New Sacramento affordable housing complex to open at former encampment, dump site
There is still work to be done at the San Juan Apartments, under construction near Fruitridge Road and Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento.
Families will begin moving in June into the affordable housing complex, which is being built by Mutual Housing California. Before then, the pool needs to be filled. Landscaping remains to be finished. And the sign of the former San Juan Motel, which once occupied the site, will be installed on Tuesday.
But one thing that’s already clear: The site has come a long way from when it was a haven for illegal dumping and an encampment for people experiencing homelessness.
Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra, who district includes part of the site, was among those who gathered there Wednesday to celebrate Health Net’s contribution of $1 million to the project and another $2 million to the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, or SACOG, which helped fund the first phase of construction with its Green Means Go program.
“This is a huge success,” Guerra said. “It’s taking what was a place of despair to a place of dreams.”
What used to be on site
A display at Wednesday’s event chronicled the history of the San Juan Motel.
The motel was once part of a thriving corridor between Stockton and Sacramento before it was bypassed by Highway 99. The 1960s relocation of the California State Fairgrounds to Cal Expo also played a role in the motel’s decline, with the display noting that the motel had formerly done “brisk business” when the fairgrounds were nearby.
“Through the years, the place went to seed,” The Sacramento Bee wrote in 2010, when the motel was demolished. “There were complaints of exposed wiring, cockroach infestations and a lack of hot water in some rooms.”
The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency had acquired the building in 2008 and relocated its residents before tearing it down.
The land sat vacant for years, with Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies clearing a homeless encampment in 2019. Advocates tried unsuccessfully later that year to turn the land into a safe ground camping site.
Guerra said he worked with former state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, on a 2018 bill that allowed SHRA to sell the property below market value provided it was then used for affordable housing.
Craig Adelman, CEO of the nonprofit Mutual Housing California, credited SHRA with helping catalyze the project and choosing to work with his organization.
“We are always looking for opportunities just like this – not only infill, which is why SACOG is here – because this is smart growth,” Adelman said. “It’s really critical that we invest resources in these corridors where there’s existing infrastructure.”
One hurdle for project leaders to clear was that the Sacramento city boundary runs through the middle of the site, which sits on multiple parcels.
“We had two jurisdictions for planning, for public works,” said David Mogavero of Mogavero Architects, which designed San Juan Apartments. “Fortunately, it was relegated to the city Fire Department, so we only had one fire department to deal with. Two different building departments, two different transportation departments. And all of that required a lot of coordination.”
“Construction-wise, this is fairly simple stuff,” he added.
Phase I of the project includes 39 one-bedroom, 40 two-bedroom and 34 three-bedroom units. They are targeted for people making 30% to 60% of area median income, which was $120,800 for a Sacramento County family of four in 2025.
What comes next
Phase II of the San Juan Apartments will include 70 units of senior housing according to Mia Lopez, a SACOG spokesperson.
More opportunities for development could exist nearby on Stockton Boulevard, which boasts a number of vacant parcels that the city has long been interested in developing.
“We have to build more housing along the commercial corridors,” Guerra said.
Mogavero said the project was “very replicable,” but funding is a potential hurdle.
“The problem with affordable housing is that we don’t have enough money,” Mogavero said, noting that a bond on the November ballot could help.
This story was originally published April 16, 2026 at 9:00 AM.
