Amber Splawn, Manager, Colonial Village — A Project Go affordable housing development
In 2001 I was a single mom and I applied to live at Colonial Village, a Project Go affordable housing development in Auburn. I lived there for about a year and I was doing about anything I could to make ends meet. I was cleaning houses, doing work here and there. I was on welfare for about six months. I even picked mandarins from a friend’s property, boxed it up and sold them to make extra money for Christmas, for my son. I was just trying to make it as a single mom.
Living in affordable housing in Auburn made things safe and secure for me and my son, which then put me in a position to better provide for us. After a year in Auburn we moved to a similar affordable housing complex in Roseville and this opened up so many doors for me. I started a full-time job at Project Go which provided me a steady income and health benefits, which was amazing.
By being given the chance to live in housing that was affordable, it provided me a very safe, clean place to live on my own with my son. And that set me up for future employment, as well as I married a local police officer and now we have a family and we own our home. Life has definitely worked out for me as a result. I don’t think I’d be here had things not worked out the way that they did–and it all basically started for me at the affordable housing situation in Auburn. I’m constantly reminded of how blessed I really am and I’m very thankful.
I’ve now been working at Project Go for 14 years and I’ve seen many people appreciate what affordable housing has done for them. Some have gone on to buy homes. Many have gotten married, started families. Some stay longer than others. There are families that are sending their kids to college. The housing has opened up a lot more opportunities in life for people from all kinds of backgrounds. A lot of families have been able to thrive because of being able to find and live in affordable housing.
