A Look Back at 2025: A Year of Community, Connection & Success
As we wind down the year, we’re taking a moment to reflect on CHOC’s most noteworthy accomplishments and milestones. It’s been a year filled with connection and celebration, both large and small.
On behalf of our staff and board members at CHOC, we extend our appreciation for your help in making this year another memorable one. We are grateful for the support from municipalities, construction and finance partners, agencies, fellow nonprofits, and the hundreds of resident families who call our affordable housing communities home. Our achievements would not be possible without you.
Now, let’s look back at the biggest highlights of this year at CHOC.
CES Integrated Expands Services Across California
CES Integrated is CHOC’s in-house HVAC, plumbing, and construction division. With an emphasis on HVAC and plumbing, CES plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing the organization’s affordable housing communities by delivering safe, efficient, and sustainable building systems.
This year, CES began exploring an expansion of its services to the general public in California. With support from PG&E and state-sponsored programs, CES has been preparing to offer solar and additional construction services to working families across the state. The goal is to continue to ensure that families have access to reliable, cost-effective energy and plumbing solutions.
Originally founded in 2021, the CES team has grown into a full-service provider. Led by Sarah Vallimont, CES Director, the division has a vision “to be recognized as a company that delivers top-tier workmanship that provides reliable and cost-effective services to homeowners, renters, and businesses.”
CES Integrated Team
Community Impact and the Resident Experience at Monarch
Within the first year, the Monarch Apartment Homes has grown into a thriving community where neighbors support each other, staff listen, and small acts of care create a powerful sense of belonging. It’s exactly this strong sense of belonging that we aim to nurture in every affordable housing apartment community.
Monarch has become an example of the stability, community, and hope that can come when housing is affordable. Residents like Ray, Jeff, and Jamica each shared what it meant to them to have a safe, affordable home and how it has made all the difference in their lives and their children’s lives. Our ethos is reflected in our CHOC Community Impact and Sterling Asset Management staff, too, who play a vital role in fostering a compassionate environment.
CHOC highlighted our residents’ real-life experiences living at Monarch in a comprehensive video series and CHOC Circle story.
CHOC’s Monarch Apartment Homes & Monarch Residents
Inside CHOC Real Estate Development
We took a deep dive into our CHOC Real Estate Development division in a story defining our unique approach to real estate. As a mission-driven California nonprofit, our organization’s strength lies in how our divisions come together seamlessly. We don’t stop when construction stops. We go beyond — offering property management, resident services, and more for the working families of our affordable housing communities.
Our real estate team prioritizes design, budgeting, and scheduling to ensure that construction aligns with our quality control standards. CHOC also works with real estate developers outside of our organization — for example, CHOC Impact and Sterling Asset Management are partnering with Sutter Capital Group to provide resident services and property management for an upcoming affordable housing project scheduled to open next year.
With the ever-increasing demand for affordable housing, CHOC is committed to its core mission: building smartly, managing effectively, and always putting people at the heart of what we do.
Image Courtesy of suttercap.com
Community Impact’s Crucial Summertime Program
CHOC Community Impact continued the Summertime Enrichment Program this year. The program provides safe and engaging summer learning and nutrition support for youth ages 5-17 living in CHOC’s affordable housing communities. Running from June to August, our free programming offers themed weekly activities, literacy sessions, STEM projects, arts and crafts, games, and field trips.
Through our Summer Meals Program, kids get free breakfasts and lunches delivered in partnership with local school districts. This eases the burden on working families and combats food insecurity, a huge impact on student well-being. Together, Community Impact and our partners create safe, supportive environments that strengthen families and foster healthier communities, one summer meal and activity at a time.
Read more about the ways the CHOC Impact Summer Enrichment Program truly makes a difference.
A Closer Look at Funding Our Community Impact Division
Along those lines, resident services like the Summer Enrichment Program are chronically underfunded. Frequently tied to short-term, inconsistent contracts, critical supports disappear, even though the need remains. Staff are forced to prioritize fundraising over resident care, which leaves many communities – especially older or smaller ones – with only the bare minimum required for compliance.
The consequences of this are profound. Seniors face preventable health and housing crises, families lose stability, and youth miss out on enrichment opportunities that build long-term success. Sustainable funding is essential to move beyond transactional programming toward meaningful, lasting impact.
As CHOC expands our development and fundraising work toward 2026, we invite our supporters to help strengthen the essential services that bridge the gap between affordability and opportunity. Housing alone isn’t enough without the stability and dignity that robust resident services provide.
Housing Innovation at Howe Gardens
CHOC Community Impact will soon bring its proven approach to supportive housing at Howe Gardens. A new, mixed-income community in Sacramento, Howe Gardens is a collection of 176 apartments, 32 of which will serve Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) residents through a collaboration with Sutter Capital Group. CHOC Impact will provide on-site, personalized services to help these PSH households build long-term stability.
From lease education and budgeting to health referrals, benefit navigation, crisis prevention, and community-building activities, CHOC Impact will help these households stay housed and thrive. The strengths-based, multigenerational approach makes sure that children, parents, and even grandparents are part of the conversation. Once open, Howe Gardens will soon become an example of how supportive housing can coexist with market-rate housing and benefit the entire community.
We dove into the many ways CHOC Community Impact’s role at Howe Gardens helps working families and formerly houseless residents thrive here.
Project Renderings for Howe Gardens
A Shared Commitment to Housing, Stability, and Opportunity
Looking back on the year behind us, one thing remains clear: 2025 was defined by collaboration, compassion, and a commitment to community. From expanding essential services and deepening resident support to advancing our CES services across California, each milestone affirms CHOC’s mission that housing is more than four walls — it’s the foundation for safety, dignity, and stability. None of this work could happen without the many partnerships we’ve had, and for that, we remain very grateful. As we move into 2026, CHOC remains focused on sustaining affordable housing that supports the whole person and makes a lasting impact.
Founded in 1984, Community Housing Opportunities Corporation (CHOC) is a non-profit affordable housing developer, energy, services and property management provider headquartered in Fairfield, CA; we create and manage equitable communities for individuals, families, seniors, and those with special needs. CHOC believes that economically integrated affordable housing is key to self-sufficiency and achievable with enriching, supportive programs that instill pride in residents, stabilize families, and improve local economies. Visit CHOCHousing.org.