile home conversions.

The nonprofit also offers mediation and legal assistance such as tenants’ rights education, legal and conflict resolution assistance, eviction responses, and connection to other legal resources. They also are one of the major partners in the area that promotes housing solutions.

Lastly, Vega Zarate touched on their Housing First model, especially for transition and rapid rehousing services. Housing First is an evidence-based approach that prioritizes providing safe housing without preconditions to people experiencing homelessness, according to the HCD.

Vega Zarate touched on how domestic violence affects people, especially women, as it is the number one cause of homelessness for women. She said that trauma-informed housing providers are critical to helping survivors, which is one of the reasons why Sierra Community House follows the Housing First model.

Cathie Foley, program director of North Tahoe Truckee Homeless Services, also spoke about the importance of Housing First models and providing basic necessities, which they assist with through their case management and housing support programs as well as street outreach.

From January 2022 to April 2025, Sierra Community House has provided rental assistance, with nearly 30% going to affordable housing.

During the questions portion of the Lunch and Learn, attendees asked about deed restrictions, how people are evaluated for affordable housing, and how to support affordable housing in the region. Vega Zarate emphasized the importance of showing support for developments to local government and other housing entities in the area.

Rachel Vargas, who helps with affordable housing in the area, mentioned that they are currently taking walk-in appointments for Coldstream Commons’ units at 60% AMI and below. While they don’t currently host a website, she recommended that interested people contact Bryana Pegg, the property manager on site.

Lastly, TTCF encouraged people to take the new housing needs assessment survey, available at https://www.ttcf.net/housing-needs-assessment-survey-2025/.

Future Lunch and Learns will focus on home hardening, insurance and wildfire risks (May 16) and housing lessons from other mountain communities (June 13). You can register for these events at https://www.ttcf.net/events/.

Eli Ramos is a reporter for Tahoe Daily Tribune. They are part of the 2024–26 cohort of California Local News Fellows through UC Berkeley.