The Elk Grove City Council has given its blessing to $5.6 million in gap financing to USA Properties Fund Inc. to build Phase II of Vintage at Laguna, affordable rentals for people 55 and older and on limited income.

It is the largest such loan to date from the city's Affordable Housing Fund, and it will extend the housing options for a growing number of seniors who live on fixed incomes.

Phase II will be built on the northwest corner of Laguna and Big Horn boulevards. Its 68 units will include 45 with one bedroom and 23 with two bedrooms, all for renters with limited incomes.

Phase I, when it opened in December 2006 with 158 units, had a slow rental start.

These days, there's nothing slow about senior apartments. Thanks to a flagging economy and a growing number of retirees on fixed incomes, there are waiting lists for projects produced by a number of major builders in the region.

When seniors do qualify, they tend to move in and tend to stay – even as their dollars are stretched.

In the Sacramento region, about a third of elderly households earn less than half the median income for the four-county area, according to the latest census figures.

And one of every 15 seniors lives in poverty. To fall below the federal poverty line, a family of four earns $22,314 or less. For a single person, the threshold is $11,139.

Rebecca Trammel, 56, and Elizabeth Bradford, 71, both live in Vintage at Laguna and are relieved to be there.

But even now, they worry about future rent increases. Rent increases, within limits, are allowed under state tax credit guidelines. The credits are one method of helping finance project construction.

Bradford, a longtime Sacramento resident, spent 12 years caring for an aunt in Missouri before returning to Sacramento and moving in temporarily with her daughter.

Bradford's adopted sister, who lives in Vintage Phase I, told her about the apartments. Bradford applied and qualified.

She still is stretched.

"My check (from Social Security) is $913, and I pay $643 (in rent)," she said. "I do in-home care when I can find it."

She worries about what she will do when the rent pinches her budget even further.

Steve Gall, senior vice president in Roseville for USA Properties Fund, said he is sensitive to the residents' financial constraints.

"We try to work with them and help them meet their needs through social service resources," he said, adding that that must be balanced with "delivering the highest quality of affordable housing we can."

Residents at Vintage have organized activities, nutrition classes and more. They also can sign up for free weekly trips to buy food or for other needs.

And the women say they like being close to medical offices, banks and restaurants.

Trammel, who receives less than $2,000 monthly from a disability pension and Social Security, said she knew she had to make changes when she became disabled.

"I couldn't afford to live like I was living before," Trammel said. She moved from a two-story home in Sacramento to a one-bedroom rental that cost her $980.

"I was drowning," she said, "and I had all my stuff in storage."

A few years earlier, she had taken her mother to see and consider the Vintage apartments. As Bradford later searched for ways to cut her own costs, she thought about the senior apartments for herself. Then she had to wait until she was 55.

When she applied, however, none of the 32 units set aside for those earning below 50 percent of the county's median income was available.

Instead, she signed up for a two-bedroom unit designated for those who may earn up to 60 percent of the median. Her rent started at $800. It's now $820.

And she is on a waiting list for a 50 percent unit to be vacated. She's No. 8 on the list.

Still, she's appreciative that her circumstances have improved.

"I wake up every morning and I thank God I have a roof over my head and live here."

For many projects in the region, rents are tied to a percentage of median income – typically anywhere from 30 percent at the low end to 60 percent at the upper end. In Roseville, some units are tailored to meet the needs of those who earn no more than 80 percent of the median.

At the Vintage apartments, for example, an individual who earns 50 percent of the county's median, or no more than $26,300, may be charged up to $643 monthly for a one-bedroom unit.

In addition to USA Properties Fund, other builders also are well-established providers of affordable housing for seniors throughout the region. Among them:

• St. Anton Partners: It used tax credit financing for its Renwick Square in Elk Grove.

• Mercy Housing California: It will break ground for a 60-unit senior project in summer 2012 in Auburn in partnership with the Sisters of Mercy, said Rick Sprague, regional director of Resource Development.

• BRIDGE Housing: It is building the $26 million Foothill Farms Senior Apartments at 5400 Auburn Blvd. in Sacramento. The builder raised $8.5 million of the cost through a loan from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

The 136 affordable rentals will be targeted to seniors earning 30 percent to 50 percent of the area's median income.

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Call The Bee's Loretta Kalb, (916) 321-1073. The Bee's Phillip Reese contributed to this report.

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