PEP Housing -- born during a weekly coffee klatch composed of the pastors of several Petaluma area churches, Petaluma Ecumenical Projects responded to the need of friends, neighbors, and congregants whose retirement planning could not keep up with the cost of living in the Northbay.  Rather than lose long-time contributing members of the community, the founders decided to take action.

With help from local developers and the sponsorship of the City of Petaluma,  PEP Housing would build and and operate warm and safe residential communities for senior citizens, taking advantage of a multiplicity of programs that support the acquisition, construction and maintenance through direct grants, loans, and rent subsidies.  Reliance on outside funding and changes in the law have required PEP Housing to comply with many rules, regulations, and procedures.  And so what began as a relatively informal group (where board members were likely to get phone calls to come correct a plumbing problem in the middle of the night), we are now a professionally-managed and maintained property management and development company; but the importance of community has never changed.

It is a sense of responsibility to our community that has made it easy for PEP Housing to attract a diverse and skilled Board of Directors. As a long-time member of one of these founding Petaluma-area churches, and a local engineer, I have been associated with PEP Housing for many years. I was honored when given the opportunity to join the Board of Directors and now to serve as its president.

In February 2011 PEP Housing opened its first development outside of Petaluma -- Toussin Senior Apartments in Kentfield, Marin County. Future projects are approved in Santa Rosa and Petaluma, and opportunities are being explored in other Northern California communities. It is the sense of community that our residents enjoy with each other that provides a barometer for how we are doing.  PEP Housing builds communities that enrich all of us.  That is why PEP Housing is the leading provider of affordable senior housing in Northern California.

Rich Rodkin
President, Board of Directors