The Villa Hermosa apartments in Indio.(Photo: Jay Calderon/The Desert Sun)

Notorious for substandard living conditions, gang activity and extreme poverty over the years, the Fred Young housing complex in Indio has new life, thanks to the Coachella Valley Housing coalition and other agencies.

Farmworker families have been moving out of the cinder block homes there and into a new housing development that features newly constructed apartments with air conditioning, carpeting, dishwashers, laundry and playgrounds — amenities that were scarce back in the day.

There’s also a computer lab and several enrichment programs, all of which combine to provide some welcome and necessary dignity to those who live there.