Brown signs bill allowing new affordable housing to be built on Stockton Boulevard

Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Tuesday a bill that paves the way for redevelopment of a lot that’s sat vacant for two decades on Stockton Boulevard in the Fruitridge Manor neighborhood of south Sacramento.

The land on the 5700 block of Stockton Boulevard near Fruitridge Boulevard is slated to be used to develop affordable housing.

The lot, which formerly housed the San Juan Motel and the adjacent Park Villa Victoria Motel, has been vacant for more than 20 years, according to State Sen. Richard Pan.

The lot is half inside the city limits and half outside, which meant the city and county had to work together to unite the land, said Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra.

Pan, who authored the bill, said in a press release that “it was great to see so many groups and individuals come together with a creative solution that both addresses housing needs and fixes a blighted area of our community.”

The land could not be developed before the bill was passed because the lot was split into several smaller parcels owned by the city or county. The bill allows the lot to be unified so it will be large enough to develop, said Pan’s office.

The bill allows the County of Sacramento to sell the land to the City of Sacramento for below market value, as long as it is used to develop low-income housing.

Pan worked with Guerra on the bill, who said the plan will help “revitalize” Stockton Boulevard.

“Stockton Boulevard needs a lot of help,” Guerra said. “There’s a lot of vacant land... if we built out there, we could improve the area.”

Guerra said he and Senator Pan agree that the housing development should be high-density and focused on working families, but didn’t yet have an estimate for how many units could fit in the lot.

Pan said the location is good for housing because those with housing access issues also usually have transportation access issues, and Stockton and Fruitridge are transit corridors with readily available public transit.

Sacramento has the second-fastest rising rent in California, and ranks ninth in the nation. In 2017, only three cities in the country saw bigger rent increases.