When Carol J . Ornelas ,
CEO of Stockton-based Visionary Home Builders of California , started her career in the 1980s , she found the industry unwelcoming to women . Ornelas attempted to get a formal construction education , but she recalls being the only woman in class when a professor asked what she was doing there and ridiculed her for wanting to know how to read construction plans . Relying largely on self-instruction , she passed the contractors license exam and earned her general contractors license .
“ Many men just believed that I should be home having babies and taking care of my husband and I should not be in the construction world ,” she says .
VHB is a nonprofit that develops low-income housing and owns 26 affordable apartment properties and has built more than 700 singlefamily homes and more than 1,400 rental units throughout the Central Valley . Ornelas ’ goal is to build communities that residents can be proud to live in , often incorporating on- and off-site amenities such as Head Start early childhood education programs , financial counselors , health and nutrition services , and a host of other offerings .
Ornelas knew she wanted to be a builder from a young age . She was one of eight children , and while her sisters played with dolls , she ’ d sneak into her brothers ’ room to play with an Erector set . After her parents divorced , it was a struggle for her mother to secure housing for a large single-parent family in San Diego . She remembers living in some houses that were barely standing . The hard circumstances of her upbringing continue to motivate her as an adult . “ I won ’ t ( build ) anything
“ When you ’ re climbing that ladder , think of all the people that you ’ ve left behind . … So every now and then , bend down and pick somebody up along the way . Help somebody , because , hopefully , somebody helped you .”
that I would not live in myself , and I ’ ve set my standards pretty high ,” says Ornelas .
VHB , formerly known as Asociacion Campesina Lazaro Cardenas , started in 1983 when a friend who knew Ornelas was interested in construction connected her to a group of Stockton farmworkers who were tired of public housing and wanted to own homes . Ornelas was working with a property management company in San Diego at the time but saw an opportunity and moved to Stockton .
She was awarded a $ 6,000 community block grant from the city and “ turned it into quite a bit of money ” to get eight homes built in South Stockton for the farmworkers . The company , which became known as Visionary Home Builders in 2006 , has grown to 70 employees .
Ornelas says resilience is critical to her success . In order to serve very low-income people , VHB often applies for competitive grants . If the company doesn ’ t receive a grant , it can delay a project , but it ’ s important to push forward . “ You have to learn how to deal with that type of loss . You can ’ t wallow in self pity . … You need to get up and fight for that project again ,” she says .
Ornelas has seen the fruits of that fight come full circle in her time with VHB . She recalls the Santa Fe Townhomes , an apartment project in Stockton that she says initially received a lot of pushback from the city council and the chief of police in 1988 with concerns about safety . Ornelas believed that tying in Head Start programs would help break the cycle of poverty and keep the community safer and cleaner in the long run . She persisted and was able to get the project built , and , in 2007 , Stockton Beautiful — a civic-improvement organization — recognized Santa Fe Townhomes with a Home Award , given to owners who “ make a special effort to maintain their homes and yards .” She considers this one of the proudest accomplishments of her career .
“ Housing low-income people is not a bad thing ,” says Ornelas . “ They are working in our community , they are working at jobs that pay minimum wage , and if they ’ re working , we should be — as a community — developing good housing ( for them ).”
Eva Roethler is a freelance writer and the former special sections editor of Comstock ’ s . On Twitter @ EvaRoethler .
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