It should be a little bit easier to find due to a recent boom in affordable housing construction in the nation, according to apartment rental website RentCafe.
Nearly 310,000 new affordable apartments were built in the United States over the past five years, with nearly a third delivered in 2024, RentCafe said, calling it “an unprecedented surge.”
In 2024, nearly 14% of all new apartments were income-restricted, an increase of nearly 9% from a decade earlier.
There’s “a growing emphasis on affordability in new development,” RentCafe real estate writer Florin Petrut wrote in a Jan. 27 article.
Affordable housing on the rise in Central Valley
The Central Valley “boasts one of the highest growths in affordable housing in the state,” Petrut said, “while more than a third of all new construction is dedicated to income restricted units, surpassing most other California (metropolitan areas).”
A total of 3,792 affordable apartments were built in the region between 2020 and 2024, according to RentCafe.
That represents 37.4% of the total number of apartments completed in the Central Valley during that time period: 10,130 units, the RentCafe study found.
That makes the Central Valley the fourth biggest builder of affordable housing units in California, and 24th nationwide.
According to RentCafe, the Central Valley recorded a “whopping” 145% increase in affordable apartment construction compared to previous years.
A total of 1,545 affordable units were built in the region between 2015 and 2019, the study found.
Affordable apartments accounted for more than a third of all construction in San Francisco, the Central Valley and the Central Coast, RentCafe said, noting that affordable units in those areas more than doubled after the COVID–19 pandemic.
In contrast, income-restricted units made up one fifth of new builds in other regions, according to the RentCafe study.
How livable in Fresno?
In January, RentCafe named Fresno as one of the least livable metro areas in the United States, due in part to high living costs and low income growth, The Fresno Bee previously reported.
A study presented to the Fresno City Council in 2025 showed that the area north of Shaw Avenue was the site of most of Fresno’s new multifamily housing over a 12-year period, while land next to existing neighborhoods in southwest Fresno saw no new single-famiy home construction.
RentCafe’s Jan. 27 study found that most of the growth in affordable housing across the nation was driven by expanded public funding and policy support.
That national trend is reflected in Fresno, where several affordable housing projects are planned across the city.
Where are new housing projects in Fresno?
Two new affordable housing projects in Fresno recently opened, providing 100 new units of housing.
Blythe Village, which opened Feb. 2, offers 67 single-family units in west central Fresno, according to a Facebook post by Fresno Mayor Jerry Dryer.
“Blythe Village is not considered the norm in the housing world,” Dyer said in a video shared via Facebook. “This is something that is unique, it is something that is out of the box, and from the moment you arrive Blythe Village feels like home.”
He described the gated-access community as “a place where families can feel safe, establish their roots. And a place where kids can create lifelong friends.”
Blythe Village was built in 17 months, and offers covered parking, electric vehicle charging stations, a playground and “free-standing homes with no shared walls,” Dyer said in the video.
“Blythe Village is a community that reflects a dignity, privacy, and quality of life that every single family in our community deserves,” he said. “And that is what inclusivity looks like in our community. And this is how we keep families from Fresno in Fresno.”
Fresno motel converted into affordable apartments
Fresno celebrated the opening of the City Studios affordable housing project on Feb. 3 after some slight construction delays due to supply chain issues and PG&E energization, Dyer said in an Instagram post.
The project converted the former Travelodge motel at 3876 North Blackstone Ave. into 33 units of affordable housing for those at risk of becoming unhoused or experiencing homelessness, according to a Jan. 29 Facebook post by Fresno Councilmember Miguel Arias.
City Studios has studio apartments and one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for families.
The city invested $4.7 million into the project and worked with faith-based nonprofit organization Fresno Rescue Mission to provide housing for youth in foster care, according to Dyer’s post.
“What was once a deteriorated motel has now been transformed into a place where families will proudly call home,” Dyer said in the post showing the ribbon cutting ceremony for the community. “Quite frankly this was drug-infested, infested with human trafficking, and to be able to see what’s been transformed into is something that is absolutely remarkable.”
“This is what it looks like when we invest in people and build a city where everyone, regardless of race or age, has a place to call home,” Dyer said.
Where could affordable apartments be built in Fresno?
Fresno’s city council recently approved a $10.5 million contribution and the lease of three city-owned properties to develop affordable housing, The Bee previously reported.
The project, Parkview Apartments, was proposed by the Cesar Chavez Foundation and aims to add up to 98 new homes along the Parkway Drive Corridor, The Bee reported.
The site currently features a vacant lot and two motels — the Travel Inn and Villa Motel — that were turned into homeless shelters. They would be converted into rental housing for households that earn up to 80% of the area’s median income, The Bee reported.
The city bought the motels during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide temporary shelter, with plans to turn them into permanent affordable housing within five or six years, The Bee reported.
“Parkview will provide high quality, service-enhanced housing for low-income households, including families and individuals experiencing homelessness, with 48 units supported by project-based vouchers,” Cesar Chavez Foundation spokesperson Marc Grossman told The Bee via email.
The project will offer 52 studio apartments, 44 one-bedroom units, and two two-bedroom manager units across two separate sites, Grossman said, with on-site support services including case management, life skills training, employment and educational assistance, health and wellness programs.
According to the city, approval and construction of Parkview Apartments is dependent on whether the Cesar Chavez Foundation obtains full funding for the project by the end of the year.
Affordable housing projects like this “typically require at least five funding sources, which makes assembling all the sources very difficult, especially on a tight deadline,” Grossman said. “Tax credits are extremely competitive, so it is commonplace for a project not to be awarded on the first try. Construction costs keep rising, potentially making the project infeasible, particularly as more time passes.”
Operational costs such as staff, insurance, mortgage, utilities and repairs also increase over time, he said.
Fresno seeks developer for affordable tiny homes
Fresno is also looking for developers to build 25 tiny homes on one acre of church-owned land for seniors facing housing insecurity, The Bee reported.
The Westside Church of God agreed to lease one acre of its four-acre property to the Southwest Fresno Development Corporation for affordable cottages “in an area of the city with a deep history of redlining and segregation that has lagged in development,” The Bee reported.
The homes would aim to serve residents who were recently homeless, with eligibility limited to households with an average income at or below 30% of the area’s median income, The Bee reported. The units would be income-restricted for 30 years.
Once the city chooses a developer, it would fund construction through Community Project funding awarded in 2022. The developer would own and operate the homes.